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VIDEO: Installing Ditch Flood Lights - No More Dark Roads

Camper_Jeff___K
Nomad III
Nomad III
VIDEO: Installing Ditch Flood Lights - No More Dark Roads

I Installed Side Mounted Road or Ditch Lights On The Truck
Lights made by ECCO and Truck-Lite
These lights will greatly improve Road visibility while driving
remote roads at night trying to find a camp spot in the dark
In pitch black conditions like on mountain roads at night, you simply can't see if you are turning into a ditch, boulder, or stump
In full dark conditions, these ditch lights will cure that

A future project is to make these lights switchable from within the truck camper for night lighting and security lighting

J&K
8 REPLIES 8

Chris_Bryant
Explorer II
Explorer II
ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
🙂 Hi, Thank You for the video. I want to do something similar. In the 70's when I worked at a Lincoln Mercury dealer, Many of the cars had what was called "Cornering Lamps". They would come on with the use of your turn signals. And they would allow you to see where you were going on dark or unlit streets at night.


A while ago we were figuring a delay on break relay could be used to hook lamps to the turn signal. The delay would be just longer than the blink speed.
-- Chris Bryant

Camper_Jeff___K
Nomad III
Nomad III
ROBERTSUNRUS wrote:
🙂 Hi, Thank You for the video. I want to do something similar. In the 70's when I worked at a Lincoln Mercury dealer, Many of the cars had what was called "Cornering Lamps". They would come on with the use of your turn signals. And they would allow you to see where you were going on dark or unlit streets at night.


There were a few cars in the 30s and 40s that had headlamps connected to the steering linkage that would point lights into the turn.

ROBERTSUNRUS
Explorer
Explorer
🙂 Hi, Thank You for the video. I want to do something similar. In the 70's when I worked at a Lincoln Mercury dealer, Many of the cars had what was called "Cornering Lamps". They would come on with the use of your turn signals. And they would allow you to see where you were going on dark or unlit streets at night.
🙂 Bob 🙂
2005 Airstream Safari 25-B
2000 Lincoln Navigator
2014 F-150 Ecoboost
Equal-i-zer
Yamaha 2400

azrving
Explorer
Explorer
Good idea, I know what you mean. I can see ahead but see nothing on the sides when it's very dark out.

Camper_Jeff___K
Nomad III
Nomad III
RoyB wrote:
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


Hi Roy,
I had the same road/ditch lights installed on the front bumper for over a year before the bumper got crunched. Never had an issue with them. In Washington, we don't go through inspections other than emissions testing.

The reverse lights will be addressed in another installation video to be posted soon. Still editing. For those, they do only work in reverse via the shift lever. An additional switch would be able to turn them on only from within the truck camper which is parked off road when in use. The power source for the reverse lights is from the center pin of the 7 pin plug on the bumper and grounded by the white negative of the 4 pin plug next to the 7 pin.
The reverse lights are by Truck-Lite and are the same as the reverse lights on many large trucks and trailers.

The people at Six Robblee's thought I should be OK using them this way. No problems as yet.
Take care,

Lwiddis
Explorer II
Explorer II
Great video
Winnebago 2101DS TT & 2022 Chevy Silverado 1500 LTZ Z71, WindyNation 300 watt solar-Lossigy 200 AH Lithium battery. Prefer boondocking, USFS, COE, BLM, NPS, TVA, state camps. Bicyclist. 14 yr. Army -11B40 then 11A - (MOS 1542 & 1560) IOBC & IOAC grad

Artum_Snowbird
Explorer
Explorer
I think I might have screwed on a magnet to the bumper, and another to a LED light set with batteries. On the odd time when I might need them, I could just magnet click them onto the front, back, or even side if I wanted a low power evening light. Also useful for under the hook or looking in dark holes.

But it's still a useful mod. Thanks for the video.
Mike
2012 Winnebago Impulse Silver 26QP
2005 16.6 Double Eagle
2018 Jeep Wrangler JK
previously Snowbird Campers,
Triple E Motorhome and Fifth Wheel

RoyB
Explorer II
Explorer II
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
My Posts are IMHO based on my experiences - Words in CAPS does not mean I am shouting
Roy - Carolyn
RETIRED DOAF/DON/DOD/CONTR RADIO TECH (42yrs)
K9PHT (Since 1957) 146.52M
2010 F150, 5.4,3:73 Gears,SCab
2008 Starcraft 14RT EU2000i GEN
2005 Flagstaff 8528RESS