New fog/offroad lights. Only one thing I'm a little concerned with.

I finally got my lights in and installed last night but I'm having a bit of an issue. My fog light switch is one just like you'd get from the stock lamps and it has the small light so the button is backlit( very dim). Since I have the switch wired directly to the battery, that dim light never turns off. Is this going to cause me problems or should I just forget about it? It's not bright at all I was also thinking of just taking the light out of the switch. Hope y'all like the pics. I know I do.

 

I wouldn't want that much current running through the switch with or without the bulb in it. I would use a relay.

 

Splice into a wire that only has power in it when the ignition is on. Thats what I did for my off-road lights since the switch also has a light in it.

 

What else could I splice it with? I was on the phone with a guy from Cajun yotas and he was sayin it should be fine but that was before I realized the switch light stayed on.

 

I'm not very good with electrical stuff so when I look under my dash I see a bunch of wire. Nothing more. Nothing less. I can do basic stuff but I don't know what any of those wires go to or anything like that.

 

Since yours is a base I'm not sure if your wiring is the same as a v6 model?

 

How do you have your switch wired? If it's just for the Light in the switch you can take power from the other switches/dash lights. If your taking power from the battery going through the switch to your lights you should use a relay. Got a diagram?

 

That is EXACTLY how I did it. You'll need to follow it closely to make sense of it but that is 100% how I did it.

 

the light won't drain your battery with any significance

but as others said, the current you place up near the switch
is risky...if something shorts out, it is smoky bar-b-que time

 

I had to wire the switch there. I could require the switch power and splice it to something else. I just don't know what to.

 

I dont get your diagram... Maybe you should rewire everything, if not, you may melt your switch.... take a look at this:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103969

 

I'll probly get someone to help me redo the switch this weekend. Cause I'm no good with electric work. Hopefully it doesn't blow up by then.

 

Disconnect from battery, tape the cable and wait for help then... That would be my suggestion....

 

x2
i suck at wiring and i make shit blow up.

 

Damn y'all are right. And I was really looking forward to using them tonight on my drive:/ better safe than sorry. Thanks guys.

 

Do I just need to remove the switch wore from the battery or all of them?

 

Exactly, hopefully find someone that knows what they are doing and not someone that "knows what they are doing".

Some readable diagrams here.

diy-wiring-after-market-lights

 

If I can get it done right I would really like to run it into the existing fuse box in the dash and not worry about the inline fuse.

 

What if I spliced it with that red wire that's coming off the battery? That's the wire for the lights that is supposed to be on the battery.

 

^ take a look at that and see what you think.

https://www.circuitlab.com/circuit/76y46p/simple-added-light-circuit/

EDIT: That image is hard to see. Link to circuit ^

Shamelessly stolen Disclaimer: This is a reference only and I take no responsibility if you burn your truck down, hurt yourself (1A is enough to kill you), or void your warranty, etc. This circuit was put together quickly and might not be perfect. .

Your simplest and safest solution is going to be using a simple SPST relay to control the power to the lights (can be purchased at any hardware or auto parts store). The relay can be mounted in the engine compartment.

Battery>Fuse>Relay pin 30... Relay pin 87 to the positive on the lights. The relay carries the lights' higher amp draw, so you're not running all of the power into the cab, through the switch, to the lights.

The switch will power the relay's coil, thus closing the light's + circuit and turning them on.

The switch's internal light, combined with the relay coil's current draw will probably draw less than 0.5 total amps, most likely it will be ~0.240 amps (0.16 for the coil, maybe ~.80 for the lighted switch). This means there is very very little current going through your firewall and the switch. Running the switch and lamps through the firewall and switch will be a much higher current... For example (because I don't know the specs on the lights), if those lights are 55 watts each, you have 110 watts, divided by 12 volts, for a total of 9.16 amps controlled by the switch.


Not only is this going to be much safer, but you should only need one wire running through the firewall. If you also use a fuse-tap/"mini add-a-cicuit", connected to a fuse in the cab that comes on with the truck's "ACC/ON" circuit, connected to the "incoming/source" side of the switch, you will only need a wire connected to the "outgoing (to relay pin 86)" through the firewall. Then you just need to ground the switch to a location in the cab.

Wiring the switch with a fuse tap to a circuit that is on when the truck is on will also make it so the switch's internal light comes on and off with the truck, and the relay and lights will also be dependent on the position of the key.

You should absolutely disconnect the lights as they are wired now, and read the threads linked above. You need to familiarize yourself with wiring in order to avoid a hazards and damage to your vehicle/yourself.

I've used circuitlab.com to make layouts for a few different circuits, it's free and very useful resource. The values of things might not be what you want, but it's much cleaner than when I draw them by hand.