marker lights on while camping

miyzfrider wrote:

Where did you tie into the running lights exactly? Did you run a wire from the switch to the closest running light or all the way to the front of the TT where they tie into the trailer connector? I assume the lights are all hooked in series, so if you tie into one, they all light. .

Any part of of the running light circuit will do, and they are in parellel, not series. I know tech talk. Yes, I ran a wire to the easy light... and closest I could find.

Also, you only need to run the hot (+) wire, since the ground is always present.

Learjet wrote:
I used a spare fuse on the DC panel, ran hot to switch, ran wire from switch and hooked to running lights. Doesn't interfere with the the normal path from the truck.

Where did you tie into the running lights exactly? Did you run a wire from the switch to the closest running light or all the way to the front of the TT where they tie into the trailer connector? I assume the lights are all hooked in series, so if you tie into one, they all light. I've looked at my panel, and I have a spare fuse location on the DC section, and also an open switch location on the control center. I think having them tied in inside to a switch would be much nicer.

done here tx too i prefer to sting my awning lights, but thinking about some solar lights.

Nvr2loud wrote:
I have only camped with other Canadians, and I've NEVER seen this before. If a neighbor did this in a campground, I would knock on their door and ask them to shut-off the lights. I've done it before when someone has left their outside yellow light on late at night when they are clearly not outside, or when they leave their xmas lights on around the awning. It is light pollution and I don't tolerate it well. I live in the woods, and we have zero light pollution at night, only the stars and the moon give any light. I consider it the same as excess noise at night, the intrusive light is no different.

Wow!

miyzfrider wrote:
Very nice! How did you wire that exactly to ensure the lights function as needed when connected to your tow vehicle? I have space in my control panel and actually thought that would be a place to put a switch, but was trying to think of how they could be wired to not interfere with the generic function from the 7 position connector.

I used a spare fuse on the DC panel, ran hot to switch, ran wire from switch and hooked to running lights. Doesn't interfere with the the normal path from the truck. Even if you leave the switch on, pwr will take the path of least resistance, from the trailer batt (which is being charged by the truck) or thru the normal running lights power on the 7 way. Also, all my lights are LED, measure at less than 1 amp when on. Either way it is fused protected.

And for the gruppy people complaining about using the running lights, I have common sense when doing this. It provides nice lighting while out at night. Scare lights are a much bigger problem IMHO.

Learjet wrote:
I installed two switches, the round illuminated ones.

Red turns on the running lights
Yellow turns on the LED step lights.

:W

Very nice! How did you wire that exactly to ensure the lights function as needed when connected to your tow vehicle? I have space in my control panel and actually thought that would be a place to put a switch, but was trying to think of how they could be wired to not interfere with the generic function from the 7 position connector.

I installed two switches, the round illuminated ones.

Red turns on the running lights
Yellow turns on the LED step lights.

:W

Ironically, the site we had last week in Delaware was right next to a lamp post that was on all night. Luckily, our bedroom which was only a few feet from the street light, had really dark curtains so it didn't affect us.

I came into this a bit late, but that idea of knocking on somebody's door to tell them to turn off their porch light really strikes a cord with me. I'm glad so many have already posted rebuttals to that one. I'll just leave it as already stated by the others.

I do it using a small switch I created using a 7-pin receptacle (same as the one our trucks). I rather have the low-light feel that the marker lights provide over the aggressive 100W light bulbs / 30' LED strips / 10+ decorative lights that some neighbors install on their rigs. By 10PM, it's lights out by respect to the neighbors. The cracklin' fire is well enough to provide some light....

As a side note, I replaced the lights by small low-output LEDs - running the marker lights makes the housing become quite warm.