Dual-purpose rear floodlamps

Those of you who opted for the extremely bright Grote LED rear floodlamps on your newer FWC might find this of value. I turned ours into extremely effective remote-controlled reversing lights with a $25 product.

Those of you who opted for the extremely bright Grote LED rear floodlamps on your newer FWC might find this of value. I turned ours into extremely effective remote-controlled reversing lights with a $25 product.

Nice write up at OTT (fixed it)
And good discussion about the evolution of the auto light bulb choices too.
Thanks for sharing this with us.

Edited by Lighthawk, 25 February 2013 - 11:47 PM.

Thanks for the comments Andy.

But . . . not OJ! No longer associated with them. Roseann and I run the Overland Expo and Overland Tech and Travel.

You could and its better than the stock lights, but I found I need light to the sides far more than I need light directly behind me. I have these wired directly (not quite directly, it does use a relay) to my backup lights. Really puts the light where its most useful.

Old pic, placement is correct but a more rugged light is now used underneath.

I recently installed this 10W LED floodlight for work lighting (ambiance lighting is done with a string of warm white LED Xmas lights). I have considered driving it with a relay off the reverse lights as well. Making the connection to the camper is the point of contention. Currently there is only a high current pair of wires, and I'm not sure that I want any more inter-relatedness between the truck and the camper.

Thanks for this idea Johnathan. Makes me happy that we ordered our Fleet with the LED lights back there. Having them controlled remotely is definitely something to consider.

Not to hijack this thread but did you do anything with the rear view camera in the JATAC? I find myself using it more than I thought I would but can't figure out a place to relocate it so it is usable with the tailgate removed. Thanks

-steelhead

Not to hijack this thread but did you do anything with the rear view camera in the JATAC? I find myself using it more than I thought I would but can't figure out a place to relocate it so it is usable with the tailgate removed. Thanks

Not yet, but I'm planning to. I'm going to see if I can mount it right under the camper door in the area where the camper overhangs the bed of the truck slightly. It won't be indexed with the guide lines in the mirror screen anymore, but should still be useful. I was dubious of the camera until the first time I hitched up a trailer alone and was able to nail the ball under the tongue precisely.

Not to hijack this thread but did you do anything with the rear view camera in the JATAC? I find myself using it more than I thought I would but can't figure out a place to relocate it so it is usable with the tailgate removed. Thanks

I got a new one and screwed it to the wood under the camper. You can't tell it's there unless you're looking. It's not an OEM camera (I wanted to leave the original in the tailgate, and I couldn't find a way to secure an OEM camera to the camper easily, but you could if you build your own bracket). I also got another Tacoma camera/tailgate wiring harness and spliced into that so it still displays on the rearview mirror (so basically I didn't mess with any of the original parts).

Thanks for the idea about a second camera. To clarify, is the tail gate camera out of commission after splicing in the new one?

The old camera is still good to go if I put the tailgate back on. The wiring harness has a plug that you just pull out when you remove the tailgate (they call it "quick release" or "plug and play" or something, it's very easy to unplug), and I got an extra one of those for maybe $40. So the original camera/harness is unharmed. I wasn't sure how the splicing would go, so I got the extra harness to be safe and left all of the original stuff alone.

FYI the extra wiring harness I got is the tailgate harness.