Patent ID: 7268693

Claim:
An accessory lighting system for a towed vehicle for control from a towing vehicle, the lighting system comprising: an array of lamps for the towed vehicle; a network having a network data bus with an access point installed on the towing vehicle; a network bus extension attached to the network bus at the access point; a source of towing vehicle power with an accessible outlet; a tail light controller installed on the towing vehicle and having direct control over the tail lights for the towing vehicle which is connected to the network data bus for generating vehicle lamp status signals, including tail light status signals, on the network data bus; and a controller provided for connection to the network bus extension, to the array of lamps and to the accessible outlet of towing vehicle electrical power, the controller being responsive to the vehicle lamp status signals for selectively supplying energization to lamps of the array of lamps from the source of towing vehicle electrical power.