Machined Ring for Hilux Lighted 4x4 switch!!

Accidentally cut them too short so I soldered a piece for an extension as you will see in the photos.

 

You are supposed to "tap" into the green and green with white stripe wire. It looks like from the picture you cut those two wires and then joined the switch to the connector side of the freshly cut wires. That does explain why neither are lighting up.

 

@nudavinci64 in the pic below the wire on the left taps to green and the middle wire taps to green with white stripe.

 

Sorry forgot to note in the picture I disconnected the wires that were tapped to
the switch which is why they are not tapped. I was mainly showing which wires I cut. I tried swapping which wire went to green and green/white and didn't work.

 

Ah ok, I'd try lighting your switch up by itself first and see if that's where the problem is. You should be able to get them to light up with just a 9v battery if you don't have a power supply.

 

I'll give that a shot. Still odd it shorts out HVAC when they are connected. I would think just the switch would not light up.

 

Looks like it may be the switch unless someone can think of another idea. Contacted the eBay seller but as I thought he is giving me a bit of a run around that the switch is new and I need to hook it up to the lights. Yah I got that buddy it still doesn't light up.

Battery Test

 

I just checked a Hilux switch I have here and a 9v did light it up, although it was pretty faint so if you used a old battery you might want to check with a fresh one. The only other thing I can think of is you have orange wires hooked up to the switch and thicker red wires at the connection point by the connector. It's a long shot but you could check where you joined the red to orange wires to make sure nothing is shorting out there.

Did you solder in new LEDs or just put it in with the stock blue LEDs? I believe @nazlax10 has a new switch that will be up for sale pretty soon. Hopefully you can get it resolved!

 

If he soldered in leds and didn't do it right it could have fried something. @nazlax10 and I encountered that and had to get a 2nd switch

 

Yep that's true. It would have to be more than just a backwards LED. Something like accidently direct linking + to - with a solder blob... but it is another possibility. I think this would be the first I've heard of a faulty Hilux switch.

 

I did not change out the LEDs so I can rule that part out. For the terminals I soldered the red wires to the orange wires. Pretty straight forward but as annoying as that is I will give it a shot and pull it apart and try directly to the orange wires and re do it all.

When you tested with a 9v I assume you just touched the terminals wires from the switch to the battery? I did test lighting up the HVAC lights with the 9v and it lit those up brighter than the stock power so the battery should light it up.

I hope one of the solder points broke off. I need to remove the shrink wrap to get to it. Based on the ebay sellers response, he is going to make it a pain to return.

Also the switch itself functions and puts the truck in 4H and 4L etc. Its the lights that do not work and as pointed out actually turn off the HVAC. The solder points of the orange red wires are separate and shrink wrapped so unless they fell apart I can't see them being shorted by anything.

 

Yep I tested it pretty much exactly as you did in the video. Like I said it's a bit of a long shot that there is a short where you soldered the wires... but probably worth a check just to be sure. If you test it battery to the orange wires and the switch still won't light up then I'd say you definitely have a faulty switch.

 

Great, that is what ill do. Ill post up after I try the Terminal leads and see what happens. I hope its just a bad solder job.

 

I think I may have to accept defeat. Good call out on the terminals. The solder job looks fine but I did shrink wrap both points at the same spot without realizing it. So they were touching which would have caused the HVAC to go out when plugged in. I separated them and tried again and the switch lights still does not light up. I even tried directly connecting the terminals and nothing.

I wouldn't think t would short the LED but go figure. one of my LED lights just shorted out as well so if there is anything worth trying next let me know.

 

After separating the wires does your AC panel light up?

 

You can unplug the switch and use a 9v to test and see if the LEDs still work or not. I usually just electric tape some wire to the 9v + and then -/ and touch them to the +/- pins on the switch.

The tiny LEDs on the circuit boards won't play nice when they short out. When I was testing steering controls I touched 2 circuits by accident and blew out all the LEDs on the board.

Whenever you solder wires together always heat shrink them separate. You can loom them or shrink the overal bunch together later.

 

Or pull the fuse to the circuit or if you really want to be safe, disconnect the battery.

 

And if you want to be extra cautious store the battery in a locked container a minimum of 20' from the truck hehe

 

A little off topic but do you know what size LEDs are in the steering wheel controls? I've been thinking about changing mine from green to white but haven't had the time to take the controls off to see what size LEDs are being used.

 

I honestly don't know but they are smaller than what is in the Hilux switch. Based on the markings/size when I initially blew mine out in my old controls I think they might be similar to these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/181137198562

They are recessed if I remember correct.

But Idk, I sort of gave up looking when I got the black 14+ controls and decided to stick with green.