Rewiring Piaa Button to Rocker Switch

Electrical and wiring are, by far, my least favorite aspects of vehicle modification: meticulous, clean, magic, and when I do it wrong, smoke/sparks/fire/awkward phone calls.

So with all that out there, I could use some help. I have two sets of PIAA lights: driving and fog. Each uses the PIAA harness with the on/off buttons. Everything works fine, but those little button pods are asinine. They don't mount well, so I have them just flopping around looking really clean and professional

I want to cut these on/off button switches off, and replace them with SPST, lower independent Contura rocker switches that I can neatly mount, likely to a panel in the factory clock area.

I can't seem to find a PIAA switch wiring diagram anywhere, but here's the best I could come up with: http://graph.darren-criss.org/2016/03/10/piaa-fog-light-wiring-diagram-l-ae80821774ec4c5c.jpg

3-wire switch, with a single LED showing on (red) or off (green). I know one of these wires is the switch power (+), but the other two are unlabeled and just go to the PIAA relay.

Here's the wiring diagram for the SPST/lower independent rocker switch: http://www.otrattw.com/J66a.pdf

How would I best integrate the existing three-wires into a new switch that appears to have five terminals?

Right now the PIAA's are just hooked to constant power (no ignition or accessory circuit tie-in), so I imagine I'll need to find some acc. circuit under the dash in order to have power to illuminate the lower LED with vehicle is on (rather than on at all times)?

If any of you have done this and could grant me the necessary information and knowledge, I beseech thee.

Thank you!

 

Hey. This is the same thing that I'm gonna try and do tonight. Lol. I will let you know if there's any sparks or flames from my wire splicing

 

Excellent, good luck! Same type of switches? Definitely let me know how the wiring goes. And take some pics! Unless there are flames.

Or pics with flames would be cool too.

 

Mine are wired to dash rockers. Of course, I took it to the people who installed the lights and said; "Here, make these work!" And they did.

 

Any luck, @azsean ?

I'm tempted to do that... along with installing my fuse block/breaker. But I'm a DIY guy, so I gotta try.

 

@McMash i haven't gotten to it yet. Still working on house. I have the same lights and on/off switch. I ordered one of the push switches that go into the Tacoma blanks. I seen a diagram on google where u can wire three wire switch to five or 6. It looks very easy. Let me see if I can find that diagram.

 

I haven't received the switches yet, but hopefully that diagram points me in the proper direction. I'll just need to figure out which wires are which in the PIAA button and then pair/jumper accordingly.

I've also been reading a lot about people adding relays in addition to the switch. I've never wired one up with any of my lights, but I suppose the benefit is it keeps the load amps away from the switch/out of the cab?

 

The relay already exists. It's the box in the PIAA wiring diagram you posted, so you don't need another relay. The wiring diagram that @azsean posted will have the lower light illuminated all the time. The upper light will come on when you turn on the lights. If you want the lower light only when you turn on your headlights, you will need to wire the lower right terminal to a source that's only on when the headlights are on with an add-a-fuse. Most people tap into the tail light fuse under the dash.

 

Over the River and Through the Woods(OTRATTW) has Carling style switches and wiring diagrams that allow you to hookup the illumination correctly to your dash lighting circuit.
http://www.otrattw.net/wiring-diagrams.html

Unlike this method which will (depending on your 'battery' source) leave the switch lights on all the time.

 

Yeah. Spaced-out with the lights, as they already have relays. It was a long day. As far as the switch light, I was initially going to have the lower light on whenever the truck was on, but I'd rather have them light up with the dash.

Thank you, sir! I'll be tying the switch illumination into the dash lighting.

 

hey there, i got mine to finally work. do u still need help with urs?

 

Still haven't had a chance to tackle them yet, but any info you can throw out would be awesome!

 

So i'm kind of in a similar situation...just installed some ditch lights but I'm a little confused as to how to wire the 5-pin rocker switch. From what I've seen so far, the top 2 pins can be jumped together to go to ground, the bottom left goes to pin 86 on the relay for the circuit...it's the last two pins I'm confused about. I know one of them is supposed to go to an acc fuse to light the switch when the car is on, and one goes to the positive terminal on the battery? This here is showing those two pins both going to the battery...is this right? Thanks for the help!