Putco Excalibur light bar - DON'T BUY???

[oneinch]

@kamdigital , you circled WAGO wire connectors. They did not come with the relay. The relay is just it and two remotes.

I have this wire connector set. I also have a ferrule kit like this. From the ferrule kit I used the black ferrules. Both of these aren't necessary, but they do help make things nice, neat, and tidy. They're both just part of my tool kit

The terminals on the relay board are on the small side. The black ferrules just barely fit after flattening them just slightly. They fit into the WAGO connectors perfectly. Because the terminals are small, this is why I used pigtails to the more generous WAGO connectors.

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[Mosey]

If this was a Ford part people would be screaming for a recall.

 

[oneinch]

If this was a Ford part people would be screaming for a recall.

I'm not positive and I'm probably wrong because I'm seldom right, but I think the Ford branded tailgate light bars are made by Putco. Ford Genuine Accessories customers would be pissed. I'm certainly not totally happy with Putco and their Excalibur Light Bar, but I'm not pissed either since I have a solution to the issue that was relatively easy to apply.

For clarity, I don't believe the (under the) tailgate light bars cause an issue with the camera.

 

[Mosey]

For clarity, I don't believe the (under the) tailgate light bars cause an issue with the camera.

Have tried testing by blocking off some of the tight below the camera, say 6 inches on each side? Just curious?

 

[oneinch]

Have tried testing...

I at first thought about this. I used electrical tape 7" from the center out on the backup lights. This tape definitely can black out the lights. I didn't really test this for results. I might do so one day. Is it the backup lights alone or both the backup and brake lights effecting the camera?

Ultimately I decided against this path because I want the lights to fully work except when I don't. For me this issue is a "I won't say rare, but a not to often" occurrence. In daylight I want the lights fully on. I want people to see me. At nighttime it'll be a judgement call on my part to cut the lights. If they're on I can't see as well, but others can see me. If they're off I can see well, but I'm less visible to others. For clarity, my OEM lighting is always on. This on/off talk applies only to the light bar.

As a general rule I back into parking spaces. It's just a best practice not to back out of parking spaces, but sometimes you do.

 

[oneinch]

@kamdigital , I put my relay in this enclosure . It's not waterproof, but should be resistant to whatever may be under the hood.

I've been pleased with this relay. I have all the benefits of the Excalibur and can see perfectly while reversing. While it is an extra effort to push the relay button, this effort is extremely small and second nature already.

An added bonus with this setup is being able to "tap your brakes" at tailgaters without actually tapping your brakes. With FORScan I added my taillights into the DRL circuit. They're on all the time.

 

[kamdigital]

@kamdigital , I put my relay in this enclosure . It's not waterproof, but should be resistant to whatever may be under the hood.

I've been pleased with this relay. I have all the benefits of the Excalibur and can see perfectly while reversing. While it is an extra effort to push the relay button, this effort is extremely small and second nature already.

An added bonus with this setup is being able to "tap your brakes" at tailgaters without actually tapping your brakes. With FORScan I added my taillights into the DRL circuit. They're on all the time.

@oneinch Hey thanks for sharing the link for this, I have mine all wired up like yours using the Wago lever nuts but had been thinking about how to keep it waterproofed so problem solved! Thanks again, you’ve been a tremendous help!

 

[kamdigital]

@oneinch Hey thanks for sharing the link for this, I have mine all wired up like yours using the Wago lever nuts but had been thinking about how to keep it waterproofed so problem solved! Thanks again, you’ve been a tremendous help!

@oneinch hey, I sent you a PM, any chance when you have a chance, you can send me a few pics of exactly how the receiver is wired to the truck? I’ve got mine wired up based on your schema and pics, but cannot get it to shut the light off. I’m guessing I’ve missed a step somewhere.

 

[oneinch]

...how the receiver is wired to the truck?

Below I've drawn a combination of my previous pictures. This is how mine is wired.

The light harness has three wires; positive, negative, fuse box*. The light (+) - and only the light (+) - goes to the NC on the relay. The light (+) and the Batt (+) can not be directly connected to each other. The relay must be between them, otherwise you're supplying constant power to the light (+).

*The fuse box wire goes to the fuse box. Assuming you have all other wires connected correctly and your light bar is always on, I can only surmise that you have connected your fuse box wire to a hot circuit. It needs to be connected to a keyed circuit.

I tapped fuse 101. I have a Platinum and my circuits could be different than yours. My 101 is a keyed circuit, but I think my tap is backwards. This doesn't effect circuit 101, but it means my light bar's fuse box wire isn't protected by the fuse in the tap. Not immediately a big deal. My light is working the way I want it to work. Those darn taps are all "right handed". I need a "left handed" tap to do things correctly.

An improvement I'm going to do is add an auxiliary fuse box that will have keyed power. I'm going to move the taps I have in my fuse box (I have two) to this aux fuse box. This little side project though is unrelated to the way I have wired my light bar.

