[keystone183]

OK. I'm FINALLY getting around to getting this all written up. I have my aux switch bank installed and fuse/relay box under the hood, and everything works great, so far. It really wasn't that difficult once i got a few things figured out. I can't seem to post pictures, so you'll have to be satisfied with links. There are write-ups for almost everything I did on this site somewhere (dash removal, through firewall). Search if you need a how to.

First was to install the switch bank itself. Not real difficult.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813060684/in/photostream

Pull off the dash face, and unplug everything. I can't remember if the unused plug is plugged into the blank "Ram" plate or not. It may be just free back there.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813121842/in/photostream

There are a couple screws that need to be removed from the blank, and then just pry it out. There are some standard tabs that hold it in place.

Pop the new one in and replace the screws. Be sure you have it right side up....ooops.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6959245683/in/photostream

I used all of the white wires that came in the wire harness from dodge. Plug that into the plug pictured above. First i wired in the power. There are three wires on the pre-wired plug provided by Dodge on my 2011 Outdoorsman. Black with green, red with white, white with green.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6959178415/in/photostream

Cut the plug off. I used this wiring diagram to wire the plug. I would credit whoever made this, but i've seen it lots of places and not sure who is the original author. But, thanks much to them. Label all the wires that aren't power so it is easy to tell what is what.

http://ramforumz.com/showthread.php?t=95448&page=3&highlight=switches

I used some crimp on splices to connect the factory power wire to the two switch powers. It worked well to keep things compact. I realize i don't have a very good picture of this. Sorry.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6959180393/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813065368/in/photostream

Next i put in the fuse relay box. First two links are the pic, next is what i used.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813086642/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6959195573/in/photostream
http://connectorconcepts.com/products/_files/CBT_Catalog_FINAL_2011.pdf

Page 38 is the product. I ordered it with 10 fuse spots and 5 mini relays. only the fuse side is bussed. If both are, this setup won't work. Trust me i know.

I had a hard time with where to mount it. The picture is what i came up with. Its drivers side against the firewall. I don't love it because its hard to get the cover off because the battery is in the way, but i honestly couldn't come up with another easily accessible spot that i could easily mount this to and have access to the front and back. That is the only down side to this product is that the wiring comes in from the back. That being said i took some angle, drilled some holes and used an existing hole to mount the angle. Don't mount the box yet, not until you're all finished.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6959210135/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6959207609/in/photostream

I ordered the box with wires pre-made. There were 5' long, so next i drilled a hole in the black plate through the firewall and fed my wires through it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813228348/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813226162/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813230644/in/photostream


Then i soldered them all to the white wires from the plug wiring harness. Again, it helps if you label your wires where they terminate to the fuse box so you know what is what and avoid confusion when you go to hook everything up.

Next was what was about the most complicated. The wiring. I'm lacking some pictures here, because this took me a few tries to get right, and i was pretty frustrated and forgot to take pictures. I'll explain as best I can, and if you have questions, let me know.

First i built the box wiring. Decide the 5 slots on the fuse side for the power to the relays. I skipped one each time to give more space for the following. Because the wire from the switch on the dash you installed is a ground, you have to power both legs of the relay from the fuse side. That is, to say i built a jumper to go from the fused side (power) to both the 86 and 30 legs on the relay. I soldered the wires all together and slipped some heat shrink over them. I kept them short so they'd be less clutter. Again, sorry no pictures. The wire from the switches goes on the 85 leg. The power out to whatever you are switching on and off goes to 87. The numbers are marked on the actual relay so you have to pay attention to what position it will be in when you plug it in to the housing. If you get them to send you pre-made wires, they come with a metal termination that slides in the back of the housing and locks into place. Very handy. Luckily with a VERY small screwdriver, you can push the tab that retains the wire if you happen to screw up.

Next i wired the power to the fused side. It is bussed, so one hookup supplies all the slots with power.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6959174053/in/photostream

I snaked the wire around the battery and to the factory fuse bank.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813100630/in/photostream

Insert your fuses, and bingo bango. You have a fused, switchable, clean factory looking output. Four of them actually.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813091556/in/photostream

I think that just about covers it. If you have any questions or i have left anything out of what is a very long write-up, let me know. Again, it really was pretty simple, and i have to thank members on here who had done alot of the hard work for me, so it was just a matter of putting it all together!

 

[highlandchef]

Great work and thanks for all the info! Reps for that! :smileup:

 

[snrusnak]

Thanks! I'll have to read through this later...

 

[keystone183]

Thanks! I'll have to read through this later...

Possibly, i was a bit long winded...:wow:

Additionally. Thought i'd post my other addition.

