Auxiliary Light Wiring

jordans05tj

TJ Enthusiast
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Dec 31, 2019
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Arkansas
I'm adding a little bit of additional lighting and I'm weighing options to wire them up. My 2005 has factory wiring for fog lights, but didn't come with fogs originally. My first option is to purchase a multifunction switch, plug in a relay, and get adapters that go from the factory plug on one end to a deutsche connector on the other. This would be a very clean solution, but it'll be $110 for the adapters and switch. If I do this route I won't be able to use my bright lights with the lights I'm adding without modifying it somehow.

My second option is to get some of these switches:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FGXEMIW/?tag=wranglerorg-20

If I get these switches they'll be clean and I've got a couple spots open in the factory panel. The only problem with this route is finding a source of power tied to the ignition. They are backlit switches for one, and I also don't want the lights to stay on when the key is off. Does anybody know of a power source tied to the ignition that could be easily used? Maybe an unused circuit somewhere under the hood?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
 
My 06 has the wires for fog lights, but no lights. The harness is all there. Check if your multifunction switch has the fog light part already. Put the headlights on low beam, and right at the very farthest tip of the multi switch pull out. Check for voltage at the harness tucked up in the front fender. The fogs only come on with lo beam. Flick to high and they turn off automatically.
 
My 06 has the wires for fog lights, but no lights. The harness is all there. Check if your multifunction switch has the fog light part already. Put the headlights on low beam, and right at the very farthest tip of the multi switch pull out. Check for voltage at the harness tucked up in the front fender. The fogs only come on with lo beam. Flick to high and they turn off automatically.
It doesn't, when I pull on the switch with the lights on it doesn't pull out. That's $80 for a switch when the one I have isn't bad.

I'm thinking about just using a fuse tap off of one of the fuses behind the glovebox to power switches like I linked above. I'll have to get out there with a multi-meter and find one that's tied to the ignition and go from there.
 
I'm adding a little bit of additional lighting and I'm weighing options to wire them up. My 2005 has factory wiring for fog lights, but didn't come with fogs originally. My first option is to purchase a multifunction switch, plug in a relay, and get adapters that go from the factory plug on one end to a deutsche connector on the other. This would be a very clean solution, but it'll be $110 for the adapters and switch. If I do this route I won't be able to use my bright lights with the lights I'm adding without modifying it somehow.

My second option is to get some of these switches:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FGXEMIW/?tag=wranglerorg-20

If I get these switches they'll be clean and I've got a couple spots open in the factory panel. The only problem with this route is finding a source of power tied to the ignition. They are backlit switches for one, and I also don't want the lights to stay on when the key is off. Does anybody know of a power source tied to the ignition that could be easily used? Maybe an unused circuit somewhere under the hood?

Any help would be appreciated, thanks in advance!
Behind your glovebox and coming from the fusebox you should have 2 loose wires, one red and one yellow, in my jeep they had the original label, the red is for constant voltage and the yellow is for switched accessory, once you turn the key it will energize, you can use it for your switches or relays but I would recommend to keep the relays under the hood instead of under/inside the dash but is up to you. :)
 
Behind your glovebox and coming from the fusebox you should have 2 loose wires, one red and one yellow, in my jeep they had the original label, the red is for constant voltage and the yellow is for switched accessory, once you turn the key it will energize, you can use it for your switches or relays but I would recommend to keep the relays under the hood instead of under/inside the dash but is up to you. :)
I couldn't find the loose wires anywhere under there but I'll have to look closer. All I'm looking for is power to the switch, power to the relays will come from the battery. The switch has a light in it and won't turn on the lights without power running to it. Thanks for the tip though, I'll look for them.
 
I got lights installed so I thought I'd share how I did it. I got LED pods that have regular white light and also have an orange running light. I ran them off of two separate switches, but if I add more light eventually I'll probably tie the running lights into the factory running lights. The lights I got came with wiring but they didn't power them off relays, so I went to the parts store and added some. I robbed the harness they sent me and where they had switches, I cut it there and put the relay in. I routed the wires through the grill and over to the battery, then ran wires in some loom over to the driver side for the relays. There was a grommet on that side through the firewall I routed my wires to the switches through.

I ordered my switches from www.aironboard.com that fit the switch blanks in the dash. The switches need power to operate them, so I ran a fuse tap from a fuse that is only powered on with the ignition. Just start checking with a volt meter until you find one, I don't recall which one I used. Don't tap into anything major like airbags or anything, and according to the fuse tap I got it shouldn't be more than 10 amps. I ran both switches on a common ground and both switches are powered by the fuse tap. I then ran a wire to the relays to power the lights themselves.

In my opinion the wiring came out very clean, and the ejection seat switch will be used to mess with my passengers routinely 🤣 If anybody has any questions I'll be happy to help, just thought I would do a short write-up to help somebody out. Nothing here was complicated to do so I'd encourage you to do it yourself

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I got lights installed so I thought I'd share how I did it. I got LED pods that have regular white light and also have an orange running light. I ran them off of two separate switches, but if I add more light eventually I'll probably tie the running lights into the factory running lights. The lights I got came with wiring but they didn't power them off relays, so I went to the parts store and added some. I robbed the harness they sent me and where they had switches, I cut it there and put the relay in. I routed the wires through the grill and over to the battery, then ran wires in some loom over to the driver side for the relays. There was a grommet on that side through the firewall I routed my wires to the switches through.

I ordered my switches from www.aironboard.com that fit the switch blanks in the dash. The switches need power to operate them, so I ran a fuse tap from a fuse that is only powered on with the ignition. Just start checking with a volt meter until you find one, I don't recall which one I used. Don't tap into anything major like airbags or anything, and according to the fuse tap I got it shouldn't be more than 10 amps. I ran both switches on a common ground and both switches are powered by the fuse tap. I then ran a wire to the relays to power the lights themselves.

In my opinion the wiring came out very clean, and the ejection seat switch will be used to mess with my passengers routinely 🤣 If anybody has any questions I'll be happy to help, just thought I would do a short write-up to help somebody out. Nothing here was complicated to do so I'd encourage you to do it yourself

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