Dingy electrics

Ken O wrote:
Thanks Scott, you have been a big help! I'm still digesting the info, I haven't wired the lights yet, its confusing with the combined Jeep system (brake/turn), while the TV has separate signals. The switch you put in for the toad's brake light makes sense.
I'm not in a hurry, I want to understand what I'm doing. I'll just keep plugging away.
Ken

Ken,
You're certainly welcome. By the way, just for giggles here, your finger is hitting the "T" instead of the "R" for RV. That is of course unless you're meaning "TV" for "Tow Vehicle". No biggie. Anyway, you've presented an issue that many have had to deal with in wiring a toad. Your RV is setup with "Amber" turn signals. That means, you've got a "three filament" system on your coach while, the Jeep is a "Two filament" system. Your coach has separate turn signals and brake lights but, the Jeep has "combination" turn signals and brake lights in one light.

It's not a problem at all. About 95% of the motor homes that have Amber turn signals, that come prewired with a seven pin trailer plug have what's called a "Tail light" converter installed prior to the wiring entering the rear of the trailer plug. That converter "converts" independent turn signals and brake lights to, combination turn and brake lights, for each side. From that point on, it's a piece of cake to wire your jeep.

And, by the way, ALL years of TJs are wired and set up in both ignition and light wiring the same exact way. It's basically seriously simple to utilize your stock tail light bulbs for toad lights. Many guys panic when that is suggested. It can be done that way all the way up to the 2012 "JK" models. Those years and above use a totally different wiring/lighting system and tying into them is almost impossible without issues.

But, to do yours, it's real easy. Right by the left knee of the driver, under the door sill, is ALL the tail light wiring for your jeep. All you need to do is run your wiring from the front plug of your Jeep to that point. Then, unwrap that loom right there and segregate the wires to find the LT/Brake, RT/Brake/Running. From that point, you simply strip a small section of each of those wires and, "T" into each one with the appropriate ones from the front of the jeep and solder things up, then insulate the connections real good.

Now, I do install a diode, just in front of each of the LT/Brake and RT/Brake "tees" to stop the motor home signals from traveling forward in the jeep wiring. And, there's no need for fancy, high dollar diodes here. All that's needed is a three or four pack of diodes from Radio Shack for about $2.89. There's no need for one in the running light circuit. All that will happen is, your front parking lights will light up and that is sort of preferred by many so they know the clearance between the jeep fenders and the coach when making tighter turns at night.

Now, the utilization of the "toggle" switch just alleviates the problem created when you have two sets of signals being sent to the same filament in the toad tail lights. You see, if you send a turn signal from the motor home to the left tail light on the Jeep, it will flash, as expected. But, if you apply the brakes at the same time and, have a Ready Brake, that brake arm in the Jeep will hit the brake switch and therefore, by virtue of the brake lights being activated without the key in the on position, will send the signal to the same filament that's already flashing. Hmmmm, what to do.

Well, that's what the toggle switch is for. By flipping that switch to send that brake light signal from the Jeep to the coach dash LED, you don't allow the conflicting signals to hit the same filament in that Jeep tail light bulb and, as a bonus, you are notified that the brakes are actually being applied in the Jeep.

You see, the later models of the Ready Brake are setup at the actuator with a trigger switch that can activate an LED, either mounted right there on that actuator which you may or may not be able to see with your rear view monitor/camera or, you can run that wiring to an LED mounted on the dash. But, the problem with that system is, it only tells you the Jeep is pushing on the actuator, it does not inform you that the cable is still doing its job inside the toad.

So, there's a bit more info for you to think about.
Scott