rcbs204 4x4 Illuminated Switch!

rcbs204.....
Just to let you know you are still in business.... I work for the company that designs/builds the Taco 4WD switch. We just redesigned it for the 2012MY Tacoma and there will not be illumination.... good work btw, I just bought a Tacoma and I don't understand why that switch is not illuminated

 

No shit?
Is it all the same, or do i need to make design changes?
See if they want to light it up, and i will go into full production, 1000 a month.

 

Im pretty sure youll have make changes. Switch is a little smaller and shape is different....
You'd prolly need to build abt 7k per mont for all the switches, however toyota spec says no illumination so we dont illuminate which is good for u

 

Yes that is good for me!!
Can you swipe the body of a new switch, something they have scraped?
I'll pay you for it, or trade for a lighted one since you have an 08.

 

I know hardground succeeded here, but Lord help me if I can figure how to get those connectors out of the A/C unit. I'm thinking I'm going for quick splices to do the job unless there's hints?

 

I have never pushed the pins out, but i am sure with the right tool it will come out.

 

Gah.. just got some money, well see if it will cover goodies after bills!

 

Have a bunch built and ready for shipment. Also have a bunch of blue and white LED's for those that are interested.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibBqqa_Nbhk&feature=related

 

Cool, i like it!!

 

Thought you might and you got a free bump or two.

 

Free bumps are good!

 

Got mine last week! Now I know why the SST's don't fly any longer 'cause you use 'em to deliver these boards! Thanks a bunch!

So I did it a bit differently in that I soldered the wires to the inside of the switch - that way I could leave that tab that needed to be removed on the switch housing intact (no wires or solder show on the outside of the switch) and if the switch ever needs to be removed there are no wires showing whatsoever. The soldering was easy and the wires are on there solidly. I also ran the wires inside of the cable hosing as far as I could after connecting the Molex pins to the connector.

In connecting up to the AC harness, I found that these 3M quick connects worked like a charm. I got them at Wal-Mart for $1.38


The hardest part of this for me was getting past the intimidation of tinkering with the electrical wires on my new Taco. Glad I did it - can't thank you enough for the fantastic mod and the great delivery service!

 

lol, you are welcome!

 

Do you have any pics of the different method you used? I am thinking about doing this mod too and want to take all variations into account before I pull the trigger.

 

I didn't take pics because I decided to do it on the fly - and actually did think about it after the fact, but didn't want to take a chance messing with those tabs on the switch again.
What got me thinking about doing the soldering differently was that when I took out the switch assembly, I noticed that there was a plug on the switch in the location where our fearless master's instructions said to pull the wires through and solder. At the time I thought I'd need to snap off the plug to gain access until I saw that it just twisted off. Then I saw where I could easily solder the leads to the contacts on the inside of the switch and figured I'd try it - and it worked just fine, and looks much cleaner - and the plug never got moved.
If you have specific questions I could try to answer them, but it is really quite intuitive once you get in there and see it apart. I think if I could do it, just about anyone can.
As for the Molex bit, once I got the Molex connectors onto the connector and snapped them into place, I just figured I could feed the two wires through the cable housing along with the other three 4X4 switch wires a bit which gave the wiring a bit of a cleaner look too.
And, as I said in my post, the 3M quick connects just did the trick very easily on the power supply end of the wiring. What I did there, just to be certain the wiring up to that point was good, was to strip about 1/4 inch of insulation from the end of the two wires and then shove them into the A/C cable bundle (the white to the green and the red to the green/white) just by sliding them alongside the corresponding power wires so that I'd be certain I had everything right before clamping down on the quick connects.
The entire process was actually very easy and fairly quick, I just tend to get (unnecessarily) intimidated by mods like this one - but the end result was just great!

 

Here is the back of the cover where he soldering to. I have hundreds of pics of this project, so please ask if you have any other questions.

 

That is exactly the right location - thanks for taking the pics for me!

Was out last night - first time since installing the LED's - I was really impressed with how nice they look - blends in perfectly with the other lights. Thanks again for doing such a superb job - really, really great! Much appreciated.

 

Glad you like it!