Ok, so I have a 94 379. Bought it yesterday and the tards that worked on it had the lights and a few other things all dicked up. So, was out earlier and disconnected the chicken lights and fixed a few other things.. My question is, anyone tapped into the clearance switch to run these? I tried but they aren't getting the juice. The switch is throwing me off as well. I have 2 constant 12v wires coming in, then a wire labeled clp (clearance lamps) then what appears to be a factory jumper from that wire to another leg of the switch. So when to throw the switch, everything works as it should BUT the 2 12v constants drop voltage completely and the clp wire goes from .01v to .06v as does the jumper wire. Whe. Tapping in to the jumper wire the chicken lights dont work obviously because they aren't getting enough volts.
Chicken lights, can it run off the clearance wiriing?
Discussion in 'Peterbilt Forum' started by WREN, Sep 20, 2018.
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Look up the wiring diagrams for your truck on google. That jumper is part of the wiring so that either the headlights and the clearance lights will also light the rear tail lights. You can jumper the chicken lights to that circuit but if using incandescent lights, you can easily overload the switch. Using LEDs is not a concern since they pull so little current. I bought LEd replacement bulbs for mine and cut the current way back.
If overloaded the switch could have gone bad. Disconnect the wires and test it with a voltmeter. -
Wire the chicken lights separate with their own switch. Never a good plan to combine unnecessary lights with required lights.
My 97 has 5 spare circuits (switched and unswitched). Check to see if your 94 has them too.Roger McG, Bean Jr. and Oldironfan Thank this. -
If it's anything like my Mack, those 2 powered wires going to the switch are 2 separate circuits. One has a 15A breaker (marker lights) and the other is on a 20A breaker (headlights).
As others have said, it's generally a good idea to keep "required" lighting separate from "auxiliary" lighting. During a DOT inspection, the "required" lights must work. No need to even turn on the chicken lights, because as "auxiliary" lights they are NOT required and therefore are NOT required to work. That and any time you splice into a wiring, you open it up to problems (corrosion, etc) down the road. Problems with DOT-required lights can get you pulled over, written up, and CSA points to your company.Roger McG Thanks this. -
I did wire to a seperate switch. Thanks
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