Camper Jeff - I was always doing things like this back in my Jeeps days and always had to pay the price of ripping things off the jeep so it could pass DOT safety Inspections..
On on my off-road POPUP trailer... I ran into problems mounting my own version back-up lights. was not DOT approved and I had to remove them to pass inspection... I think the main reason on the back-up lights is they are required to only come on when you place the tow vehicle in reverse... A separate ON-OFF switch not allowed... Of course these lights did not have aDOT approved lens on them either...
I think you can mount almost anything to the sides of the road vehicles but not sure if that is good in every state.... My 5thwheel has the two large 8-inch scare lights mounted on the side at the roof height and no one has said anything about them at the State inspection Station not being approved lights...
Just bringing it up hehe...
Roy Ken
