As some of you may know a few weeks back i got pulled over and notified that i need to replace my license plate lights. A few years back they went out and stopped functioning. And then eventually fell out.
Well since i got pulled over, and i was heading off to another state for college. I figured it would be a good idea to replace them.
My dad picked them up for me on his way home for work. About 6 bucks. It looks like a light you would normally see on a trailer.
One wire hook up. The mounting is the ground and theres a positive wire to hook up.
I had to drill holes in my bumper to mount it up. But since the wire leads from the truck didn't have a color code for the wires. and it had a plug. I snipped the plug and broke out a multi-meter. you should only need a tester light. but you know i have it so I'm gonna use it.
Tool required:
drill
drill bits
mounting hardware.
Electric tape (and or, wire nuts, crimp connectors)
wire cutter
wire stripper (theres several ways to strip a wire, don't always need a stripper)
new license plate light
Wire tester. (unless you have a wiring diagram.)
I don't have pictures of the drilling as i was doing the stud replacement and my dad wouldn't let me use his bits.
But just mark your holes with a center punch. Find the diameter of mounting hardware your going to use. And drill it. mount it up.
Step one: snip off the old connector. and strip the wires.
Step 2 : (turn your lights on) test to find which of the wire is positive. If using a testing light. It will obviously light up when you find power. On a multimeter Positive will obviously show voltage. If you got the positive probe on the wrong wire there will be a negative (-) before the voltage count.
I found that the right wire was positive.
Step 3: (turn you lights off) twist the positive wire from the light on the positive wire from the truck. Then cover with a electrical tape (or black tape).
don't use duck tape. duck tape has conductive propertys to it. could cause a short or a ground out.
Step 4: make sure you either snip off what you've stripped on the negative wire from the truck. Or you can just bend the end over and cover it with tape. So that theres not stress on the connection. take the remaining bit of wire and run it along the wire cover from the truck and leave a little bit of slack for connection and tape it up out of th way. (zip ties work to, don't zip them down to far)
step 5: not really a step just turn on your lights and make sure the light comes on, on the license plate light.
just some pics of the finished product.
Now theres several different ways to do this. But this is the way i did it. Fairly simple isnt it?. Thought id post a tech article about it.
Anthony
Well since i got pulled over, and i was heading off to another state for college. I figured it would be a good idea to replace them.
My dad picked them up for me on his way home for work. About 6 bucks. It looks like a light you would normally see on a trailer.
One wire hook up. The mounting is the ground and theres a positive wire to hook up.
I had to drill holes in my bumper to mount it up. But since the wire leads from the truck didn't have a color code for the wires. and it had a plug. I snipped the plug and broke out a multi-meter. you should only need a tester light. but you know i have it so I'm gonna use it.
Tool required:
drill
drill bits
mounting hardware.
Electric tape (and or, wire nuts, crimp connectors)
wire cutter
wire stripper (theres several ways to strip a wire, don't always need a stripper)
new license plate light
Wire tester. (unless you have a wiring diagram.)
I don't have pictures of the drilling as i was doing the stud replacement and my dad wouldn't let me use his bits.
But just mark your holes with a center punch. Find the diameter of mounting hardware your going to use. And drill it. mount it up.
Step one: snip off the old connector. and strip the wires.
Step 2 : (turn your lights on) test to find which of the wire is positive. If using a testing light. It will obviously light up when you find power. On a multimeter Positive will obviously show voltage. If you got the positive probe on the wrong wire there will be a negative (-) before the voltage count.
I found that the right wire was positive.
Step 3: (turn you lights off) twist the positive wire from the light on the positive wire from the truck. Then cover with a electrical tape (or black tape).
don't use duck tape. duck tape has conductive propertys to it. could cause a short or a ground out.
Step 4: make sure you either snip off what you've stripped on the negative wire from the truck. Or you can just bend the end over and cover it with tape. So that theres not stress on the connection. take the remaining bit of wire and run it along the wire cover from the truck and leave a little bit of slack for connection and tape it up out of th way. (zip ties work to, don't zip them down to far)
step 5: not really a step just turn on your lights and make sure the light comes on, on the license plate light.
just some pics of the finished product.
Now theres several different ways to do this. But this is the way i did it. Fairly simple isnt it?. Thought id post a tech article about it.
Anthony
