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How do I add a switch to my marker lights

Discussion in 'General 4Runner Talk' started by nimby, May 18, 2019.

  1. May 18, 2019 at 9:13 AM
    #1
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    I'm retarded when it comes to most things electrical, so any help is appreciated.

    My current set-up has the marker lights plugged into the fuse panel under the dash using the "add-a-circuit" method, just like the picture below.

    I was wondering if someone had some insight on how to get rid of the add a circuit and convert it to a switch?

    Also, any recommendations for a switch I could add to one of the blanks on the dash would be great. Thanks!

    [​IMG]
     
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  2. May 20, 2019 at 4:17 PM
    #2
    Agent_Outside

    Agent_Outside A Guy A Girl and A Trail

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    Cut the wire and attach each end of the wire to a switch.
     
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  3. May 21, 2019 at 2:13 PM
    #3
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    :rofl:

    The problem I see is that the switches come with like 4 wires hanging off of them.

    I have 2 wires (black and red).

    WTF are the other 2 wires on the switch for and what do I do with them?

    Like I said. Electrical retard here.
     
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  4. May 21, 2019 at 2:23 PM
    #4
    Dillusion

    Dillusion New Member

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    You need to post pic of said switch or diagram. Or what switch you are looking at getting.

    I'm guessing it is a SPDT switch which is why you have 4 leads.
     
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  5. May 21, 2019 at 3:18 PM
    #5
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    This is what the business side of the switch looks like.

    I'm guessing the switch is set up to receive a red wire from 2 different accessories, hence the 2 red wires coming off the switch. Is this correct?

    I have already combined the 2 marker lights to run off of 1 red wire earlier in the run, so I would only use 1 red wire from the switch. Right??

    Black is ground......I also have the ground earlier in the run. Does the switch also need to be ground?

    No idea what the green wire is for.

    [​IMG]
     
  6. May 21, 2019 at 3:29 PM
    #6
    Dillusion

    Dillusion New Member

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    Green is usually universal for ground.

    So much different options can be done with that wiring all depends on the switch. Do you have a part number or anything?
     
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  7. May 21, 2019 at 4:13 PM
    #7
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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  8. May 21, 2019 at 4:21 PM
    #8
    Dillusion

    Dillusion New Member

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    I don't have one but found this on Google.

    Capture.jpg
     
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  9. May 22, 2019 at 12:33 PM
    #9
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    Thank you.

    So using this wiring diagram, I have some questions:

    1) Green wire - what would my source be? Are they talking about the battery? Do I have to run a wire from the switch to the battery just to power the switch?
    2) Red 1 - I connect this to the red wire that goes to my accessory - no prob.
    3) Red 2 - Anyone know where the dash light circuit is? Will I find this on the fuse box under the dash? Do I just tap into that wire?
    4) Ground - got it. no prob.
     
  10. May 22, 2019 at 2:31 PM
    #10
    Dillusion

    Dillusion New Member

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    Green to where your fuse is now.

    Red 2 I'd suggest head light or something that lights up only at night. Or if you don't care about back lighting which is what I believe it is for don't need to hook it up to anything.
     
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  11. May 22, 2019 at 2:40 PM
    #11
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    Thank you very much.

    I appreciate you taking the time to help.

    :cheers:
     
  12. May 22, 2019 at 2:45 PM
    #12
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    Good tips! Thanks!
     
  13. May 27, 2019 at 1:30 PM
    #13
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    So I'm thinking about purchasing this harness, cutting off their switch and adding my own similar to the ones pictured earlier in the thread.

    Here is what the harness looks like and the wiring diagram. Thoughts? Will this work?

    [​IMG] [​IMG]
     
  14. May 28, 2019 at 10:17 AM
    #14
    Dillusion

    Dillusion New Member

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    Don't see why not. Their switch isn't the most pleasant looking.
     
  15. May 28, 2019 at 1:36 PM
    #15
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    Thanks.

    Yeah, I'll cut the switch off and replace with my own.
     
  16. Jul 1, 2019 at 11:57 AM
    #16
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    Just to close the loop on this thread....I ended up purchasing the wiring harness pictured above, cut the switch off and replaced it with an OEM looking switch.

    Wiring the switch in was a little tricky because none of the colors matched up to the wiring harness (except for black), but I figured it out.

    The only thing that I might change is I wired the blue wire from the switch to an add a fuse. This gives the switch constant power so the lower letters are always illuminated. Then when you engage the switch both the letters and the picture of the lights illuminate.

    I would like to get rid of this add a fuse and tap into the other switches wiring so that the lettering only illuminates when I turn the headlights on.

    Thanks for the advice along the way Dillusion :cheers:
     
  17. Oct 5, 2019 at 8:43 AM
    #17
    throttle10

    throttle10 New Member

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    Do you have a link to the relay switch you bought??


