Sport Bar Lighting, Wiring & Switching

EpicLT · March 6, 2019

23 hours ago, Bear1688 said:

On a dumb side note, are you aware of anyone drilling drain holes in the bed , close to the cab? I park on a steep driveway and it often pools water.

Mine came from the dealer with holes drilled near the cab and I also have a factory spray in liner. I’ll get some pictures of where exactly they are if you want them.

Bear1688 · March 19, 2019

On 3/5/2019 at 11:18 PM, EpicLT said:

Mine came from the dealer with holes drilled near the cab and I also have a factory spray in liner. I’ll get some pictures of where exactly they are if you want them.

Very sorry about not responding sooner, been very busy. I would greatly appreciate some photos honestly. I plan on drilling my own and would like to see how others look. Anyone know around the cost of getting a bed coated?

1500silveradocustom · June 16, 2019

On 3/4/2019 at 12:04 AM, Crazyjoker77 said:

I've added tons of lights to my truck. Started with adding 2 12" combo beam light bars on the GM sports bar. These lights are absolute cannons. Each light pulls 72W

I was super impressed with the lights but there was a big shadow in front of the truck because the cab gets in the way. So I added the rough country bull bar that has there 20" single row LED bar integrated. This single light bar is flood optic and draws 90W worth of power.

This now provides a solid wall of light in front of the truck but still decided to add a pair of ditch lights for more side lighting. This was a very cheap mod. I got the pair of lights for 25$ and the hood mount brackets where 12$ for the pair. Each light pod pulls 12W of power but has a very unique optic that makes a very wide beam of light.

Had some leftover leds laying around so I put them in the wheel wells.

All the exterior lights are wired up to the factory upfitter switch. Mounted the relays to the firewall behind the battery. all the wiring is in plastic conduit and follows the factory harnesses. I made one of the aux switches work as a master switch that turns on all the lights with the high beams.

Also threw some RGB leds under the dash and rear seats. The controller for the lights are pull power from the driverside fuse panel and the colour/brightness are controlled with a RF remote.

How did you wire the factory upfitter switches?

Crazyjoker77 · June 17, 2019

On 2019-06-16 at 12:52 PM, 1500silveradocustom said:

How did you wire the factory upfitter switches?

I've posted numerous other times in other threads how I've done it. Just search my posts you'll easily find it. There is also a whole multi-page thread on the switches and whats needed to get them to work.

I went the easiest route and just ran a 4 pin cable from the back of the switches to a set of aftermarket relays mounted in the engine bay.

Crazyjoker77 · June 17, 2019

gonna sidetrack the thread and see if anyone knows what size the sport bar's bars are. I got a free rough country 20" lightbar that I want to hang under the sport bar shooting back but need to order the mounting brackets. I'm thinking there 3" but would like confirmation.

1500silveradocustom · June 17, 2019

22 minutes ago, Crazyjoker77 said:

I've posted numerous other times in other threads how I've done it. Just search my posts you'll easily find it. There is also a whole multi-page thread on the switches and whats needed to get them to work.

I went the easiest route and just ran a 4 pin cable from the back of the switches to a set of aftermarket relays mounted in the engine bay.

Maybe I'm doing something wrong with the search but I'm not finding too much. all I'm wondering is what wire did you use to get from the switch panel to a relay? If possible, can someone post the link to the original post that this is explained in. thanks

Crazyjoker77 · June 18, 2019

9 hours ago, 1500silveradocustom said:

Maybe I'm doing something wrong with the search but I'm not finding too much. all I'm wondering is what wire did you use to get from the switch panel to a relay? If possible, can someone post the link to the original post that this is explained in. thanks

I used a 10' USB extension that I cut both ends off. Works perfect as a USB cable is 4 shielded conductors in a nicely coated cable but really you just need any 4 wires to go from the back of the new switch to your aftermarket relays. They carry almost no current so they don't need to be very big at all.

My truck had wires already in the plug that goes into the back of the switch but didn't have any of the other factory parts to do a oem installation so I just cut the wires and soldered my usb cable to the 4 wires. (the yellow,red,grey,and blue striped wires in the following picture)

If your truck doesnt have those wires to scavenge GM does sell pigtails that will plug into that black connector that you can crimp/solder your wires to. GM Part Number: 13575783 . They are kinda of expensive though at almost 13$ each (the part number is a single connector with about a 4" wire crimped to it so you need to order 4)