Tail light tapping for dummies

[Sam1Am]

I need to shine a light on to my relocated license plate and would like to tap into the passenger side tail lights. I've looked and and looked but can't find any info on which wire(s) to tap in to on a 2017. Can someone hold my hand and tell me which wire I should tap for the lights black wire, and which to tap for the lights white wire?

Be patient with me, I'm an electical moron. Use small words, and talk slowly.

Thanks!

 

[Antman]

I need to shine a light on to my relocated license plate and would like to tap into the passenger side tail lights. I've looked and and looked but can't find any info on which wire(s) to tap in to on a 2017. Can someone hold my hand and tell me which wire I should tap for the lights black wire, and which to tap for the lights white wire?

Be patient with me, I'm an electical moron. Use small words, and talk slowly.

Thanks!

Self labeled electrical morons should not work on taillight wiring lest they get rear ended....

 

[Jeremy556]

I'd tap into the trailer connector instead. The wiring should be obvious as the 7 pin connector is a standard.

 

[lbro23]

I agree with Antman: if you truly have no idea about working with wiring, messing with your tail light circuits (or any circuits on your new car) might not be the best idea. Also, the tail LED's on the 14+ also act as the brake light. I'm not sure if this is controlled with positive voltage or a current limiting resistor on the negative side, but I didn't want to find out. Also, I definitely didn't want my license plate getting brighter when I brake. Also, I wasn't in the mood to mess with a grommet and getting wires out of the body when I did this.

So, I used the trailer wiring for my CBI rear bumper license plate illuminator. Its quite easy, because the whole wiring harness connects to the unit via a big plug right behind the 7-way trailer connector. Cut the black braided harness protection off right at the plug, and you'll see that theres actually 4ish inches of extra wire coiled up in there (for extra slack in case you wanted to relocate your trailer plugs?). Anyways, all of this slack makes it easier to work with the wiring. Look at the diagram on the lid of the 7-way plug to see which leads are which (the wires come out of the plug right above their respective leads), and tap the tail light and negative wire. Once you have your wires tapped, use a multi-meter to confirm you get +12v when you turn the lights on. Then just reinstall some shielding on the now exposed cables, and run the wire through the bumper right to the swing out.

One important note: on the light that came packaged with my CBI bumper, the black wire was positive, and the white wire was negative. It made no sense to me, and was rather frustrating when I finally connected everything and the light didn't turn on.

 

[Sam1Am]

... Also, the tail LED's on the 14+ also act as the brake light... positive voltage... current limiting resistor on the negative side...

Alright, you talked me out of it. It sounds a lot more complicated than my old '03 Taco, which was a simple cut n' splice affair. I'd hoped this would be as simple. I wanted to avoid tapping into the trailer hookup because it's on the opposite side of the vehicle from the swing out and so will require twice as much wire, loom, ties, and will irritate my OCD. But it looks like the best option - I don't want to be rear-ended!

Thanks, guys!