I'm not good with the electrical wiring...I can wire up driving/off-raod lights with a relay and a switch but that's about it. I want to install some additional reverse lights into the rear bumper. I would like them to come on automatically when I shift into reverse, but would also like to be able to turn them on seperately. Anyone have a good write-up and / or diagram of the wiring for this setup?

 

I would just hook them up like regular fogs with a relay and switch. Then tap into the reverse lights +ve, run that in parallel to the switch to power the relay.

Hope that made sense. I'm not 100% but I would assume the reverse lights wiring can handle powering the stock lights plus the relay.

 

I haven't done it yet, but that is the exact same thing I plan to do. I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on the rampage rear recovery bumper. I already have the fog lights that go with the bumper. As soon as I get the bumper and install the lights, I'll post some pics of the wiring. I don't think that setup will be too much for the stock wiring harness to handle. I'll do some checking first before the install. I'll let you know what I find out...

 

Be careful about adding lights to the OEM lighting systems. All the lights are controlled by the computers. Adding lights in parallel, or adding power to make them come on separately, can (and probably will) damage the TIPM (Totally Integrated Power Module).
It would be safer to add backup lights completey outside the OEM system, with its own relay, switch, and wiring.

 

I second this, it's a pain to replace a $1000 circuit board because a 50cent transistor output has been overloaded and fried, though I haven't seen the Jeep drawings so maybe the transistor drives a factory relay if you are lucky.

 

No relay between the TIPM and the backup light bulbs.

 

I tapped into the reverse lights and added 2 utility lights
they only come one when the regular back up lights come on.

no issues been over 1 yr like this

 

That's good to know. What was the wattage you added.
The OP was hinting he wanted to tap into the OEM lights, and also be able to make them come on independantly. Until some one tries it, we will not know if feeding power to a computer controlled circuit will damage something. That was the spirit in which I posted the warning to be careful what you do electrically.

 

The trick to this is to use the power signal from the reverse lights to trigger the relay, the power for the rear lights should come directly from the battery, then through the relay to the rear lights. The power required to "switch" the relay will not overload the reverse lights or computer.

If you run the rear lights off of the reverse lights, aka rear light power coming from the reverse lights directly, then you will have problems.

Hopefully this makes some sense.

 

Looks good.