Switch Boxes

Shadowdragon · Apr 15, 2015

So I was wondering if anyone had thought of using the switch boxes used by police/fire to wire up Off Road lights or other things. I've been curious about this because I am having POV lights installed soon and was wondering if I could give the installation guy the extra lights I want and have them wired into the switch box too, Just to make things easier and more clean looking in my opinion.

any suggestions?

Switch box I'll probably be using:
http://www.whelen.com/auto/product.php?cat_id=66&prod_id=86

Muadeeb · Apr 15, 2015

No reason it couldn't be. Most of us just never thought of using them or where to find them.

metzican · Apr 15, 2015

Back when I was looking at installing all my switches. I looked into going this way but decided I could not find the one I wanted and could not figure out a ideal area to mount it. I just ended up going with small button switches and mounted them in the overhead area with the lights. I got 6 up there. There is no reason why it would not work though. I just did not want to loose that little tray under the climate control area.

Shadowdragon · Apr 15, 2015

metzican said:
Back when I was looking at installing all my switches. I looked into going this way but decided I could not find the one I wanted and could not figure out a ideal area to mount it. I just ended up going with small button switches and mounted them in the overhead area with the lights. I got 6 up there. There is no reason why it would not work though. I just did not want to loose that little tray under the climate control area.

yea I'm in the same boat, I'm planning on changing out the stereo for a single din head, i may put the switch box there if it works out. If not, I'll figure something out. There is an awful lot of hollow space in the console, holes may be cut.

slantyshanty · Apr 15, 2015

I install all of the electronics into police/fire/rescue vehicles for a living. Whelen is a pretty good company but they are a commercial/industry product so you may be able to find the same'ish thing from a different company for cheaper. Hell, you may be able to build your own for much cheaper, if you know how to wire stuff up. It's really not that hard. Most of those boxes have 1 power in, 1 ground in, and a bunch of power outs. You SHOULD run the power outs to relays. Some of those boxes have the relays built in.

Shadowdragon · Apr 15, 2015

yea, I really prefer whelen over most companies.. (my Code3 dash light caught fire while on the way TO a fire). And I probably could build one fairly easy, but my department has a lot of these lying around from old apparatus so I was gonna see if i could use one of those before I went that route.

And I know from someone who wires cars for a living this will sound dumb, what EXACTLY are relays. most of the wiring I've done to past cars have been hot wire to a switch and then the light.. usually with a fuse... never had to use a relay.

Muadeeb · Apr 15, 2015

Relays are able to switch a high current device. Most switches are only rated to about 5A, while relays can handle 20A for common ones to ones that can handle 100A. Can you get by without one? Probably (especially with LEDs), but I would always use one.

Shadowdragon · Apr 16, 2015

oh ok, so its like a resistor?

metzican · Apr 16, 2015

It is like another switch. You send a low current through your switch then through the Relay. When your switch is activated it "triggers" the relay like a switch. You power into the relay then to your device. This way it only takes less then 1 amp to trigger the relay. But you can turn on a device that is up to uses a couple amps if needed. I used them so I could keep all the higher amps out of the cabin and mount the relay under the hood. While the switches and all the wires inside of the cab where low amperage.

Shadowdragon · Apr 16, 2015

Ok, I'll have to look into what companies make them with relays. If non do for a decent price, I'll just add some and keep them in the engine compartment, that methode sounds infinitely safer anyways keeping the high amps out of the cabin

metzican · Apr 16, 2015

These are the relays I used.

http://www.amazon.com/Relay-Harness...ie=UTF8&qid=1429191281&sr=8-8&keywords=relays

What type of electronics are you looking at installing? If lights, Leds? wattage, Ect.

