The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Wiring Dual Element Taillights with Two Wires

Can anyone tell me how to wire taillights that have dual element bulbs with two wires coming from the taillight. Is one wire for the turn signals and the other for the running lights and brake lights. Also, is the ground provided by mounting the taillight bracket to the body. Any direction would be appreciated.

Jon,

I think you have it figured out. One wire (for the small filament) is the taillights...these are wired in parallel.

The other wire is for the brake/turn lamp which has the large filament. If you have turn signals, then there is a separate wire for left and right. If you don't have a turn signal then they would be wired together the same as the taillights.

The ground path for all these items is through the lamp housing so it's important that all the bolting and connections are clean and tight. This includes the connection of the bed to the frame.

Stuart

one wire is for brake/turn [the brighter one], one for tail .... the turn signals use the brake element - providing you have a turn sig unit that the brake line goes thru, otherwise you need seperate lights as shown in Cletis's tip

yes, ground can be provided by the light mount, but make sure you have a good ground from the frame to the bed

Bill

If you are running new wire, go ahead and add a ground wire to the harness. Its will save you some headaches down the road when each light is grounded right in the cab where you can get to it. Also, wire the stop-turn lights with green wire on the right, and yellow wire on the left. I like using heavier wire so I know I have plenty of current and voltage, 16 gage is what I would use.

Doing it this way, you would have four wires running to the rear,

#1 tail lamps (brown wire)
#2 stop-turn left side (yellow wire)
#3 stop-turn right side (green wire)
#4 ground (black wire)
Optional addition
#5 back up lamps (blue wire)

Joe