     
  18. Oct 8, 2019 at 7:28 AM
    #18
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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  19. Apr 1, 2020 at 10:12 PM
    #19
    Toyota4running18

    Toyota4running18 New Member

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    Hey, new New York member here. I’m glad to see such a supportive community. I’d appreciate any feedback. Looking to install raptor front grill lights to my 18 runner. This thread is the closest I can find to my problem. Just looking for clarification. I have the same after market switch with four wires (green, red 1, red 2 and black). My accessory lights only have two wires (a black wire which I’m assuming would be grounded onto a screw somewhere under the hood). The accessory light’s red wire has an add a fuse on its end. I really would appreciate some direction so I don’t wind up damaging anything. I’m assuming I cut off the add a fuse on my light accessory’s red wire and heat shrink it to the red 1 wire coming off the switch? I would then ground the black (switch) wire on another a second screw? I’m uncertain of where exactly to attach red 2 and the green wire coming off the switch. Please let me know if my planning is correct so far and if so what I would connect with the red 2 and green switch wire. Thanks a lot!!! Please see photos

    72F28F8E-94FF-4A99-A6B9-86805F64D906.jpg
    36775336-1CC7-42DF-B41E-6A22CD292B1A.jpg
    1C9F2634-9BCD-40D1-B448-4249FFFC8EEB.jpg
     
  20. Apr 2, 2020 at 9:09 AM
    #20
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    Man I wish I could help with this, but I'm electrically challenged.

    When I converted my raptor lights from an add-a-fuse style system to one that worked off a switch, I added a wiring harness with a relay.

    Since you don't have a relay, I'm not sure where the green or red(2) wires would go exactly and I don't want to give you bad info.

    If you decide to add a relay, I might be able to help.

    Hopefully someone with actual electrical knowledge can chime in and help.
     
  21. Apr 2, 2020 at 9:20 AM
    #21
    Toyota4running18

    Toyota4running18 New Member

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    Yeah man, thanks for the reply. I’d rather do it simple as possible but if the relay route worked well for you then I’d definitely go for it. Can you tell me the steps you took and what extra parts you needed? Thanks so much.
     
  22. Apr 2, 2020 at 9:59 AM
    #22
    Dillusion

    Dillusion New Member

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    Your Raptor lights to not go to any of these wires. Do they not plug into the harness?

    The wire lead ends are for your ground, power source etc.
     
  23. Apr 2, 2020 at 10:05 AM
    #23
    Toyota4running18

    Toyota4running18 New Member

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    The raptor lights all plug into the harness. The harness has two wires (red and black). The red wire has an add a fuse setup at its end. Please see photo

    850C12C2-CA5D-48F9-A55F-27CAF849E208.jpg
     
  24. Apr 2, 2020 at 10:26 AM
    #24
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    So basically, I bought this wiring harness:

    https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Q9QSC3V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

    I wired my lights to this harness, but I cut the switch off and added one very similar to yours (although my switch has different colored wires coming off it).

    Below is the wiring diagram for this harness.

    Follow the diagram to connect your raptor lights. You'll probably have to purchase some additional wiring to connect all of the positive leads from your raptor lights into one connection so that you can tie that into the harness and then do the same with all the negative leads off the lights.

    The 'blue' wire in the diagram that comes off the relay and goes to the switch (actually a collection of wires wrapped together)......that's the wire that goes through the firewall and into the cab. Since I cut the switch off, obviously it's much easier to feed through the firewall. That collection of wires contains a blue wire, a white wire and a black wire that will all connect to your new switch.

    This is where things will be different because the wires coming off my switch are different than the colors on the switch you posted.

    I connected the black wire (from that collection of wires) to the black wire coming off my switch.

    I connected the white wire (from that collection of wires) to the red wire coming off my switch.

    I connected the blue wire (from that collection of wires) to the green wire coming off my switch.

    The last wire coming off my switch was a blue wire and it connected to an add-a-fuse that went to an empty fuse in the cab.

    So to me, it sounds like the red(2) wire coming off your switch would be the same as the blue wire coming off mine.

    I think your green wire would go to the blue wire coming off the harness.

    Black goes to black.

    And Red(1) would go to the white wire coming off the harness.

    Unfortunately, I don't know this to be the case for sure but I will tell you I had to go through a little trial and error before I was able to match all the wires of the switch correctly. You might have to do the same.








    [​IMG]
     
  25. Apr 2, 2020 at 6:53 PM
    #25
    Toyota4running18

    Toyota4running18 New Member

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    Thanks so much for the time you took out to help me. I’m going to really absorb this my next day off.
     
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  26. Apr 2, 2020 at 6:58 PM
    #26
    nimby

    nimby [OP] in the drink

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    You're welcome.

    It's a lot of info. If you have other questions along the way, I can try my best to answer them.......but no guarantees with my lack of electrical knowledge. :)
     
  27. Apr 4, 2020 at 8:37 AM
    #27
    Toyota4running18

    Toyota4running18 New Member

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