Taillight rewire

Tiny
SAMUEL8705
  • MEMBER
  • 2004 CHEVROLET SILVERADO
  • 5.3L
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 190,000 MILES
Hello! I put a flatbed on my truck and changing the lights over to a 3 bulb trailer LED light that sits flat instead of the previous lights that are factory. I am having trouble getting it rewired. I’ve tried about every way possible (I think) but still no power. I had power before hand. The first picture is the light wiring.
Black-G
B&R-Brake
B&G-Running
B&W-Reverse
B&Y-Turn Signal
According to the wiring guide

The second picture is the wiring from the truck to the old lights. There were 2 different grounds/hot.

Light blue/red/black-brakes and tail
Dark blue/black-turn
Green/black-reverse
All-turn, tail, brake is how they were wired before.

Do I need to run separate grounds from current grounds to each wire from new light? If so, how do I hook up the hot? I appreciate any help.
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Saturday, February 1st, 2020 AT 5:54 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
SCGRANTURISMO
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,897 POSTS
Hello,

Yes. Every light bulb is a load in that particular circuit and each circuit must have a ground path back to the battery negative battery terminal. Each circuit can have their ground wires go to a common ground that they all share, but every circuit must have a ground. I hope that this helps.

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros
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Saturday, February 1st, 2020 AT 9:06 PM
Tiny
SAMUEL8705
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Thanks Alex. Do you think one of those ground distribution blocks would work? So I’m not having to run a bunch of wires off of my original grounds?
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Sunday, February 2nd, 2020 AT 6:27 AM
Tiny
SCGRANTURISMO
  • MECHANIC
  • 4,897 POSTS
Hello again,

Sure, if you want. All a ground has to be is clean, tight, corrosion free, and making good metal to metal contact with the vehicle body. If you want you can put dielectric grease on it afterwards to keep corrosion off off them and help making a secure electrical connection. As long as you have all of these things you can run as many grounds to one bolt/screw as you want, or, if you choose, you can run a separate ground for each. The choice is all yours. Please keep us informed.

Thanks,
Alex
2CarPros
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Sunday, February 2nd, 2020 AT 6:10 PM

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