Simple dash switch wiring question.

Iiiiinteresting. Didn't even consider this but it's absolutely the case that the radio has a freakin' on/off button. Never actually hit it before. God damn man. I feel...dumb.

 

the center panel there is not a bus panel, it is a fused blue sea panel. All the greens would be protected by a 7.5 or 5 amp fuse. All the other positions are fused as well.

 

Sometimes you just gotta sound it out to realize you're over complicating things. Happens to the best of us.

73, KD7TRD

 

For sure I have the same panel. Just wasn't sure the switch could handle the full force of the battery, but trying to suss that out in my head gave me additional understanding that tapping a fuse in the internal fuse block is exactly the same as going through the blue sea panel. Just needs to be fused properly to prevent dying in a fire.

 

Gigitty goo! Man, wish I would have see your post this weekend when I spent (3) days wiring and re-wiring my whole fuse/relay panel to switch set up.

 

I'm going to do a write up here soon

 

Did it all work out?

 

Reading through a bunch of posts and came across this. Just to make sure I under what you did, your switches are always hot, right? Meaning anything they control can be turns on with the truck off?

If that is correct, if I wanted to make the switches hot only when the truck was on, would I just tap all of the green wires from the switch harnesses into a switched fuse (inside the cab)? If so, what size fuse? From what I am understanding, using relays keeps the draw low on the switches themselves, so the Andrade should be fairly low?

Sorry, I’m a complete newb at this and just trying to make sure I fully understand.

 

Correct, my accessories can be turned on anytime, but the switch main LEDS only light up when the truck is on. If I switch the accessory on with the truck off, the status LED does light.
I did this because I use the rear LED pods with the truck off while I am fishing at night, or loading stuff in and out of the bed with the truck off. If you want nothing on with the truck off, then yes use a circuit/fuse that only has power when the ignition is on.

 

Thanks for the response and info! I’m trying to learn about relays and wiring switches as I go along, but your diagram helped out tremendously.

Since your switches are always hot, is there any draw on your battery when the truck is off and the accessories are off? Even just a small draw from the switch itself?

Based on your setup (which is very similar to what I am thinking about doing), is there a way to have half of the fuse block always hot and half switched? I’m assuming not since there is only one positive terminal on the fuse block.

 

Not sure if it helps but I did this short video on the switchpro which may answer some questions..

https://youtu.be/wRzcTMKVecI

 

So the switches have no appreciable draw while the truck is off since they are not actually closing the circuit, the LEDS would draw a very small amount if I had them hot. Now obviously, if I turn on the switch, the status LED and the accessory would be drawing from the system.
There are fuse boxes that allow you to have two different circuits in them, the one I use only had one positive feed, so only one circuit.

 

Gotcha. Seems like my understanding is accurate then. Another question if you don’t mind; I know the fuse block is used to ground the relays typically. Where do you normally ground the accessory itself at? Just anywhere on the chassis? Or run it back up to the fuse block?

 

Thanks! Gonna check it out now. I’ll PM you if I have any questions. Thanks again!

 

I grounded the relays on the bus bar I added, I grounded the accessories at a factory ground near them, or anywhere in the chassis

 

Thanks for the info!

 

No problem, there are lots of helpful members on here. Many helped me as well.

 

For sure. I usually always get helpful advice. Only had one or two of “those guys”. Haha.

I always try to figure things out on my own, but there’s always conflicting info. Considering these trucks are filled with electronics nowadays I don’t wanna go frying anything. Better to ask people who know.