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Light bar wired in to existing switch

Almboss

By Almboss
in Modifications & Accessories

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Almboss Enthusiast

Almboss

Posted
Posted

Im looking to get a LED light bar this weekend, and I was thinking of if it could be wired into the cargo light toggle or the parking assist one? The light draws 15 amps.

 

I just dont want to make a hole some where and add some button that will just be a eye sore. Has any one gone about doing something like this?

Asells Enthusiast

Asells

Posted
Posted

If your not looking to drill any holes why not look at getting a remote setup. That way too you can hook it up to your homelink.

cbrsilv15 Senior Enthusiast

cbrsilv15

Posted
Posted

Most decent light bars come with a stand alone relay harness because of power draw. I would wire it separately and hide the switch somewhere so you don't overload anything.

schmolf4 Enthusiast

schmolf4

Posted
Posted

Most decent light bars come with a stand alone relay harness because of power draw. I would wire it separately and hide the switch somewhere so you don't overload anything.

I concur with this statement

Jdkno Enthusiast

Jdkno

Posted
Posted

The light bar will come with its own harness for power. What OP was looking to do was use an existing switch to power the relay, which would be low draw. I don't think it is possible to use the switches on the center stack as I recall they only send a momentary signal to tell the BCM to activate/deactivate. The cleanest way would be to use a wireless remote and program one of the home link buttons with the remote. This would also keep you from having to run wires into the cab.

 

For OEM look I believe Chevy has a separate light switch for the OEM sport bar light kit that has a second button next to the original fog light button on the round light switch. Not sure how complex of a wiring job that would be though.

  • 3 weeks later...
Lalibert Enthusiast

Lalibert

Posted
Posted

The light bar will come with its own harness for power. What OP was looking to do was use an existing switch to power the relay, which would be low draw. I don't think it is possible to use the switches on the center stack as I recall they only send a momentary signal to tell the BCM to activate/deactivate. The cleanest way would be to use a wireless remote and program one of the home link buttons with the remote. This would also keep you from having to run wires into the cab.

For OEM look I believe Chevy has a separate light switch for the OEM sport bar light kit that has a second button next to the original fog light button on the round light switch. Not sure how complex of a wiring job that would be though.

Can you elaborate on using the hometouch buttons is it as simple as it sounds? Is it just literally a wireless remote connection and just link it to the homelink button also do you know if you could hook up multiple lights to the 3 separate home link buttons?

bndawgs Senior Enthusiast

bndawgs

Posted
Posted

Can you elaborate on using the hometouch buttons is it as simple as it sounds? Is it just literally a wireless remote connection and just link it to the homelink button also do you know if you could hook up multiple lights to the 3 separate home link buttons?

Yes and Yes with 3 different wireless remotes. But I'm not sure if they would all operate on the same frequency though.

Lalibert Enthusiast

Lalibert

Posted
Posted

Yes and Yes with 3 different wireless remotes. But I'm not sure if they would all operate on the same frequency though.

Don't know if you have this in your current truck is there any delay in turning then off and on versus and actual switch?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

bndawgs Senior Enthusiast

bndawgs

Posted
Posted

Don't know if you have this in your current truck is there any delay in turning then off and on versus and actual switch?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't have this setup, but I've read about others' set up on here. Don't know if a delay had been talked about, but I would assume there would be a slight delay via wireless vs switched.

Jdkno Enthusiast

Jdkno

Posted
Posted

I doubt there would be any perciveable delay, if there was a difference in turn on time between a hardwired switch and the wireless option it would probably be along the lines of milliseconds.

Dub1796 Enthusiast

Dub1796

Posted
Posted

Im looking to get a LED light bar this weekend, and I was thinking of if it could be wired into the cargo light toggle or the parking assist one? The light draws 15 amps.

 

I just dont want to make a hole some where and add some button that will just be a eye sore. Has any one gone about doing something like this?

Do you have the center console? Use both cigarette lighter plugs? Take one apart and mount a standard round pico switch in there. You can also retain the factory cover

Almboss Enthusiast

Almboss

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah I thought about that. I only got one cigarette lighter and waneed to keep it for a phone charger since the USB ports in the jump seat blow. I ended up mounting the switch in the cubby hole where the trailer brakes would go if you have the package.

 

My new problem is the light bar doesn't project the light with the center of the truck. With it on it shines about 10-20ft to the driver's left from the center of the truck at about 100ft out infront. I used the brackets that came with it and mounted it to the 1"x1" square tube that runs in front of the radiator (assuming it's square with the the truck).

Lalibert Enthusiast

Lalibert

Posted
Posted

I'm using the homelink option with my rough country light bar kit. I don't really notice any type of delay. It was a really simple way to get it done. Also, the kit I ordered for the lights came with its own remote in case you don't want to use the homelink for some reason. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UR2DIRI/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Got the harness in yesterday going to test it out before I mount any lights...I saw where someone mentioned they had an issue with their lights coming on because they felt someone else close by was using the same frequency for something else. Have you ever had that issue?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

OkieDavid Enthusiast

OkieDavid

Posted
Posted

Got the harness in yesterday going to test it out before I mount any lights...I saw where someone mentioned they had an issue with their lights coming on because they felt someone else close by was using the same frequency for something else. Have you ever had that issue?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

No, I have never had that issue. I have one button assigned to my garage door and one button assigned to the lights. However, I should point out that I live in a relatively rural area, so probably 80% of my driving is not in a crowded city. On the other hand, it's Oklahoma, so like 1 out of 3 vehicles are other trucks...

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