Where to mount switches? Answer inside!

[wim hoppenbrouwers]

Here we go again Wim!

Neat installation and one I want to copy someday.

(I hope you realize I was kidding about your picture host in the previous thread.)

Bob

Hallo Bob. A little bit late maybe.

The installation is very easy indeed. You can cut away the plastic from the cointray and you find a big space for the swiches. I did it with a special sawblade on the dremel.
Easy place to attach ground wires to the chassis and the wires from the engine and dash are easy to connect.
A piece of alu and 2 screws. Easy and nice job,no kidding. LOL :cheers:

 

[Pelican]

Thanks!

 

[splitz]

Wow, another one of my threads still semi-alive after a year!

 

[StanBo]

Great setups here fellas. I can't wait to get cracking on my harness.

 

[fyrfytr1717]

Wow, another one of my threads still semi-alive after a year!

Well, since this thread seems to have become the reference thread for switch mounting, I thought I'd bring it back up again and share what I've done...

My project is by no means complete, but at least the switches are mounted and all the wiring has been run from the interior to the engine compartment. Relay and fuse mounting blocks have finally arrived and will be wired up soon. Accessories will be wired up to the relays as they are added. All switches are using the dimmer signal for back lighting.

My goal with my accessory wiring (as with the rest of my XJ) is to keep it looking as factory as possible.

Can't get much more factory than an OEM Extended Idle switch mounted in a Police/Euro 4 switch bezel:

ARB switches and a dual needle pressure gauge (for my OBA and custom ARB manifold) mounted just under the transfer case shifter. I thought my gauge mount in this one was unique, but I just spotted a similar install by foxwar71 in this thread. It looks like that spot was just made for a gauge:

In-cab winch controls. The light lets me know if the main winch power switch hidden in my engine compartment is turned on. The first switch is a safety to help prevent accidental operation and supplies power to the second switch. The second switch is a momentary rocker for in/out operation of the winch.

Hidden main winch power switch:

And finally, overhead console switches for all the rest of the accessories I anticipate adding to my XJ (thanks for the idea on this one splitz):

And just so my electrons wouldn't get confused... Orange for dimmer, Blue for ignition switched power, Black for ground, and Cat 5 for signals.

All switches and rockers (except the Extended Idle switch obviously) are Carling Contura II's purchased from OTRATTW. I would highly recommend OTRATTW for anyone looking for this style of switches. He has a great selection of icons and labels in a variety of different colors and offers excellent customer service. If you'd like to see more detailed pics of my installs, you can check out my photobucket. I plan on doing some write ups (Extended Idle already done) but don't really have a time frame. Hope you enjoyed the pics!

 

[kastein]

fyrfytr, I LOVE the wiring... being an electrical engineer and slightly OCD, neatly done wiring is nice to see.

 

[fyrfytr1717]

fyrfytr, I LOVE the wiring... being an electrical engineer and slightly OCD, neatly done wiring is nice to see.

Thanks for the compliment and damn that mild OCD! If you only knew how much it bothered me that my local hardware store didn't carry blue wire with a white stripe to match the factory ignition switched wiring... :confused1

 

[Root Moose]

Thanks for the compliment and damn that mild OCD! If you only knew how much it bothered me that my local hardware store didn't carry blue wire with a white stripe to match the factory ignition switched wiring... :confused1

LOL!

I can relate. Same way here.

 

[kastein]

Thanks for the compliment and damn that mild OCD! If you only knew how much it bothered me that my local hardware store didn't carry blue wire with a white stripe to match the factory ignition switched wiring... :confused1

overpriced but it matches pretty well

:eyes:

lastara

 

[StanBo]

fyrfytr digging the light showing the main winch power is on. I have something like that in my panel truck at work to show the main inverter is on. Slick setup. Takes notes lol.

 

[pajeepman]

overpriced but it matches pretty well

:eyes:

lastara

link goes to old ebay auction that shows nothing.

 

[bigalpha]

link goes to old ebay auction that shows nothing.

Because that was posted like 4 months ago?

 

[fyrfytr1717]

link goes to old ebay auction that shows nothing.

It was just an auction for a place that sold custom color combinations for wiring. They had the Dark Blue w/ White tracer I was looking for. I have long since gotten over needing it to match...

 

[cubsin2079]

I know this thread is old but I have a question for fyrfytr1717. Where did you tap into the dimmer and ignition for your switch lights?

 

[kastein]

On 96 and earlier XJs with an overhead console, ignition-switched power is available on the white/black wire going to cavity 6 of the compass/temp display module. Max draw is 10 amps including the OHC and all other items on this feed. Dimmer signal is the blue/violet or blue/red wire, 12 volts = dimmest setting; 0 volts = brightest setting. These two wires should also be present in various locations in the instrument panel wiring harness.

