Added oem tailgate lights repurposed for footwell lights...

john151ama · Mar 1, 2026

jyi786 said:
Can you all help me out? I did the wiring, installed strips, everything works great when the vehicle is OFF. I ran them for over an hour with the truck off and it was fabulous. If I turn the truck on, after a few minutes, the 5A fuse blows (I am tapping a fuse).

I used this amp:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B9XWGBBV?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
And I used these LED strips:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DFWF5Y89?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

AI says that I used the wrong thing, since what I got is just an amplifier. I have an OONO F-1022 on order, just like was used in someone else's post on here earlier.

Is it the amp that I got that's just the wrong one?

Don’t know why you are using the additional control board. On a 12v system you just need a hot wire and ground going to the LEDs. You are over amps though. Your LEDs show 70 watts. On a 12v system that is 5.8 something amps, so over the 5 amp fuse you are using. I would check what fuse you tapped and see what the OEM one is rated. Go up to a 8 or 10 amp fuse and you will be fine or get a LED light strip that is under 5 amp draw

jyi786 · Mar 1, 2026

john151ama said:
Don’t know why you are using the additional control board. On a 12v system you just need a hot wire and ground going to the LEDs. You are over amps though. Your LEDs show 70 watts. On a 12v system that is 5.8 something amps, so over the 5 amp fuse you are using. I would check what fuse you tapped and see what the OEM one is rated. Go up to a 8 or 10 amp fuse and you will be fine or get a LED light strip that is under 5 amp draw

It's when the truck turns on and amps up to 14.4V or whatever to charge the batteries, so I think the fuse is doing its job by blowing.

TravisJr · Mar 1, 2026

If you used a fuse tap, did you place the five-amp fuse in the appropriate location on the tap? In other words, are you sure that the five-amp fuse is not controlling the original circuit you tapped into? If that circuit is drawing more than 5A, that could be the source of your problem.

Stolen Internet photo of what I’m trying to describe:

jyi786 · Mar 1, 2026

TravisJr said:
If you used a fuse tap, did you place the five-amp fuse in the appropriate location on the tap? In other words, are you sure that the five-amp fuse is not controlling the original circuit you tapped into? If that circuit is drawing more than 5A, that could be the source of your problem.

Stolen Internet photo of what I’m trying to describe:

View attachment 35913

Yes, I sure did consider that! I'm using a fuse that's a Micro 3, so orientation doesn't matter. I'm tapping F32; original fuse is at the bottom (always should be) and my lighting is at the top. Fuse always pops after about 5 minutes of the truck being on; most likely is because truck is raising voltage.

I also have a buck converter on order. That will keep the voltage at 12V constant.

john151ama · Mar 1, 2026

jyi786 said:
Yes, I sure did consider that! I'm using a fuse that's a Micro 3, so orientation doesn't matter. I'm tapping F32; original fuse is at the bottom (always should be) and my lighting is at the top. Fuse always pops after about 5 minutes of the truck being on; most likely is because truck is raising voltage.

I also have a buck converter on order. That will keep the voltage at 12V constant.

I don’t think that is going to help. The LED stip you used is drawing 5.8 amps (70watts). That is what it needs. You need a fuse greater than 5.8amps or it will keep blowing. No reason for the board or a converter. You just need 12 v supply greater than 5.8amps. I would use a converter to reduce voltage down from 12v to something less like 1.5volts, but you LEDs need 12v supply which is what the truck and taped circuit supply.

jyi786 · Mar 1, 2026

john151ama said:
I don’t think that is going to help. The LED stip you used is drawing 5.8 amps (70watts). That is what it needs. You need a fuse greater than 5.8amps or it will keep blowing. No reason for the board or a converter. You just need 12 v supply greater than 5.8amps. I would use a converter to reduce voltage down from 12v to something less like 1.5volts, but you LEDs need 12v supply which is what the truck and taped circuit supply.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I decided to can the entire setup. I just ordered the same setup as @TravisJr and will run directly off the BCM wire.

jyi786 · Mar 7, 2026

And a final, happy update! As stated in my last post, I canned the entire setup I did, ordered lights from VLEDs, and ran them all directly from the BCM X1 wire.

Thanks to @TravisJr for ALL of this. I did exactly what he did, with the only difference of not installing the pocket lights, since it's already so bright in the truck.

Here are the pics!

jyi786 · Mar 9, 2026

It's important to note that my phone (which I took the pics with) is definitely doing some white balancing. The actual light from the footwell LEDs are cool white, since that's what I ordered. The pics make it look warmer than it really is. I prefer the cool white, and it goes much more closely with the built in LEDs from the truck anyway.

It works flawlessly. I highly recommend doing this mod. I think this is the first time in over 14 years that I had a vehicle that had footwell lights. The last one I had was in my old 1998 Oldsmobile Eighty Eight LS, which I bought in 2008 and owned up until 2012.