PIAA 1500 Backup lights

[Smashfinder]

PIAA 1500 Backup lights

 

Got these a while back and put em in meself... Did my PIAA 510 FLs w/o too much trouble, though I am no electrician, or mechanic for that matter

 

Anyhow, I mounted em on my back bumper without too much trouble. The lights have a 3 stage switch: On, Off, and Slaved to the stock reverse lights.

 

Unit draws power direct from the battery through a 15A fuse. Switch has a wire leading to the reverse light on the passenger side (for the 3rd stage of operation). Heres where the problem lies. I have connected the PIAA 'slave wire' to both wires leading into the reverse light. In both cases, the 'on' stage worked fine, as well as 'off.'

 

'slave mode' is no good. connected to the first wire on slave mode: Stock lights are c/onstantly on, even if im not in reverse. The PIAAs dont come on at all. Connected to the other wire: on and off still work, but when in slave, as soon as I put her in R, I burn out the 15A fuse.

 

input? Kinda nervous about usin a bigger fuse. Bloody lights were $$

[Smashfinder]

Also, anyone know a good PIAA to throw in the front as a Drivin Fog light (OE style) im thinkin maybe a cost effective way would be gettin some OE lights with PIAA bulbs. Or maybe forkin the cash for PIAA lamps.

 

Suggestions? Im pretty sure Im keepin to PIAA, but im easy

[Mr. Pickles]

Not sure with your wiring, as I'm also having issues with installing my set of backup lights.

 

About the PIAA's up front, I've got a set of 40's I bought on eBay and they're great. I'd really steer away from putting nice expensive bulbs into the stock lights though. I think you'd see a much better result from putting a cheap bulb in a good housing like a PIAA, vs putting a nice PIAA bulb in a cheap or stock housing. A lot of the engineering of the light is in the reflector/housing, rather than the actual bulb.

 

Oh, and I ran mine directly powered from the backup lights for a couple years. Yes, that was cheesy, but worked fine. My problems all began after finally putting in a relay to "do it right." All the wiring routing checks out, but the lights flicker or don't work at all when in reverse. I'm down to suspecting a bum relay, even though it was brand new. Grrrr.

Edited March 7, 2007 by Mr. Pickles

[RedPath88]

All the wiring routing checks out, but the lights flicker or don't work at all when in reverse. I'm down to suspecting a bum relay, even though it was brand new. Grrrr.

Mr. P, your stock reverse lights flicker too... have you checked the switch and it's electrical connection?

[Mr. Pickles]

Mr. P, your stock reverse lights flicker too... have you checked the switch and it's electrical connection?

Yep, and it checked out a couple times, but didn't once, so that could be a problem too. Anyways, its a lot quicker to replace the relay and rule that out cause I need another one for another project anyways. But if I can't narrow it to the tranny switch, I'll probably just use a manual switch between the battery and relay anyways. Its really not the biggest deal to me, and I'd really like to be able to manually keep those rear on if I wanted. They're cheap APC lights, but each one has two 55watt bulbs, one in fog and the other in driving pattern. They're pretty seriously bright, although I still need to silicone the backs closed for submersion.

 

But anyways, back to this guy's light questions....

[Harbinger]

Connected to the other wire: on and off still work, but when in slave, as soon as I put her in R, I burn out the 15A fuse.

My guess would be somethings effed up in the wiring. I'd double check all your wiring/connections/grounds, etc as it sounds like everythings working, but once power gets all the way back to the lights it shorts out somwhere, blowing the fuse.

 

I tried to find a picture of the wiring harness for these things but couldn't. Just going over it in my mind on how you would hook that up. I'm assuming there is a relay involved somewhere. How many/what connections are on the back of the switch?

Edited March 7, 2007 by Harbinger

[snosnk]

sounds like when you add the other light to your backup lights circuit you are over loading the fuse. You need a relay and another power source. Use the switched leg from your backup light(s) to trigger the relay. Then run a wire from the battery (fused as close to the battery as possible) to the relay and then out to your aux lights.

 

These are mine, cheapies with 100watt bulbs in them, but they fit the holes really well.

 

 

 

I also trigger a monitor in my rear view mirror and a backup camera with my revese lights.

Edited March 8, 2007 by snosnk

[Mr. Pickles]

Smashfinder or me? Cause that's what I did, but I'm pretty sure either the relay or the switch somehow got smoked during install, even though I double checked both before and after.

 

Smashfinder, I'm confused. Did you use the relay in the install, or just directly wired it?

[Harbinger]

I'm guessing he used a relay, at least when you google the lights he bought the descriptions include a relay in the parts list

[Smashfinder]

From battery is an immediate 15A fuse, then the PIAA relay. a ground wire sprouts from that, as well as 4 other wires. 2 go through the firewall, to the lights in the rear, the other 2 go to the Switch in the cab. From the switch is the slave wire to the 'black' reverse light wire on the Tail light assembly (btw, major PITA to splice into that short a wire, even with the clip).

 

I was sure it called for red/pos wire, but i could've been wrong. It didnt work then either. instead, when i pushed the switch to the slave position, it fired up my stock reverse lights, even when not in reverse, but the piaas didnt come on.

 

Both piaa lights have a ground as well. i dont think there's a problem there, cause as i said, they work fine in 'on' mode.

 

As i am typing to myself, i wonder if there may be a problem where i spliced to get in the firewall. dunno, i can usually make a decent splice, and i use real 88 tape. also the splices are inside the vehicle, not outside...

 

hampsters in my head are crankin the rusty wheel...