Wiring Toad Tail Lights 2012 Dodge Durango

[Richard And Babs Ames]

It is a 2012 Dodge Durango RT AWD which is towable 4 wheels down. I have installed theBlue Ox base plate and Brakemaster and wondering what is the best way to do the  lights. We had seperate bulbs on our last Durango and that is what Blue Ox reccoments. What is your opinions.

[Edward Buker]

I have a Honda Accord and used a set of diodes which are made for this job. They allow a car 12v input, a motohome 12v input, and then a 12V output to the light from either source. You are using the existing bulb and the motorhome electrical system and the car electrical system are isolated from each other so that current cannot be drawn from one to the other. The downside is about .3V voltage drop which reduces the brightness of the light slightly. Given the adding of a bulb does not place the bulb in the optimum reflecting plane for the tail light design, which the original bulb sits in, that voltage drop may still produce more light. It is a reliable safe system and I have used it for more than 5 years. My decision to go this way was based on space constraints and possible drilling damage to the tail light housing. Blue Ox offers these kits and instructions can be seen here. You need access to the wires that go into the tail lights to wire it in but do not need to pull the light housings.

http://www.autoaccessoriesgarage.com/Towing-Hitches/Blue-Ox-Tail-Light-Wiring-Kit

Later Ed

[Gerald Farris]

The disadvantage to using diodes in the system like Ed mentioned arises if your tow car has a body computer that monitors the tail/stop light bulbs for a defective or burned out bulb. If you incorporate a diode into the light circuit, this function can become inoperative, and may give false alarms on the dash panel.

Light monitoring systems are normally only installed on up scale luxury model cars. My first tow car in 2000 was a Saturn. It did not have a body computer with light monitoring capability, so I used diodes in the circuit. My next two tow cars were both Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited that were equipped with light monitoring systems, so I used a separate bulb for the tail/stop lights when towing.

The preferable lighting method will depend upon the lighting system of your tow car. If the diode configuration is compatible with the equipment that you ordered on your car, then it will give you the best performance. Otherwise you will have to install the extra bulbs.

Gerald    

[Richard And Babs Ames]

Thanks Gerald and Edward, I think the car has the tail light monitor. My Dodge Pick up has one and it is a nice feature to keep.

[Edward Buker]

It may be worth buying one diode (I think just $6.00) and putting it in series with one of the tail lights. You only need to temporarily connect the car lighting system through the diode to see if you get any false bulb out indicator issue. You can then pull the bulb out temporarily and see if it provides the bulb out warning as a test. It is not necessary to add the wiring to the coach and any extra harness to check this function out. You could mount one spade female to try this out and if it worked a second spade female to connect it. If not a spade male and just recouple the wire.

In many cases today there is not enough room to drill and add an extra socket to the existing tail light assemblies. As the vehicles try and take advantage of maximizing interior useful room all the clearances have been reduced, at least that is my experience. Maybe the Durango is still good to go....

Later Ed

[Dennis Crawford]

It is my opinion that seperate bulbs and wiring is the smart approach.  You get more amps to the lights and you don't have to worry about the diodes failing, which they will do.

Dennis

[Gerald Farris]

Dennis,
You do get more amps to the blubs, but since the blubs have to be installed off center in the taillight housing to be added with the existing blubs, you will loose a lot of the benefit of the reflector and actually receive noticeably less light output to the cars that are following you.

Gerald

[Edward Buker]

I have never had a diode fail in the 6 years I have been running them. I think I got them from Blue Ox or Roadmaster. I would buy from one of those sources thinking the bigger suppliers care about the quality and their suppliers. There is a .2v to .3V junction voltage drop to bias the junction to get the diode to conduct. The amps should be literally the same. These diodes do not get hot and that is the only way that they would consume energy. They are basically a one way current switch. If someone has had bad experiences with this approach chime in.

 I would use whichever method best fit the individual install situation at hand.

later Ed

[Glenn Perkins]

I have found the optimum solution to be use of the diodes but to also replace the standard incandescent toad brake and turn light bulbs with LEDs (if not already installed)  which ... although more expensive ... provide a much brighter light even at a lower voltage at the end of my 40 ft Marquis.  I used this methodology with both my 03 and 05 Hummer H2s ... both of which had the taillight fault detection system. One downside if you replace the bulbs with LEDs is that you will need to also replace your turn signal relay with one designed for LEDs ... NAPA was my source.