 

[kamdigital]

Below I've drawn a combination of my previous pictures. This is how mine is wired.

The light harness has three wires; positive, negative, fuse box*. The light (+) - and only the light (+) - goes to the NC on the relay. The light (+) and the Batt (+) can not be directly connected to each other. The relay must be between them, otherwise you're supplying constant power to the light (+).

*The fuse box wire goes to the fuse box. Assuming you have all other wires connected correctly and your light bar is always on, I can only surmise that you have connected your fuse box wire to a hot circuit. It needs to be connected to a keyed circuit.

I tapped fuse 101. I have a Platinum and my circuits could be different than yours. My 101 is a keyed circuit, but I think my tap is backwards. This doesn't effect circuit 101, but it means my light bar's fuse box wire isn't protected by the fuse in the tap. Not immediately a big deal. My light is working the way I want it to work. Those darn taps are all "right handed". I need a "left handed" tap to do things correctly.

An improvement I'm going to do is add an auxiliary fuse box that will have keyed power. I'm going to move the taps I have in my fuse box (I have two) to this aux fuse box. This little side project though is unrelated to the way I have wired my light bar.

Thanks for the clarification and new illustration. I didn’t have separate connection(s) going to the battery +\- I did have the light +\- , that’s what confused me, so I just need to run 2 more wires from the battery to the receiver. The fuse and all other connections are good to go, the lightbar operates perfectly, just need to connect the switch to disconnect it temporarily at night

 

[kamdigital]

Below I've drawn a combination of my previous pictures. This is how mine is wired.

The light harness has three wires; positive, negative, fuse box*. The light (+) - and only the light (+) - goes to the NC on the relay. The light (+) and the Batt (+) can not be directly connected to each other. The relay must be between them, otherwise you're supplying constant power to the light (+).

*The fuse box wire goes to the fuse box. Assuming you have all other wires connected correctly and your light bar is always on, I can only surmise that you have connected your fuse box wire to a hot circuit. It needs to be connected to a keyed circuit.

I tapped fuse 101. I have a Platinum and my circuits could be different than yours. My 101 is a keyed circuit, but I think my tap is backwards. This doesn't effect circuit 101, but it means my light bar's fuse box wire isn't protected by the fuse in the tap. Not immediately a big deal. My light is working the way I want it to work. Those darn taps are all "right handed". I need a "left handed" tap to do things correctly.

An improvement I'm going to do is add an auxiliary fuse box that will have keyed power. I'm going to move the taps I have in my fuse box (I have two) to this aux fuse box. This little side project though is unrelated to the way I have wired my light bar.

@oneinch Rewired it using your most recent schematic exactly as shown and still can’t get the receiver to interrupt the signal. I’m convinced that it has something to do with the fuse tap as you mention above. I tapped fuse 22 (Right headlamp), which is what the Putco instructions recommended, I was under the impression that it is a “keyed” fuse but could be wrong. For your Lariat, what fuse protected component is 101, I’m going to try to identify the same on the Raptor and try that, maybe the R/L headlamp fuses are hot….

 

[oneinch]

@kamdigital , I tapped "Right-hand headlamps" which is marked 101 in my manual.

Try this, run that fuse box wire straight to the battery. Give it power from the battery just to be sure everything is working.

Maybe your wireless relay is defective. Bypass it. Hook the light bar straight to the battery. Do things work then?

 

[kamdigital]

@kamdigital , I tapped "Right-hand headlamps" which is marked 101 in my manual.

Try this, run that fuse box wire straight to the battery. Give it power from the battery just to be sure everything is working.

Maybe your wireless relay is defective. Bypass it. Hook the light bar straight to the battery. Do things work then?

Yes, the lightbar works running it straight to the battery, I’ll try to order another relay and hope that resolves the issue. It’s SUPER frustrating because I just knew everything was wired up correctly yesterday and was looking forward to making my own YT video lol. Thanks for the guidance!

 

[oneinch]

@kamdigital , this is a screen capture of the Excalibur instructions. The tap shown is what I call "right handed". When facing the fuses the wire heads off the the right. My fuse tap is installed just like this picture.

Everything is working for me, but I haven't convinced myself this tap installation is correct. I suspect I need a "left handed" tap and as far as I can tell no one makes these.

 

[kamdigital]

@kamdigital , this is a screen capture of the Excalibur instructions. The tap shown is what I call "right handed". When facing the fuses the wire heads off the the right. My fuse tap is installed just like this picture.

Everything is working for me, but I haven't convinced myself this tap installation is correct. I suspect I need a "left handed" tap and as far as I can tell no one makes these.

My orientation is just like that in the picture, I do agree a left handed tap would be ideal. Everything with the light bar operates as expected since I installed in on Aug 29th, I’m just not able to get the relay to work to disconnect the bar at night, I did just request a return and replacement of the old relay, ans should have the new one Monday. Hopefully that resolves it. I’ve got double sided tape applied to my remote and am planning on placing it in the exact same location on the console behind the shifter, that is very ideal.

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