Light bar switch wiring help/oddity

I've had a light bar for a few years with a switch on the left side but it wasn't tied to the dash illumination. I moved it to the center dash with a new switch to fit the location, I also added an always on plug for the QI charger to get dash illumination pigtails and open up a location for the light bar switch. The light bar works as before with the new switch but the switch illumination is weird, dash illumination lights up when the ignition is turned on but goes out when the headlights are turned on. The switch does light up properly to signal when the light bar is turned on. Would reversing the wires of the illumination pigtail fix this? This was the suggestion but I'm concerned since the switch as a hole uses the ground from the pigtail. I've included the switch wiring diagram. Thanks

 

I recall I had to significantly modify the backlight wiring circuit on my ARB locker switches because the Tacoma dash lights are hardwired to + positive voltage and the dimming function is applied to the negative (or ground) side of the lighting circuit. If the lamp in your switch is grounded on one side, that may be your issue. You'll need to find a different switch which has a lamp that can be wired independently from ground.

I discovered this by back-probing the illumination wires on one of the factory switches.


Edit:
Looking at a diagram, it appears the + feed wire for the backlighting is (solid) Green (fixed at 12V), the wire for - is (solid) Beige (which is varied by the Dimmer circuit)

Hope that helps

 

Edit:
Looking at a diagram, it appears the + feed wire for the backlighting is (solid) Green (fixed at 12V), the wire for - is (solid) Beige (which is varied by the Dimmer circuit)

Hope that helps[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the info. I'm not actually using the trucks wiring harness, its a plug that replaces the switch and has illumination pigtails to use. I'm thinking I'll go back to how I had the old switch wired without dash illumination. It's just frustrating since it actually lights up how it should except its with ignition power, then shuts off when the lights are turned on. Thanks

 

I noticed something new this morning. With the headlights on if I turn on the light bar the switch goes completely dark but the light bar still works. I'm thinking I'll pull a new ground wire to hook up and disconnect the Negative wire from the illumination pig tail.

 

It would help if you told us how you have it wired currently. What are these four wires connecting to? I have several of these switches and they all work as intended.

I have my switches wired so they only work key on:
Pin 1: ACC (or whatever you want, for instance the switch for my fog backlights uses the parking light signal here)
Pin 2: Out to relay
Pin 3: Dash Light +
Pin 4: Ground

With it wired like this the light will light up when turned on, in my case that is the portion of the switch with the picture on it. When the dash lights turn on then the switch label illuminates.

 

1-goes to the ACC switched power
2- to relay
3-dashlight positive from pigtail illumination
4-dashlight negative from pigtail illumination

I think 4 is my problem and will switch it to a chassis ground Wednesday when I pull the dash apart to replace a USB adapter

 

#4 does appear to be your problem (connecting it to chassis ground would work, but then it won't dim with your dash lights). Your switch needs to have separate grounds for both the "On" and "illumination" indicator lamps for this to work.

My locker switches are basically identical to this one (just the label is different):
https://www.ebay.com/itm/302611253223

If you look at the pinout diagram, there are 5 pins (yours has 4). Pin 8 is ground for the "On" indicator lamp. Pins 6 & 7 are purely for the illumination lamp (Pin 6 being +12V, Pin 7 being "ground"). For this example, you would need to connect Pin 6 to the Green wire for your dash lighting circuit, and Pin 7 to the Beige wire.

 

I used this and daisy chained multiple for all my switch backlighting: https://caliraisedled.com/products/plug-and-play-switch-illumination-harness. Made it simple and splice-free. Could easily extend those wires to the center if you didn't want to splice into factory wiring. I made a harness before installing so that all that was left to do was plug them in, connect to an add-a-fuse circuit with a low amp fuse so the switches were only live when the ignition was on and then run the relay trigger wires.

 

These switches are different. They do NOT dim.

There are two LEDs, see below picture, and they are either on or off. They are controlled separately but can be wired together. If wired as I posted above they way it will work is that LED 2 is on whenever the light (or whatever you are switching) is switched on. It is off whenever it is off. LED 1 is what will be connected to the dash lights. The purpose is that when the dash lights go on, it comes on so you can read it at night. It does not dim. So LED 1 is only on when dash lights are on.

The downside is these switches are really bright. I took the button portion off of my switches. I masked the front and sprayed the inside with 2-3 coats of VHT Night Shades. They are right where I like them now.