[Porter91]

I am having problems wiring my new to me camper shell and thought you all could help me out. Right now the third brake light is working fine but when I turn the running lights on the break light turns on and when I hit the break it turns off. Could this be ground issue, it seems as though the wires are reversed but when i switch the wires the dome light is the one that turns on when I hit the brakes. I have the ground from the camper taped into the a ground wire that is coming off one of the tail light bulbs.

 

[ZR2Steve]

Running lights? Like the kind big trucks use? How many are there?

#1 item, make the ground wire as PERFECT as you can make it. Crimp a eye connector on it and put that eye behind a bolt on the truck. Make the wire longer if you need to. Sometimes you can use a sheetmetal screw,but thats your call.

My WAG is your running lights should have there own wire(s), and hook up to the taillight wire. But this is just a WAG, you don't want to add a bunch of lights (amp load) to the stock wiring.

 

[flatlandtacoma]

Right now the third brake light is working fine but when I turn the running lights on the break light turns on and when I hit the break it turns off. Could this be ground issue...

Yes, bad ground is the most likely cause.

 

[Porter91]

Thanks for the reply, I guess what I meant by "running lights" is just the tail lights on the truck. I rewired the ground using a eye connecter and used a sheetmetal screw that is also used for the trailer hitch ground and I know that is working fine. But still the cap lights are reversed when the tail lights are on and I hit the brake. There are two wires that come out of the back of the brake light on the truck, both green and one has a red stripe. I have the brake wire from the cap tapped into the green and red wire and the dome is tapped into the solid green. I guess my next option is going to tap the dome light wire into a hot wire up front in the fuse box so I can use the light with out the truck lights being on. Right now the way it is hooked up when I turn the truck lights on it trips my ABS light on the dash and it won't go out until I turn the truck off. This is driving me nuts, it should not be this difficult.:banghead:

 

[Porter91]

Do you know if it is ok to ground two things into the same location like I have done? Could that be a problem.

 

[flatlandtacoma]

Thanks for the reply, I guess what I meant by "running lights" is just the tail lights on the truck. I rewired the ground using a eye connecter and used a sheetmetal screw that is also used for the trailer hitch ground and I know that is working fine. But still the cap lights are reversed when the tail lights are on and I hit the brake. There are two wires that come out of the back of the brake light on the truck, both green and one has a red stripe. I have the brake wire from the cap tapped into the green and red wire and the dome is tapped into the solid green. I guess my next option is going to tap the dome light wire into a hot wire up front in the fuse box so I can use the light with out the truck lights being on. Right now the way it is hooked up when I turn the truck lights on it trips my ABS light on the dash and it won't go out until I turn the truck off. This is driving me nuts, it should not be this difficult.:banghead:

Not quite sure what you are trying to do. You have a dome light wire and a high mounted brake light wire you are trying to tie into your tacoma wiring?

It sounds like you tied into the taillight wiring on your tacoma. The wire colors going to your taillights should be:

solid green: taillights. hot when headlights or parking lights are on only.
green/white: Brake lights.
green/black: left turn signal.
green/yellow: right turn signal.
white/black: ground.

The brake light on your camper should be tied into the green with white stripe wire.

I'm not sure the dome light should be tied in with your taillights unless you want it on whenever (or only available) when the parking lights are on. Then I guess you could use the solid green wire.

Grounding: Make sure your grounding point is truely making connection with the negative post on the battery. Make sure the cab to battery, cab to frame, engine to cab, and bed to frame grounds are all intact and repair as necessary. You can ground as many wires you want to the same point as long as all are making good contact and your grounds are all intact.

 

[AggieTaco]

What he said.
What you need to do is to tie the brake light wires from your dome into the green/white wire and ground the other one. For the dome light, since there are no always 'hot' wires in the back, you're going to need to run a wire all the way to the fuse block, but you can still ground the dome light in the back. I havent ran a wire for my dome like yet just because it seems like a PITA, i just use a mag when its too dark to see. One of my friends just ripped his dome light out and put in a couple of tap lights, he likes them pretty well.

 

[Jamier2]

For what it's worth, when I installed my CB this weekend, I found the power lead that the guy who had my truck before me put in for the constant hot for the topper. It seems really easy to wire, he just tapped the stud on the fuse box for the hot (always on) and ran it down and back to the bed zip-tied to the fuel lines. Pretty high and out of the way of most danger.

I just need to find a 3 pin plug set and connect mine so that it'll be easy to remove/install the top and not have to re-connect each wire individually each time. One more project to add to my list.