Auxiliary lights trigger via bright headlight circuit.

[IowaAT4X]

I haven’t found a good answer in this forum, which probably means there isn’t one. I am trying to find a good way to turn on some ditch lights via the headlight brights. My truck is a 2023, so I don’t have the brights fuse tap option. Not big on the wire taps that are available though Blaze. I already have them wired to the Garmin switch, but it is a pain to toggle through the menu on the display to just to turn them on/off. I use them on the backroads, but if I meet a car, I need a way to shut them off fast. I would have to keep the Garmin app up all the time to get to the switch quickly, which means no radio display up, and no onyx maps up either. Hoping someone has found a way.

 

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[TX_Critter]

You can tap a wire leaving the lighting control module under the dash but it is very small gauge so should be for trigger signal only. I did the same for my cubes in the aftermarket bumper I installed but used SAE rated bright pattern to stay legal. You can find the circuit and location for your specific truck here: https://www.gmupfitter.com/

Also I’ll just point out that auxiliary lighting that spills past the extent of the factory brights may be illegal for on road use in your jurisdiction, do with this information what you will.

 

[john151ama]

Do you have the side mirror spot lights? Those have their own switch on the dash. You can do a simple Boost mod to make those work in drive, and I would use that signal wire to feed a relay with its own power supply from the battery. Then you could hit an existing button on the dash to get mirror spots and ditch lights.

 

[john151ama]

Forgot to mention I did this with the OEM fog lights so when I turn on the OEM fogs using the dash button my additional fogs come on as well. Can do the same thing using about any power wire as the signal wire into a relay.

 

[IowaAT4X]

You can tap a wire leaving the lighting control module under the dash but it is very small gauge so should be for trigger signal only. I did the same for my cubes in the aftermarket bumper I installed but used SAE rated bright pattern to stay legal. You can find the circuit and location for your specific truck here: https://www.gmupfitter.com/

Also I’ll just point out that auxiliary lighting that spills past the extent of the factory brights may be illegal for on road use in your jurisdiction, do with this information what

You can tap a wire leaving the lighting control module under the dash but it is very small gauge so should be for trigger signal only. I did the same for my cubes in the aftermarket bumper I installed but used SAE rated bright pattern to stay legal. You can find the circuit and location for your specific truck here: https://www.gmupfitter.com/

Also I’ll just point out that auxiliary lighting that spills past the extent of the factory brights may be illegal for on road use in your jurisdiction, do with this information what you will.

One thing that is nice on the Garmin switch is with a click of a button on the app, you can deselect the trigger that powers a circuit. You can turn on or off the function of having the lights work with the brights, on not. 99% of the time the lights wouldn’t be activated by the brights. When I am hunting coyotes on the backroads in the middle of the night, they would be.