Light Bar to Aux Switch Wiring

[Garrett]

I got my Baja Designes S8 mounted on my roof rack and am ready to wire it up. Based on their suggestion, I got the upfitter switch from BD which is supposed to ease integration with oem switches. Looking at my pigtail and the BD harness it seems pretty straight forward but wanted to get yall to double check me before I hook it up. Is it as simple as thick white to to thick white, green to green, and black to ground in the engine bay?

Bonus points: The light bar also has a backlight feature. Not sure if I actually want to use but if I did would I wire the green lead to as second switch/pigtail? This was mentioned by BD but same as above, want to run it by you guys first.

Sponsored

 

[TacoJay]

Lol I've got two "ditch lights" from Rough Country mounted on my TRD Sport 4X4, but have not been able to translate their wiring to the Taco's pigtail set-up. Meaning....I'm afraid of setting my new truck on MORE than I need the ditch lights! So they look cool on the truck but they are posers until I can find a smarter person than I to wire them correctly. Good luck!

 

[doritotaco]

Lol I've got two "ditch lights" from Rough Country mounted on my TRD Sport 4X4, but have not been able to translate their wiring to the Taco's pigtail set-up. Meaning....I'm afraid of setting my new truck on MORE than I need the ditch lights! So they look cool on the truck but they are posers until I can find a smarter person than I to wire them correctly. Good luck!

Funny enough I actually just installed the same wires on my off-road with pre wired switch’s. I used the AUX 1 pigtail in the bay. I cut off the end of the wire on the “switch” end of the RC harness. I then hooked up the blue to the black on the toyota harness, and then the black to the white/black. i capped the white off of the RC harness. I wish i would’ve took pictures of it before covering everything up and installing heat shrink.

 

[TacoJay]

Funny enough I actually just installed the same wires on my off-road with pre wired switch’s. I used the AUX 1 pigtail in the bay. I cut off the end of the wire on the “switch” end of the RC harness. I then hooked up the blue to the black on the toyota harness, and then the black to the white/black. i capped the white off of the RC harness. I wish i would’ve took pictures of it before covering everything up and installing heat shrink.

Awesome!You are the smarter person I was talking about! Thanks, that gives me an idea how to wire them.
Did you find a resource (YouTube or something) that you followed for the proper wiring or just have that knowledge?
I'm not totally inept when it comes to vehicle wiring but again...fire is BAD!
Thanks for any info!

 

[Garrett]

Lol I've got two "ditch lights" from Rough Country mounted on my TRD Sport 4X4, but have not been able to translate their wiring to the Taco's pigtail set-up. Meaning....I'm afraid of setting my new truck on MORE than I need the ditch lights! So they look cool on the truck but they are posers until I can find a smarter person than I to wire them correctly. Good luck!

This is my situation as well lol.

 

[doritotaco]

Awesome!You are the smarter person I was talking about! Thanks, that gives me an idea how to wire them.
Did you find a resource (YouTube or something) that you followed for the proper wiring or just have that knowledge?
I'm not totally inept when it comes to vehicle wiring but again...fire is BAD!
Thanks for any info!

did some testing with a volt meter to determine which one was the constant power, and which one was fed power after switched on. once that was figured out, i just used the oem switch in replace for the rough country “switch”. glad this helped and you can get them running!! i opted for the 13,500 lumens and they are BRIGHT

 

[Garrett]

So I talked to BD today and it turns out that the light bar draws close to 17 amps. Looks like the largest lead on the pigtail only supports 15. Is it possible to still to use the switch as "just a switch" and draw power from the battery directly instead?

 

[Sagebrush]

Looks like the largest lead on the pigtail only supports 15.

Probably not–you'd expect to blow fuses.

I bought the Cali ditch lights and wiring harness. I rewired the relay switch so I can control the lights using the bright-lever switch. You have to 1) engage the dash switch, and 2) push the bright lever forward.

I did the same thing with my 2016. If you don't want to go that direction, just hook the other switch light to the 30 post.

 

[StreeTaco]

Connect the factory Aux switch to a relay that is wired between the light bar and battery. No need for two operable switches. Also, ground the light bar to the battery, not the relay

 

[Taco Azul]

Connect the factory Aux switch to a relay that is wired between the light bar and battery. No need for two operable switches. Also, ground the light bar to the battery, not the relay

I think the previous diagram is showing that the relay will also need a ground to operate.

 

[StreeTaco]

Definitely needs a ground to function.

 

[Sagebrush]

that the relay will also need a ground to operate.

Yep.

 

[n118nw]

Connect the factory Aux switch to a relay that is wired between the light bar and battery. No need for two operable switches. Also, ground the light bar to the battery, not the relay

I 2nd this. I don't like how Toyota used thinner gauge wires for 15, 10 and 5 applications, so I made a 25amp fuse/relay box for all 3 aux buttons and the lead that toggles the relay comes from the OEM Aux relays... works just fine plus allows you to safely run thicker wires so you can up the amperage.

 

[Garrett]

I 2nd this. I don't like how Toyota used thinner gauge wires for 15, 10 and 5 applications, so I made a 25amp fuse/relay box for all 3 aux buttons and the lead that toggles the relay comes from the OEM Aux relays... works just fine plus allows you to safely run thicker wires so you can up the amperage.

This sounds like exactly what I need. Is this a similar setup to @Sagebrush? Do you mind sharing more details like which relay you chose and exactly how you tied in the aux pigtail? Appreciate the help; it's all starting to make sense.

 

[Sagebrush]

Is this a similar setup to @Sagebrush?

Nope.

My system allows the driver to toggle the ditch lights (or light bar) using the dimmer lever. You have to use a relay switch for that.

Sponsored