How to add clean auxiliary switdches for off-road lights, amps, and other accessories.



I was looking around for how most people added aux. switches to their F150s. I found a few that I liked, but not too many looked factory enough, in my opinion. So I went to Auto-Zone and found these $3 LED rocker switches that would sit flush and were not too big or flashy.

Supplies

Dremel Tool
1-4 LED Rocker Switches
13/16th bit
Drill
Perminent Marker
Construction Paper
Two Beers



Step 1: Remove dash trim from your dash, pop out the black cigarette lighter surround,

Step 2: Make a paper cut out exactly the same size of the the black surround, this will be a template. Carefully measure and place a dot where you want the centers of the switches to be. A nickle is a good tool to trace the circles to make sure they look evenly spaced. Once your template is drawn and correct cut the holes out on the template with a razor knife.

Step 3: Place the template on the black surround and use your marker to mark the places where your circles to be drilled out.


Step 4: Take your black plastic surround and remove the rear "blank plug spots" with a dremel cutting tool. Then smooth the back side out with a dremel sanding tool.

Step 5: Take your drill bit and very slowly drill the holes out. After you have all the holes drilled use your dremel tool to deburr the edges inside and out of each hole (so the switch sits in it flushly)



Step 6: Replace the black cig. lighter surround back into the dash peice and mark any area that might need to be trimmed on the dash peice.


Step 7: Pop the switches in and wire it up.


I ended up wiring two up to turn my amps off, installed two extra for the HID off road lights that I plan on retro fitting.

 

very nice work! clean and defintely a factory look. do you happen to have the exact brand and model of those switches?

do they only come in blue or is that your preference?

 

I think AutoZone sells the Pilot brand for the switches. I have seen red, yellow and green that I can recall in the local AutoZone.

blackf150337,
Nice work !

 

thats the actual box just go to the section that sells the light bulbs and switches...i wanted a blue, red, yellow and green or all green but all they had were blue and red so i got 2 blue and 2 red

 

WEll done !!

 

Very nicely done! I've been looking at what others here have done in mounting switches in their trucks as I also want a nice, clean look for the switches I eventually have to mount. I have to mount at least 4 switches, more likely 6 so I'll have to see if there are smaller switches out there that look as nice.

Thanks for the post!

 

Beautiful job blackf150- I'm just curious how much the switches are rated for? Or are you running everything through relays? (my personal preference) I have a few of those switches from a different source, donated, and I really like 'em because they are clean, but from what I remember, they aren't rated real high. (amps)

 

I have a very similar version (round rocker with square base) and they are rated for 20 or 25A but I would always use a relay...silly not to with these cheap plastic switches.

 

Great write-up!

 

Pretty work and a nice write up!

It's amazing what you can do with a Dremel tool and a bit of patience/care, isn't it?

- Jack

 

Dang nice work.
So much better than anything I ever thought of!

 

You can do 4 like I did and do 2 Hidden ones inside of your ashtray...just an idea..

I think these are rated at 10 amps... I am not running relays for my amp switches, due to the fact that there isn't much current going through my remote wire....but for the off road lights and back up lights that i plan on adding later i will wire them with a relay. I also wouldn't risk running 10 amps though a $3 switch.

 

 

Very James Bond like
There is plenty of room back there to make the service loop for the wires, and attached the harness to the bottom of the ash tray.

If you could stick to the 80% rule, they might be OK. Thing is, 80% of a 10 A switch ( if really 10 A, not 10 A +/- 2% ) is 8 A, and the lamps would be 8.7 ( on dual 55W lamps ), so you are already over.
The other bigger problem than the amp rate of the switch, is the size of the contacts. This would be akin to splicing in a small piece of 18 AWG wire in your lamp circuit. Not much good for the current flow, and would actually cause your lamps to burn dimmer when compared to the relay install.
That is the bigger item to watch, vs melting switches.

 

Nice writeup... looks like someone is getting another article in the HOW-TO section.