Wiring 12v clearance lights to AA Pack

I'd use "Red Green Blue" led strips and control them with a ESP8266 or a NodeMCU so the lights have WiFi connectivity. You'll need a relay board. I'd use a solid state one. They have no moving parts so they never wear out. Use arduino software to flash your code to the micro-controller. You can control them with Alexa or your phone from anywhere in the world. You'll need a 3.3 & a 5 volt power supply. Most of the code can be got at GetHub.com so you'll just need to tweek it to meet your needs. Test it all on a breadboard then solder it up on a project board. Go big or go home. ;)

Amazing the lengths people will go to in order to fix something that isn't broken. Change out all exterior bulbs with LEDs (plug & play). Done. A typical car battery will run them for days, if not weeks, and there is no vehicle made that requires the key to be on for the parking/clearance lights.

If you want to run the clearance lights WITHOUT the parking lights, then simply wire the clearance lights to a SPDT switch. The common in the switch goes to your clearance lights. One side goes directly to the house battery, the other side ties into the parking light circuit. With the switch in the first position, the clearance lights are powered directly from your house battery, in the other position they are powered when the parking/running lights are on.

That way, your can manually turn on just the clearance lights, but they will also come on automatically when you turn on your vehicle lights to drive at night.

What kind of vehicle doesn't have a position on the light switch, to turn them on?

Drilling holes and adding LEDs to the clearance lights is modifying them and may well make them no longer DOT compliant if it modifies the photometrics of the fixture. Aside from that, it sounds like an invitation for water to get into your motorhome. Clearance lights are already a frequent source of water intrusion.

I realized after I posted that the relay setup was unnecessarily complicated. A double-throw switch would suffice assuming the chassis light switch operates on the positive side of the circuit. The common terminal of the switch would be wired to the lights, and one side to the house battery, and the other to the chassis parking light circuit. In one position, the clearance lights would be always on. In the other, they would be switched with the parking lights. It would not be possible to have them off when the parking lights are on. While I'm no expert on the specifics of the DOT regulations, I don't think this would be an illegal setup--I think they only require that they be on when the parking/head lights are on, and the exact switch or control setup used to achieve that is left up to the vehicle maker.

200 mAh is not a big battery pack by any means. That's 0.2 Ah. It would power the clearance lights for maybe a half hour, perhaps less. The smallest battery used as a house battery for RVs has at least two or three hundred times that much usable capacity. I would strongly recommend you give up the idea of using a separate battery pack besides the house or chassis battery you have in the motorhome.

its funny, you guys are saying the same things all of my friends are, so I came up with a solution. I want to be able to se my Clearance/marker lamps whenever I want, including parked with the key taken out. I learned they need to be run properly, with no external switches.

so what I'm going to do, is install them up to code, and then drill into the back and. add 1-3 extra diodes on battery packs. this way, they will turn on and function whenever the headlights are on/whenever they Arte supposed to, automatically. but also, I can toggle separate bulbs, on a separate battery, with a separate switch. so it will be in the fixture, but won't intrude and will not interfere with function. the problem with tying it in even with a relay, is its illegal. its too easy to mess up and have it turned off, so the lights aren't on at all while driving. separate circuits it is!

the idea is I will be taking 4-8 hours of video everyday, a lot of it at night. if we are 100+ feet away from he RV, I can have the lamps turned on via AA packs, so they are on in the background so myself and others can see where the RV is even at night, through a camera.

there will be plenty of battery power, I'm not worried about that(will be starting with 200mah lithium... all this took me 5 years to save for, I'm excited its finally happening!)powered by solar, probably 500w. I will also have a generator, probably a small Honda or Yamaha. I got rid of many things that use battery, so power is not an issue at all. my envelop batteries should be able to run 20x LED bulbs for roughly 3 months if not more, the power draw is insanely small.

EDIT: every single light is being replaced with LED, except for headlights(unless I can, and then I will but thats not budgeted for)

An alternative would be to wire the clearance lights to the house battery with a relay as well as a switch. I'd set it up so that the relay is powered by the existing parking light circuit (on the chassis battery side) and turns on the clearance lights from the house battery. Since the battery isolator will connect the two batteries whenever the engine is running, this is electrically equivalent to powering it normally from the headlight switch when driving. When parked, a separate switch in parallel with the relay contacts would allow you to turn them on, powered by the house battery.

If you install LED clearance lights, the house battery will last a very long time powering them; it should be less than half an amp for all the clearance lights. With a pair of 6V golf cart batteries, that means you could power them (alone) for something like a week and a half to two weeks straight before reaching fifty percent charge on the batteries. For that matter, with LED clearance lights and parking lights, the chassis battery would also last quite a long time, probably at least overnight, and still have plenty of juice to start the engine.

i think you are on the wrong path with this

wire the normal clearance lights to the vehicle wiring, its the law 'DOT'

if you want MORE light, add some auxiliary addons 'clear' along the roof line
and wire them to house/rv system
include extra batteries in your house system

you will have to re-charge those 'extra packs', $$ wise it will be cheaper to add extra battery power to the RV, and they will get recharged when you drive, plug in, or from any solar you put on the roof

you do NOT want the clearance lights powered by PACKS that might be weak when you are going down the road at night or don't come on because you forgot to flip the switch

put a cut out relay inline with the power to the 'clear' aux lighting, and have it work from the ignition along with your toggle

IF the key is ON, no aux lights,
will keep you out of trouble with the various state police agencies as you cruse the highways

I don't understand why you wish to power these lights with dry cells.

Check with your DMV, they are the final authority. Does your state have an annual inspection? You may have to leave them wired through the head light switch. You are basically building a new coach, why not add some strategically placed auxiliary lights?

do I need it inspected to register/Insure it? from what I've gathered, as long as I properly install all safety measure, id be left alone. these are what I got and they are identical to the ones that are on there from the factory

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017BGLLV2/ref=detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I will be replacing every single one, all lights that were there, will be there again. as long as I reinstall everything it should be okay right?