Things I've done with my relays. I have 2 air compressors that pull about 28amps when starting. I have one switch that triggers two relays, one per air compressor. Without the relays I would of had to use two separate high amp switches. I Also use a relay to send power to all my switches this makes it so I don't accidentally leave something on and drain the battery. I also use them in turning on my led lights and other smaller things.

maillet282 · Apr 16, 2015

there is also the option of going with an Spod

http://www.4x4spod.com/category_s/75.htm

FishOnDan · Apr 16, 2015

This is what I ended up doing (I use the same relays as metzican), using otrattw switches and switches holder:

Shadowdragon · Apr 16, 2015

So far I'm only planning on running some light heads in the grill and a light bar across the back and a small light bar across the front windshield, these will all be LED in red/white or red/red. For Offroad lights I was aiming for a ridged industries light bar. I'm fairly new to all this stuff, so I appreciate y'all helping. I haven't looked into the amp draw or wattage for any of these lights, but like I mentioned before, they will all be LED so it shouldn't be astronomical. Mounting of the lights is going to be the main problem for me.

Maillet, that looks fantastic! I may go that route instead.

Shadowdragon · Apr 16, 2015

FishOnDan said:
This is what I ended up doing (I use the same relays as metzican), using otrattw switches and switches holder:

that's a good mounting spot, i was thinking of doing something similar.. any issues by placing them there?

maillet282 · Apr 16, 2015

a friend of mine has the touch screen model in his X. I am going to see if I can get the pic from him to post it up. he does have a build thread over on TNX

maillet282 · Apr 16, 2015

here is a pic stolen from his build thread. the screen up by the steering wheel is the Spod touch screen controle

Shadowdragon · Apr 16, 2015

Good gobble, that's a lot of stuff. But it does look clean with the touchscreen, I think I may go with the SPOD setup. Seems simple enough. I appreciate the help, y'all.

maillet282 · Apr 16, 2015

it's not the cheapest cash wise but it does look good

Shadowdragon · Apr 16, 2015

maillet282 said:
it's not the cheapest cash wise but it does look good

no it certainly isn't, but I like that it's almost plug and play. The last time I did a wiring job on my old car, I installed a tail light flasher. Metzican will get a kick out of this when I say it took me 10 hours and a friend to do, from what I have been told its a 30 minute job... They worked, yes, but it wasn't pretty and I had wires everywhere. I'm good at understanding vehicle electronics, but I'm not practical by any means.. :dead:

slantyshanty · Apr 16, 2015

Think of a switch, you turn off and on with your hand. A relay, you turn off and on with a switch. It's already been said that relays can pass higher current than a switch but I always think of those big Frankenstein switches that shoot off all kinds of sparks when you throw them... I don't want my hands near that. lol

FishOnDan · Apr 16, 2015

Shadowdragon said:
that's a good mounting spot, i was thinking of doing something similar.. any issues by placing them there?

No issues at all, I am even using their Connector Housings. The difficult part of this job is passing all the cables from the center to one of the sides to be run down the pillar. I bought a Harbor Freight Nilon Fish Tape to help with that.

Shadowdragon · Apr 17, 2015

FishOnDan said:
No issues at all, I am even using their Connector Housings. The difficult part of this job is passing all the cables from the center to one of the sides to be run down the pillar. I bought a Harbor Freight Nilon Fish Tape to help with that.

Sounds good, I was kinda bummed not having overhead storage, but that's a much better use of dead space..

Man, the bug is starting to bite hard.. goodbye money!

Tay-Lo · Apr 17, 2015

slantyshanty said:
Think of a switch, you turn off and on with your hand. A relay, you turn off and on with a switch. It's already been said that relays can pass higher current than a switch but I always think of those big Frankenstein switches that shoot off all kinds of sparks when you throw them... I don't want my hands near that. lol

Haha if that happens on a 12v system you have bigger problems. I'm in the electrical field and I've had much worse happen around me.......think 480v and a system USING 500+ amps decides to arc across an air gap. That makes for a pretty light show and the sound of a gun shot. Oh did I mention it happened less than 2 feet away from me with no barrier?.....repeatedly

Also it wasn't supposed to do that

J Everett · Apr 19, 2015

maillet282 said:
there is also the option of going with an Spod

http://www.4x4spod.com/category_s/75.htm

This is the way I plan to go. Gotta get my bumper from Insain in first, get it powder coated, get my winch and all my lights, and a lift to support it all, then I will worry about wiring it all up. But, no reason a Whelen setup wouldn't work instead of a S-Pod.

maillet282 · Apr 19, 2015

The whelen should work too I was just showing another option

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