Sports Bar LED Wiring

grundel licker · January 12, 2018

So I plan on mounting some LED pods on my 2017 Sierra A/T X (came without lights) but instead of using the factory setup with an upfitter, I used my own harness straight from the battery (inline fused) with a relay and switch fed into the cab.

Last step remaining is to feed the power to the lights. Im trying to avoid having to thread wires from engine bay all the way to the bar and would like to utilize the factory wires that are already in place for the lights and 3rd brake light. I was able to trace the wire loom all the way to the engine bay and see that one of the wires (i believe brown and intended for factory lights) does not connect to the harness. It’s sitting there stubbed out.

My question is, how can I tap into the connector on both ends to power my LEDs? I don’t want to cut anything and both ends of factory wires have a funky connector. Is there a special part I can pick up to wire into my harness and lights that plugs into GM connectors? (excuse my verbiage as I’m not an electrician) I’m thinking to just splice the brown wire into two wires for the power and the same for the black ground? Can someone who’s done this on their All Terrain X chime in here?

Crstfr · January 12, 2018

how bout vampire taps?

https://www.amazon.com/Quick-Splice-Connector-22-18-Gauge/dp/B003L9G6FU

or am i reading your post wrong... .

brholtz02 · January 12, 2018

These work great, used them to tap into my back-up lights.

https://smile.amazon.com/Lockitt-POSI-TAP-pack-connectors-20-22/dp/B001MPW54G/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1515772250&sr=8-7&keywords=wire+taps

grundel licker · January 12, 2018

1 hour ago, brholtz02 said:

These work great, used them to tap into my back-up lights.

https://smile.amazon.com/Lockitt-POSI-TAP-pack-connectors-20-22/dp/B001MPW54G/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1515772250&sr=8-7&keywords=wire+taps

Nice! Never knew those things existed! Lol So do I need to use two of those on the same brown pos line and two on the black neg line to feed to each LED pod? Or should I use one for each line and fork them to two?

brholtz02 · January 12, 2018

Without knowing exactly your application. I'd probably tap the harness once and the split that to the two lights.

batman53201 · January 13, 2018

When I worked my light bar I ran it underneath the dash on passenger side and thru the firewall. All wires remained hidden. Take off the panel under glove box. You will have to look for a part of the firewall that doesn't have insulation, then drill a hole, put a plug in and run wire thru.

grundel licker · January 13, 2018

LED pods installed successfully. I went ahead and tapped into the existing factory wiring which allowed me to utilize the wires going from sport bar and along frame to the engine bay. I fed the switch wires through the rubber grommet on the drivers side next to the brake booster. There was a nipple on that grommet that I poked a whole through to feed wires into cab. No drilling holes or anything. The switch is dangling on my ebrake for now till I find a good place to mount it. A wireless switch would’ve made life way easier so I would recommend doing that if you’re not going full factory setup.

I’ll add the links to the harness I picked up for $10 on Amazon along with the splice connectors to tap into factory wires. Kinda nice that I didn’t have to cut any wires or remove sheathing. Only thing I have left is to buy thicker split loom to protect all the wires under the hood and to make things look clean/stock.

grundel licker · January 13, 2018

Lightfox 2Pcs 4Inch 18W Flood Cree LED Light Bar Offroad Pods Lights 4wd LED Driving Lamp Work Light Bulb Fog Lights for Truck Pickup Jeep SUV ATV UTV Waterproof, 2 Years Warranty https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01EMS9KSI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zDNwAbGJ84A5R

EPAuto LED Light Bar Wiring Harness Kit, 40A Relay / Fuse / ON-OFF Switch https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DJOUEIQ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_eFNwAb1EJSAYX