Fender side markers - need wiring advice

Looking for expert advice on how to wire side markers how I would like them to operate. I currently have them wired up already to turn on with turn signals and corner lights but not operating how I like.



How they are currently wired with a 5 pin relay as per this video I found on the subject;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfN6EgBdw38




The only thing I don’t like about how this is wired is;

1. Turn signal on the fender marker ONLY works when the corner lights are ON. When corner lights are off, fender markers won’t flash with other turn signals.
2. Turn signals are not in sync with all the other turn signals. They flash opposite of normal turn signals, alternating.

My goal with fender marker lights;

1. Turn on when turn signals are on and operate all the time regardless if corner lights are on or off.
2. Turn signals flash in sync with other turn signals.
3. Turn on with corner lights.
4. Turn on when corner lights are on and turn signals are used - flash in sync with all other turn signals. When turn signals off – continue operating with corner lights.

Any advice would be appreciated on how to accomplish this!

Thanks!

 

I think those are awesome.

 

Watching this one. I bought some small LED lights that I want to mount on the sides of the front bumper as cornering lights. Haven’t tackled the install because it requires more thinking than I’ve been willing to do lol. Ideally I’d like to be able to switch them on, switch them to activate with a turn signal, and switch them completely off.

 

Does your marker light have a dual filament bulb or is it single?

 

Sounds like you want one light to turn on with corner lights and always flash with turn signals? I used https://www.diodedynamics.com/s1-switchback-module-pair.html to do that on a previous vehicle. Attached both positives to a single positive input on a pod light and ground to ground. Worked fine for about 8 months before trading it in

 

And then the murders began.

 

Don't 5 pin relays have a power out when not getting power? So, why not relay yo each fender light for that pin. And then have your blinker power the relay on.

This will cause the relay to run the fender led off when the blinker turns on, giving you a blinker effect albeit not it'll time with the blinker; opposite timing of the blinker.

At the same time would have constant led light when no blinker.

Edit: per this diagram, the normally closed, 87a, should give constant power and if the trigger is your blinker it would shut off momentarily when the blinker goes on. Might be worth testing.

And then nothing is wired to 87. Which is the pin you'd normally use a relay for. To turn something on when the relay is powered.

 

ORRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrr...........I think I got it.

The blinker / flasher relay gets constant power. Okay....

So do what I said previously. Rig a relay to power your fender LED constant until the relay is triggered. Trigger the relay with the power going into your blinker relay. This will turn the fender LED off while you have the blinker on whuke it is flashing on and off.

Then shit. ... I may be over thinking this. You can't simply run power from the blinker to the fender LED because that would also power the blinker full time when your fender LED is on.....

You'd need a second relay which is triggered when the blinker goes on as a secondary power for the fender LED. Or to say in another way, this relay is triggered by the power to the blinker light, post the blinker relay so the fender LED which was turned off when you turned the blinker on now goes on but only at he same time as your blinker.

this sounds fun.

 

Could also use something like this:
https://a.co/d/cEuwqIA

 

It is the smaller type bulb so I believe it is single filament. Didn't pay much attention to it before installing to be honest. Not an LED.

 

Yes a second relay was what I was thinking as well...

I tried wiring like as mentioned above but did not get the exact operations as I wanted.

The kicker is with the relay, power comes from either the turn signal or the corner light and not from the battery. So you kind of have to think of wiring it in reverse as opposed to how you would normally wire up a relay. And I am not using any switches. If anything, the switching function comes from the turn signal function.

 

What do you mean relay power? The constant power or the trigger?

 

The way I typed it was a bit confusing. I meant that the way it is currently wired, there is no power coming the battery. Power comes from the turn signal or the corner light. So instead of power coming into pin 30, pin 30 is connected to the fender marker. 87A is connected to the corner lights - opposite of how it would normally be wired where power would come into pin 30 (from battery), with a closed contact to 87A. Hope that makes sense!

 

I may not 100% understand but it sounds like the power coming in might be intermittent. It should work exactly how you want if wired as I described. You can pull ignition on power really easily in the cab with an add a fuse like this if battery power is hard to get.

 

Sorry I am still 100% on how you recommend to wire it. Do you think you can do up a quick wiring diagram sketch for me and post here or DM me? That would be greatly appreciated!

 

I would buy a blinker flasher off Amazon for a couple bucks as well as these:

$6 20 PCS Alligator Clips Electrical, 5-Color 21.5" Test Leads with Alligator Clips, Stamping Jumper Wires for Electrical Testing, Circuit Connection, Experiment

https://www.amazon.com/Alligator-Electrical-21-5inch-Connection-Experiment/dp/B0995KJWR5?crid=UPOMYFPJTCOQ&keywords=alligator+clip+wires&qid=1695251766&sprefix=aligator+clip+wire%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-3

you can then use a 9v battery for your constant power. Buy a cheap switch too to emulate our blinker and then you can do this as a proof of concept to make sure this works before you do anything with your car. Test this first and don't just take my word for it because i always have to re-figure out relays every time i use them. And I've also never used one of the pins you need and always wondered why the pin even existed. Whats the use case...so IMO this is really cool you need it.

The below should give you constant fender LED on until the relay is triggered. The relay is triggered by the same power going into the blinker relay/flasher. In other words, when the blinker relay/flasher is engaged, the fender LED turns off.