On 97 and later XJs, ignition switched power is still on the white/black wire but the display dimming signal for the OHC seems to have been combined into the CCD bus message protocol and I'm not certain where it can be tapped into as an analog signal.

EDIT: looking in section 8W-40 of my FSM it appears the 97+ display dimming signal is an orange wire from the headlamp switch to the instrument cluster... I am not sure where else you can find it, but one likely location is the back of the AM/FM radio.

EDIT2: Looking in section 8W-47, the orange display dim signal does go to the radio as well. Expect it in cavity 5 of the radio connector. It also goes to the PRNDL illumination lamp socket (orange wire) and the transfer case shift lever bezel illumination lamp socket (orange wire) as well as the 3-4 switches in the center console (fog lights, wipers, defogger, ext idle, etc) and the HVAC control panel.

 

[ehall]

adding a bit to that, on my 91:

black/white is good way to run voltage through the switches, IE drive a remote relay
blue/red is the headlight signal and should be used for backlighting, IE only apply backlighting when headlights are on
orange/black is dimmer signal, to say how much bright the backlighting is when its on

 

[fyrfytr1717]

Same info as the PM I sent you, but for other's reference:

I tapped into both the dimmer signal and the fused ignition source just above the junction box (fuse panel) located by the front passenger's feet. I then ran the wires up under the passenger side A pillar trim to the overhead console. It should be a Dark Blue w/ White tracer for the ignition source and an Orange wire for the dimmer signal. At least on a '99 anyways.

Additional info for the other switches:

For the center console switches I tapped into the Orange dimmer wire that supplies both the transfer case and transmission position indicator lights. I didn't need power for these switches as they get it directly from the winch circuit.

Fourth switch in the bezel got dimmer signal from the Orange wire on the Fog Light Switch and ignition switched power from the Dark Blue w/ White wire going to the A/C Heater Control at Pin #2.

 

[cordon00]

Well, since this thread seems to have become the reference thread for switch mounting, I thought I'd bring it back up again and share what I've done...

My project is by no means complete, but at least the switches are mounted and all the wiring has been run from the interior to the engine compartment. Relay and fuse mounting blocks have finally arrived and will be wired up soon. Accessories will be wired up to the relays as they are added. All switches are using the dimmer signal for back lighting.

My goal with my accessory wiring (as with the rest of my XJ) is to keep it looking as factory as possible.

Can't get much more factory than an OEM Extended Idle switch mounted in a Police/Euro 4 switch bezel:

ARB switches and a dual needle pressure gauge (for my OBA and custom ARB manifold) mounted just under the transfer case shifter. I thought my gauge mount in this one was unique, but I just spotted a similar install by foxwar71 in this thread. It looks like that spot was just made for a gauge:

In-cab winch controls. The light lets me know if the main winch power switch hidden in my engine compartment is turned on. The first switch is a safety to help prevent accidental operation and supplies power to the second switch. The second switch is a momentary rocker for in/out operation of the winch.

Hidden main winch power switch:

And finally, overhead console switches for all the rest of the accessories I anticipate adding to my XJ (thanks for the idea on this one splitz):

And just so my electrons wouldn't get confused... Orange for dimmer, Blue for ignition switched power, Black for ground, and Cat 5 for signals.

All switches and rockers (except the Extended Idle switch obviously) are Carling Contura II's purchased from OTRATTW. I would highly recommend OTRATTW for anyone looking for this style of switches. He has a great selection of icons and labels in a variety of different colors and offers excellent customer service. If you'd like to see more detailed pics of my installs, you can check out my photobucket. I plan on doing some write ups (Extended Idle already done) but don't really have a time frame. Hope you enjoyed the pics!

what kind of winch is that and did u run the winch switches off the remote lol thankes :farmer:

 

[fyrfytr1717]

what kind of winch is that and did u run the winch switches off the remote lol thankes :farmer:

Not that it really affects the wiring of my switch, but I have a Superwinch EPi9.0s mounted on my front bumper. I've heard some of the newer Warn's have additional wires in the remote for the thermometric display and whatnot, so I guess that is a valid question as it could potentially affect the wiring.

As for the second part of the question, yes and no... All the wiring connections are made inside the body of the winch, however I tapped into the wires coming out the back side of the female remote receptacle so they are essentially connected to the same circuit. This allows use of the in cab winch controls or if I feel the need I can plug the remote into the side of the winch as intended and control it that way.

Yet another write-up I've had every intention of doing but havent gotten around to yet...

 

[casm]

Yet another write-up I've had every intention of doing but havent gotten around to yet...

If you get a chance, could you describe what you did for relays? It's become very apparent that I'm going to need to build a relay box for my stuff, and am looking for ideas. FitchVA's looks really nice (http://fitchva.com/jeep/?p=60), but I'm open to other ideas as well.