Adding running lights and turn signals

first things first, i want to put a disclaimer out there that while i have a very good knowledge base of mechanics and body, i am still very new to electrical systems, this is something i am just starting to learn, so that being said, i may be WAY off on some assumptions, or completely on and think i am way off. so all help is appreciated. thanks!:********:

alright, well i will begin adding lights here soon. What i would like to do, is be able to add running lights and cab lights, that can act as turn signals as well. on the cab lights, it will only be the two outside lights on either side that will be turn signals. The cab lights i am getting are the Plasmaglow sky pod 10030 smoked cab lights with reverse lights. Full LED from the get go. I was planning on getting a set of lights that i could swap out the base for the bulb with a dual filament set up, but i fell in love with these the second i saw them and noticed i could buy 'em new for $50. So, i bought 'em. I also am planning on adding running lights down the side of my truck, probably using LED strips from superbrightleds. Now, the issue is that i know all the lights i will be getting will only have one power lead. The idea that originally came to mind was to use some relays. But i realized the relays would work great if i wanted to run the lights as turn signals when my running lights are off, but as soon as i turn on the running lights, the turn signal portion would not work because they would be getting constant power from the running lights. So, how can i get around this? is there a special relay i can order or buy locally that will recognize a primary and secondary source? or am i in way over my head? The back of my head keeps telling me there has to be something out there that would work perfect for my application, and yes, running a set of lights that i could replace with dual filament bulbs and bases would be the easiest way to go, but thats out of the question...i believe i can get strip lights with 2 leads that will work for my side running lights (for a hefty cost increase) so if this is going to turn into a 30+ hour electrical install, i will go that route and just have marker lights for my cab lights, but if this is something i can do in a couple hours...i'd like to do something unique. questions comments and help appreciated! thanks in advance

Subbd! Interested in this as I want to do running lights along the bottom of my truck as well but don't feel like getting the big rig lights from recon

Well you have an interesting idea there man. Well I have an idea that comes to mind but would need someone to back me up make sure my thinking is correct.

Ok lets break down the problem.

You want to be able to have running lights down the side of the truck that won't blink.
Then you want to add cab lights that will come on with the running lights but blink if you turn. Ok well you will have to stick with me here. Anyone else if you see an error in my logic do tell me.

Ok so here goes.
You could use a standard relay for the running lights. That is the cake part. Run your trip wire from the park switch to activate the relay. Easy.
Now the blinking lights for the cab lights is a little more difficult.
Ok first thing that comes to mind is a normally closed relay to be used for the cab lights. Running the switch wire to the turn signals. So when the cab lights are wired to be on they would turn off every time the turn signal would blink. Does that make sense?
Not to mention you are gonna have a lead for the white LED also to wire in.

so what your getting after is use the power wire for the blinkers to open and close the circuit going to the cab lights. so that whenever the blinker is on, and power in the wires fro them, the cab lights are actually off, than when there is not power in the blinker wire, the lights are on. so that the running lights will still work, and the cab lights will still work. that sounds right to me...but like i said, i'm a novice with electrical. lol. and fyi, my the LED running lights that will happen in the future i would like be able to run as both blinkers and running lights as well, so what i do here, will tell me if i can do with with the other lights as well. and the second lead coming out of my skypods for the "reverse light" feature will be wired up to a switch. (my back up lights haven't worked since i bought the truck, so i am gunna hook up all my reverse lights to a switch, so that i can use them in other situations other than being in reverse.)

That's pretty much what I'm saying. If you want them to be running lights and turns well you could do the same thing or you will need some sort of an IC chip or something to lower the voltage making them pulse and not turn off completely.

When this happens it's gonna look awesome!

i would be fine with them just turning on/off instead of pulsing. so something like this would need to be done for the wiring....right?

Yes a dual relay setup would be best. That looks about exact. Now you would need to do the same thing with the running lights when you do those. I bet you could probably use the one closed relay.

yeah, i bet i could get away with using just one closed relay, since everything will be LED, i'll just need to put it all somewhere i can hide it and still have easy access to. I'm thinking i will actually get 4 relays, 2 for either side, hook up running light relay to the stock wires, going to my front running lights, and turn signals from the front turn signal wires. With my cummins, i've got a dual battery set up, so i can hook either side up to its own battery, should work pretty slick. And it will allow me to easily add other running lights and turn signals in the future....:********:

i'll let other people chime in over the weekend, and start buying relays in town next week as next weekend is when i'm planning on doing this.

I would make a bracket to hold the relays and bolt it to the metal dash frame under the kick panel that hides the lower steering column

Yeah, i am still debating where i want to set up my relays engine compartment comes to mind, but not sure exactly. Might end up doing it right there under the column, if nothing strikes me as a better place.

well, i plan on picking stuff up for this this week. It might get pushed until next weekend, audio install is still a go for this week but it looks like my fuse block won't get here until next week so that will hold me up on this. I would appreciate more input on this though, thanks!

Sweet cant wait to see it all done. You gonna post a how to?? I'm interested to see how it all works out! Sorry that's all the input I have for ya though lol

Yeah, i'll do a how to to with part#s for the relays and everything i use to make it easy for others to follow. gotta love truly custom stuff thats easy, and unique.

The finished product will HAVE to be in a posted YouTube video so we can watch it work. Great idea man! I can't wait to watch this video!

Yeah, and it will be even better if i had another couple hundred laying around to get the rest of the lights i wanted, my truck is gunna look like a Christmas tree and astronauts are gunna know when i want to turn. But more lights are down the road, for now i just want to make sure i have the wiring planned out correctly. makes sense in my head, but i'm no expert on custom wiring. lol.

well, its been a while since i've been on here, but just so ya'll know, its actually easier to do this than you might think.....


DSCN1453 - YouTube

http://youtu.be/mDf1Em82iEE

I like the turn signal cab lights. I have a question, I bought some power tow mirrors that have the led turn signals( currently wired up for running lights) and I wanted to make them turn signals and running lights but I cant find the turn signal wire under the dash and was wondering if you knew which wires they were. I have a 95 ram

loki223 said:

well, its been a while since i've been on here, but just so ya'll know, its actually easier to do this than you might think.....


DSCN1453 - YouTube

http://youtu.be/mDf1Em82iEE

Click to expand...

That is awesome!!

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