And then this is how everyone typically uses a relay, and the only way I've ever used one. In this diagram, the trigger is after the blinker relay/flasher. So it blinks the fender LED at the same time as you blinker lights. (keeping in mind the other relay is no longer giving power to the fender LED while the blinker relay/flasher has power).


You can't just connect the Fender LED to your blinker for direct power because the fender LED would then power the blinker light constantly on.

Here's me making sure my switches work with those alligator clips and checking my diagram before i install them:

 

Thanks for the diagrams! So a few questions.

1. Do I need to wire 2 relays or are these just 2 examples?

2. Will the side marker lights always be on when the vehicle is on or only turn on when I turn on the corner lights?

3. Will this way flash in sync with factory turn signals?

4. When you say 'blinker flasher' did you mean a separate flasher relay?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply!

 

No problem man. Like I said. Buy a flasher relay and stuff to test this on your table first.

1. Do I need to wire 2 relays or are these just 2 examples?
You need both relays per side per the way I'm saying to do it. So four total. One relay to give power to side LED until your blinker goes on. The other relay to power the side LED in time with your blinker (both blinking at the same time). New diagram attached. You could do it with just one relay. See my next post down.

2. Will the side marker lights always be on when the vehicle is on or only turn on when I turn on the corner lights?
Both. Same answer as above. Corner lights = blinker lights = indicator lights

3. Will this way flash in sync with factory turn signals?
yes

4. When you say 'blinker flasher' did you mean a separate flasher relay?
When I say Flasher / Blinker Relay I mean the stock flasher relay which causes your blinker / indicator light to blink. One of these:

$14 2 Packs New 3-Pin CF-14 CF14 EP35 Adjustable LED Electronic Flasher Relay Fixes Car Turn Signal and Hazard Warn Hyper Blink Flash or No Flashing - Premium Speed Adjustable CF14JL-02 Part by MQparts

https://www.amazon.com/Adjustable-E...0&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY

One side of the car would be this diagram. So you need 2 of these. One per side LED. "Blinker controller steering wheel" just means the the thing on your steering column. I'm assuming here that the physical lever on the steering column sends power to the flasher relay. You need to tap power as a trigger before the flasher relay for one trigger and then after the flasher relay for the other trigger, as drawn on the diagram below.

The dotted line represents wires crossing on the 2 dimensional diagram but are not connected.



Someone may have a much better way to do this but this is what I can think of.

Makes me wonder what 18 wheelers do with their side markers that flash in time with their blinkers.

 

another note.......you could do just one relay per side BUT it would make the side markers blink at the opposite time of your signal lights/blinkers. Would not blink at the same time.

Edit: sorry I didn't watch the video you posted until right now. The RV is wired like I'm talking about. His markers will blink when he puts his blinker on but they will blink opposite in time.

He has it so the blinker cuts power to the marker. Blinker goes on = marker off. Blinker off = marker on.

Again. I would lab this up and test it out. I kinda wanna test this out myself.....

Edit2: I just ordered a flasher relay. I want to test this out. Sounds fun.

 

This is awesome! Looking forward to trying it out! I will need a couple more relays and those alligator clip harnesses to mock up a test OR I may just try directly on the vehicle because I already have half of it installed anyway. I will report back here with any progress. Let me know how your mock up goes! Would love to hear your results! Thanks again for your time and help!

 

Oh it's not an LED? It's an actual bulb?

 

Yes just a regular bulb. Does that change the wiring setup? I don't believe so but not too sure...

 

I found this yesterday. It sounds weird but the idea is light bulbs don't care which direction the electricity is going. Either connection can be a ground, or in the below example the light bulb effectively sits in the middle of a positive wire and it is grounded down the line. I know this sounds weird. I still don't have my head wrapped around it.

Whereas LED's have a positive and negative and electricity must flow only one direction or they don't work. So you can't do this with LED's.


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/432817-making-side-marker-lights-blink-with-turn-signals.html
this guy has a few replies saying this works. And I found a couple other really old forums with trucks with regular light bulb side markers doing the same thing

 

I would never do that BUT i absolutely commend you for the work you did

 

Thanks! I wouldn't have done it either! Only reason I did is because I came across a set of front fenders that were fairly priced. Same paint colour as mine and wrapped in vinyl for past few years. Previous owner of them upgraded to aftermarket fiberglass oversized flares. If I ever change my mind about these lights, I can swap the fenders for a pretty much mint new set. Otherwise I would not have cut up my fenders otherwise.

 

Having a unique ride means more work or everyone would do it.

 

Nice! Yeah absolutely. Go for it. I could only imagine my wifes reaction to me drilling into the fender.

 

I'm going to try this option. It may be the simplest and cleanest way to have the lights operate the way I want. I just ordered them. The only thing is this module was made and tested for LED's. I am going to risk it and try it with regular bulbs. If they don't work I may just have to upgrade the turns, corners and fender lights to LED. Will report back later with my results.

 

Very curious about that option. The static will turn off while the turn signal is running. If you have both the turn signal and the static going to the side marker would it just stay constant on?

If you want to throw a lot of effort at the problem, the relay diagrams work. First pic is ignition on. Side marker is constantly on.

Second pic is turning on the indicator which turns off the side marker.

Third pic the side marker turns on when when the blinker flashes. So both blinker light and side marketers are in time.

 

I think max current is like 2-3amps. I had some pod lights on them and it was fine. Do you know watts or amps for your fixtures?

When the turn signal is activated, it shuts off positive power to the running light. Let me see if I can dig up the ones I had/might still have