Today's Mods...

SkiDooNick700 · September 29, 2015

I gotchya. That was going to be my next question. You have a hard wired switch. That being said, do any of the lights on the switch light up when it's on or off? If yes then switch is good. If switch works, does led bar turn on? If not then could be a bad relay or bad connection on one of the terminals. Let me know your symptoms.

I may not have clearly explained what the issue is. My issue isn't necessary the LED bar working as it did work with both wiring setups. Maybe this will help clarify...

When we put the two terminals on the wiring harness to the battery on the truck, the switch would light up. The red light would light up when the LED bar was off. Press the button, the Green light would light up and the LED Bar would turn on as it should. The issue was this: With the Truck OFF and Light Bar OFF, the Red light on the switch would still be lit up, which would be pulling power from the battery. When the truck is off, I don't want the switch light to still be illuminating as it's drawing power from the battery.

As an alternative, we removed the terminal ends from the wiring harness and spliced the positive into the headlight, and then the ground terminal is between a bolt and body panel. By doing this, the switch is only getting power when the Headlights are on. LED Bar functions normally this way as well. The only difference is, when I turn off the headlights, and ultimately, the truck, the lights on the switch turn OFF, which means the switch is no longer pulling power when the truck is off (no light on switch is illuminated).

Summary: When directly wired to battery, switch red light was always on(or green if I left the LED bar turned ON), which means switch was always going to be pulling power, even when truck was turned off.

Rewired by splicing into headlight power, now switch lights only turn on when headlight is on, which means when I turn the truck off and the headlights off, the switch is no longer pulling battery power.

Ultimately, if this is wired directly to the battery, the red or green light is always going to be lit up on the switch, regardless if the truck is ON or OFF, right? I do not want the switch lights to be illuminated when the truck is off and parked.

Kerrslight · September 29, 2015

I may not have clearly explained what the issue is. My issue isn't necessary the LED bar working as it did work with both wiring setups. Maybe this will help clarify...

When we put the two terminals on the wiring harness to the battery on the truck, the switch would light up. The red light would light up when the LED bar was off. Press the button, the Green light would light up and the LED Bar would turn on as it should. The issue was this: With the Truck OFF and Light Bar OFF, the Red light on the switch would still be lit up, which would be pulling power from the battery. When the truck is off, I don't want the switch light to still be illuminating as it's drawing power from the battery.

As an alternative, we removed the terminal ends from the wiring harness and spliced the positive into the headlight, and then the ground terminal is between a bolt and body panel. By doing this, the switch is only getting power when the Headlights are on. LED Bar functions normally this way as well. The only difference is, when I turn off the headlights, and ultimately, the truck, the lights on the switch turn OFF, which means the switch is no longer pulling power when the truck is off (no light on switch is illuminated).

Summary: When directly wired to battery, switch red light was always on(or green if I left the LED bar turned ON), which means switch was always going to be pulling power, even when truck was turned off.

Rewired by splicing into headlight power, now switch lights only turn on when headlight is on, which means when I turn the truck off and the headlights off, the switch is no longer pulling battery power.

Ultimately, if this is wired directly to the battery, the red or green light is always going to be lit up on the switch, regardless if the truck is ON or OFF, right? I do not want the switch lights to be illuminated when the truck is off and parked.

You are correct. With that switch, as long as it is wired directly to the battery, one of the lights will be on. I used this same switch to wire up my buddies light bar. Draws very little power, but I understand where your coming from. I had my buddy order a new switch and we cut that switch off like you have and replaced it with a circular switch. I'll take a pic tonight and show you

SkiDooNick700 · September 29, 2015

You are correct. With that switch, as long as it is wired directly to the battery, one of the lights will be on. I used this same switch to wire up my buddies light bar. Draws very little power, but I understand where your coming from. I had my buddy order a new switch and we cut that switch off like you have and replaced it with a circular switch. I'll take a pic tonight and show you

Ok great, thanks for your help man. I think what we're gonna do is go buy some real nice terminals and put it back to the battery, because I'm not finding a reliable ground with my current setup (also occasionally takes out the drivers side headlight temporarily). We'll also buy a nice rocker switch so when it's off, it is completely off and no power will be draining. This OEM switch is kinda cheap and bulky anyway. Something smaller and low profile would be nicer.

Also, a picture of the bar installed :-)

Kerrslight · September 29, 2015

Ok great, thanks for your help man. I think what we're gonna do is go buy some real nice terminals and put it back to the battery, because I'm not finding a reliable ground with my current setup (also occasionally takes out the drivers side headlight temporarily). We'll also buy a nice rocker switch so when it's off, it is completely off and no power will be draining. This OEM switch is kinda cheap and bulky anyway. Something smaller and low profile would be nicer.

Also, a picture of the bar installed :-)

You got it man. Also if you want a good wiring kit, just order the rigid wiring harness from Amazon.

Light looks good!

Chadwilliam1 · September 29, 2015

When is somebody going to add a second light bar on top?

Kerrslight · September 29, 2015

Here's the switch I have

When is somebody going to add a second light bar on top?

Would be pretty difficult to have one on top.

SkiDooNick700 · September 29, 2015

When is somebody going to add a second light bar on top?

Top of the grill? I agree with Kerrslight, that would be kind of difficult. Isn't there some plastic piece or something that would block the ability to put a light bar up there? I can't recall without looking.