LED Light Bar on Bumper...

[MAX Burner]

Background:  Using @John E Davies's modification (HOW TO: Connect a STANDARD SAE 4 pin harness (or 4 pin with backup lights) to your OLIVER FACTORY 7 pin wire), May 15, 2022); as inspiration, we installed the same LED light bar (Amazon $90) on the bumper to compensate for blocking the tail lights when carrying cargo/bikes.  Our application for the light bar is for a permanently mounted fixture and not removable when the 2" carrier assembly is disconnected from the bumper.  Others have mounted it to the carrier assembly exclusively - we decided to have the light bar function with or w/o the carrier attached to Casablanca - so, it gets mounted to the bumper in our case.

Process Description:  The light bar is shipped with a 4-Pin harness and male/female plugs and a separate (16AWG white) wire for the backup light feature.  First thing we did after receiving the light bar was to connect it to the factory 4-Pin female plug on the TV to function check the assembly.  It is a 2-row multi-color light bar (red, orange, and white) which illuminate depending upon the driver's input.  Basically, marker, L/R, brake, warning, and back-up lighting features are present.  Function check proved successful - we didn't want to get too far down the installation path and find out we've received a bad unit from Amazon (been there, done that...).

The light bar comes with metal clips as well as a 3M-type adhesive strip for mounting.  We decided to mount the bar about 1/3 down from the top of the bumper using the 3M strip for best observation/view from those following behind.

Determining the routing for the power harness was interesting and somewhat different than John's "How To" procedure.  First off, we learned that the wire colors from the light bar were non-industry standard going into the provided 4-Pin plug, but coming out of the opposite 4-Pin plug the colors were standardized.  Furthermore, as you may know, and as John described, the 2017 OTT 7-Pin wire colors are non-industry standard either.  We needed to make a wire color/function matrix for what would be 5 Anderson Power Pole connections in the bowels of the TT because we would not be using the light bar provided 4-Pin connector.

Power runs from the OTT 7-Pin harness located on the street side under the garage floor; left-rear most area just outboard from the waste water dump mast.  The light bar electrical harness will pass through the left-rear bulkhead in the proximity of the small round red reflector left of the spare tire cover.  Through a Blue Sea Systems Cable Clam (Amazon $23), the harness passes through the aluminum diamond plate deck into the waste water hose compartment, then through the bumper to the light bar.

Removing the black mat, 3 floor panel wood screws and removing the floor panel exposes waste water dump mast, red/blue/clear PEX lines, and several split combed electrical harness as shown above.  Also above, note the sacrificial wood piece placed on bulkhead to avoid an incidental perforation of water & electrical targets in the vicinity of where hull penetrations will be drilled from outside.

We removed the small red reflector, cleaned off residue from its adhesive and prepared the drill site with blue painter's tape.

The 4-piece Blue Sea Cable Clam (rubber gasket, base, grommet, and compression cover) requires a cable penetration hole and 4 mounting holes for the base.  Carefully measuring, marking, drilling the holes places the Clam where the reflector used to reside.  Cable penetrations were then drilled in the diamond plate deck and on both sides of the bumper - wiring harness was double heat-shrinked and grommeted at each penetration to avoid chaffing.

Once the "power run" penetrations were made good, we connected the 4 non-standard LED bar wires to a corresponding set of standard 4-Pin wires using Anderson Power Poles which make for a clean connection bus.  Finding and isolating the non-standard 7-Pin wires within the OTT harness was next.  As John described in his "How To" post, there are 3 buses easily accessible, one each for back-up, ground, and marker lights.  The L (red) & R (brown) are found in the same split comb as they exit and head for their respective light assemblies.

The Anderson connectors are convenient in the manner in which they can be attached "side-by-side" - used for years in the HAM radio community, they provide a positive connection even when coupling different gauge wires; which was the case here:

Penetrations were chamfered smooth and the harness was "double heat-shrinked" and grommeted at penetrations to avoid chaffing.

(Unknown why this pic insists on rotating itself....!)

Function checked light bar - all good, zip-tied 7-Pin harness, replaced split loom, screwed in garage floor panel, placed mat in position, closed garage hatch and got a cold one.  I'm happy with this mod - D likes it, too with an enthusiastic "thumbs-up"!

"Ravel-ON!"

Cheers,

A & D

 

[Katjo]

Nice job!!👍🏼

[MAX Burner]

We're getting kitted-up to head out to Eagle Nest, NM tomorrow to escape the heat wave.  During a routine light inspection this afternoon, Magnus has OK'd the LED Bumper mod....  Apparently, we're good to go, according to "Big M."

WOOF!