I added a mount and power for my streamlight under the drivers seat. Ran the power from the fuse/relay box to behind the dash. Wired up an auxillary power point and plugged the charger into it. I mounted the pp to a cross bar with a hole in it. Worked out fine. I snaked the cable under the door jamb trim and under the carpet. I didn't want to cut the cig plug off in case i ever want to take it out and use it somewhere else. Probably should have and just bought a new one, i'll never go through the trouble i'm sure...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6959185019/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813071568/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/6813081334/in/photostream

 

[Jsty093083]

amazing write up, ill be doing this this spring. How much was the fuse box if you dont mind me asking?

+ Rep pts for sure!

 

[CTYHNTR]

Nicely done man, good job on researching everything and getting it to work.

 

[keystone183]

amazing write up, ill be doing this this spring. How much was the fuse box if you dont mind me asking?

+ Rep pts for sure!

Thanks, i appreciate all the compliments. If i remember correctly it was about $60 for the fuse/relay box, the five relays, mounting brackets (which i didn't use) and a 5' 14ga terminated wire for EVERY position, which is 45, and a few cavity plugs for spots left blank. And two day express shipping.

 

[RansRAM]

Awesome job there, reps to ya.

 

[wbowyer]

Looks great! I love how it looks completely OEM as well! Now what powered additions are you planning on adding? I am looking to add some auxiliary lights and offroad lights and this would be perfect

 

[2012 PW ST]

Hey keystone183,

Nice writeup. Thanks for taking the time & pics to do so!

I'm about to undertake this mod project on a new 2012 PW in a couple weeks.

Quick question: Did you happen to check whether the red/white 12v wire (from the unused "seat heater" wiring) that you drew power from for pins 1 & 7 was already fused? Hopefully it is. Just seems like an important little detail to make sure of for added safety.

Let us know. Thanks again.

CB

 

[2012 PW ST]

Red/white 12v input constant hot?

Hey keystone183 or anyone else who has successfully done this,

Do your switches work when your truck is off or only when on? Let me know.

I'm about to do this install in my '12 PW. That red/white 12v input wire you used tests as constant hot in my truck rather than ignition only. I want my switches to work ignition on only.

I know there are other ignition only 12v sources available but this one, along with the black/green ground are really convenient here.

Any help anyone has is greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

CB

 

[BigWil]

The switch panel draws very little power, you could easily tap into the power from the ignition switched cigarette lighter plug.

 

[Dragonmaster13]

Where did you pick up the aux switch bank from and how did your factory switches integrate with it? I think I missed something in your post as mine has tow/haul, hazards and a few other switches in that location

 

[BigWil]

It's an switch panel that replaces the heated seats switch panel...or if your truck doesn't have that, it goes where the RAM logo is. The switch panel needs to be wired in with a series of relays as the switch puts out ground, not power. It only puts out a couple milliamp per switch.

 

[Pyroboy5000]

ok, so why did you put the swithces there and get rid of the switches that were there before? did you not have any switches there from the factory??? my step dads has a bunch of switches there but some of them are blank. why not just remove the blanks and put in some extra switches in there??? im just a little confused with why you did it that way.

 

[BigWil]

You can't remove the blanks, and add new switches with the way the switch panels are made. That's why we added the new switch panels.

I did not have any switches there from factory, which is why it wasn't a big deal.

 

[Pyroboy5000]

yeah, ok. i get it. you replaced the word ram with switches. i totally forgot that thing was there. nice!

 

[tonyhawk196]

do you happen to have the part number for the switch bank?

 

[BigWil]

The switch panel: 5164912AC
wiring pigtail: 68057288AA

The wiring pigtail includes the connector for the panel, with about a foot of wire. I'll try to locate a wiring diagram for it for you.

 

[BigWil]

It does not come with a schematic and I was unable to find one. I took the switch apart to figure out Hot and ground and output pins. There are no lights that come on with dash lights. When you hit the switch it will light up amber and kills power to output pin. All outputs have voltage until switch is pressed. The output is not a ground. When this setup comes from the factory it is run through an Aux power box.
Here goes, hold the switch so that the lock indent is at the top, missing pin location is bottom middle right (pin6). Pins reading left-right, top-bottom are:

4321
8765 pin 6 is missing on the switch

or clockwise from missing pin 78 4321 5

1 +
2 -
3 Switch Output #2
4 Switch output #1
5 +
6 No pin
7 Switch output #4
8 Switch output #3

Pin 1 I believe is power to switches 1&2
Pin 5 I believe is power to switches 3&4
Be careful verifying this as one pin supplies the power for all the LEDs on the switches but not the actual switch?? (this is what I observed but my mind was fried by that point.)
This is what allows you to have one set of switches constant hot and one set ignition hot. If you want to have both ignition or both constant you just connect them both to the same source of 12 volt. They are to be fused at I believe 5 amps either way. A good source for this power is the 12 volt plugs in the dash one is constant, one is ignition hot. You can not use either of these as your power source for the relays though as they are not rated for the that much amperage.

I simply mounted 4 relays under the dash, rather than making a power distribution center under the hood. I hooked power to the relay for the switch side, and hooked the wire from the aux switch pigtail to the ground side.