[Dinosaur]

Those are great! I love how they don't even shine behind the truck, only down at the ground.

No, the voltage does not get cut in half 12v down to 6v. 12 volts is 12 volts... it is the amperage/draw that changes. It is slightly similar to residential wiring in that you use circuits and protection (fuses or circuit breakers). Larger wire for larger draw and smaller wire for less draw. A breaker is just another way to stop the flow of electricity when a circuit is overloaded or shorted.

What will happen is if you tap into an existing 12v circuit you may draw too much and it could overload the circuit. The existing backup lights may only have a 10 or 15 amp fuse/circuit and if you install additional lights you will most likely over burden the existing circuit. The best way to add lights is to either do an additional fused hot lead just like you have it, or add a relay. The relay could be triggered/switched off the reverse light circuit but would have a separate hot lead from the battery (fused of course) so it is basically an additional circuit but getting a signal from the reverse switch to turn on and off. If that makes any kind of sense.

 

[Dinosaur]

Yeah that makes sense. thanks for sharing. I think I need some more wire and a relay to do it right now. Might even attempt the three way switch while im at it.

If you search over at 12volt . com there is a lot of info. It is a little trickier over there but I have had pretty good luck.

Yeah, I will be doing the same thing. I already have the preliminary stuff in place and I temporarily hooked everything up so make sure it worked properly. When I am done I will have a switch in the bed, up under the dash, and be able to use the reverse as well. Not at all necessary but kind of fun to do. I wired my truck with an alarm/RS start and had fun with that so now I am kind of into the wiring stuff.

I went with some work lights mounted on my rack so that I can see pretty far back. Great for backing up trailers and I have already used them for work a few times.