I just got my tail lights today, What do you guys think? I have one question, in the bottom picture what are the black and orange wires for?? I saw those and i have no clue, hopefully with the help of you guys i will have these in soon! Thanks F150Online Community!

 

Are you sure there isn't a led ring in the tail light?

Who made them?

Any links to where you got them from?

 

88,
There's a LED ring around the middle light, but how and what would i hook the orange and black wires? They are made by Altezza and im not sure where they came from, my brother bought them for me for my bday coming up.

Here's a website with the same tail lights. http://www.racer-union.com/Tail-Ligh...-p7794615.html

Thanks!

 

Orange is positive and black is negative, both are used to power the LED ring around the bulb. They should be tied into the running lamp circuit. If converting from a stock assembly, you NEED to buy a set of red 3157 bulbs since your new lights do not have a red filter.

 

Thanks raptor, when i need to connect the orange to positive and black to negative, Do i splice it into the stock harness positive and negative?

 

Yes. When you pull your old housings off, there will be three wires going to the brake light bulb. One is turn/brake lights (bright filament), another is running lights (dim filament) and the last is a combination ground for both above. You just need to splice the black to the ground, and the orange to the running lights. I'm not sure of the color codes for the wires, but if you have a voltmeter, that will find the answer of what is what in about 30 seconds.

 

So i went outside to look at the harness and this is what my f150 has

Left - Orange with Green Stripe
Middle - Brown
Right - Black





Would i have to take the whole harness off to the point where the orange/green and black are not connected to it anymore or do i just cut into those wires and add them to it?

 

use wire taps my friend. takes less than 5 minutes to hook up both wires safely with no worries. i would actually hook the led ring up to the brake light instead of the running light that way it catches attention when you need them the most.

 

How would i hook it up just to the break light though?

 

It'd be better using the tail circuit rather than the brake/turn circuit....but that's your call....

From your picture the black wire is the ground....

 

Wire taps are good for interior use but fail when used on exterior applications not unless they're sealed correctly.....


Soldering and heat shrink tubing last a lot longer....

 

I agree 100% on your soldering and heat shrink statement but not everybody has the tools or capability.

On a side note,I do not use that style, i use the ones that clamp over the wire and then a flat terminal thing that slides into it. I also add just a dap of water proof silicone to the inside of the tap and use heat shrinking terminals so it's virtually
Waterproof under most circumstances..

For the OP, if you have the ability, please solder by all means. if you can't, wire taps will work just fine for this use.

 

Solder is great if you plan for it to be permanent and taps are great for temporary mods. I can't count the number of times I get called to electrical problems by my friends only to find a tap being the cause of a 1+ year modification failure.

OP- if you plan on keeping these lights for a long time, solder away. If you do not have a soldering iron, go get one (don't forget the rosin core solder!) They can be had for as little as $10 and with my three work benches of electrical components, tools, and specialties, I reach for the soldering iron the most often and would be my #1 choice if I could only take one tool with me.

IIRC, the black is not the ground. Don't quote me on this, but I believe ground is the middle. (But then again I may be confused with the 9007 socket). One side should be running lights (dim power aka the LEDs come on with your parking lights/headlights) and the other side should be brake/turn lights (full power aka only come on when you press on the brake or use your turn signals). Your choice.

 

I have the tools for soldering and the shrink tape. Did my deck with all shrink tape. If I am to use shrink tape, I would just splice into the positive and ground right before the connector? And yes this is going to be a permanent mod.

Raptor - your confusing me now!! So the black on the right is not the ground? It's the brown in the middle?

 

Number one rule when it comes to electricity: The color of the wire is never to assume what its carrying. Get a DMM and CHECK to see what is carrying voltage and what isnt. Or get a wiring diagram that will tell you what each wire color is.