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Wiring Multiple Lights to Aux Switches

DHW

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Has anyone had a situation where you have wired multiple lights, or whatever else, to the same OEM aux switch at both locations, under the hood and under the passenger dash?

Here is what I'm looking to do: Currently I have two Rigid DSS's mounted over my spare in the back of the Jeep, which are powered by AUX 4. I ran the wiring for these through the tailgate and through the inside of the Jeep up to the AUX connections under the passenger dash. I just got a Westin WJ2 rear bumper and will be installing two Rigid D-Series Floods and two Westin rock lights in the bumper. I want all 6 rear lights tied into one AUX switch. My plan is to wire the D-Series and rock lights together and then either 1) wire those into the already existing wiring for the DSSs or 2) run new wiring underneath the Jeep all the way to the AUX connections under the hood.

I know that many lights will require AUX 1 or 2, so in clarifying my question, if I leave the DSS's wired to AUX 2 under the dash, can I wire the D-Series and rock lights to the AUX 2 connection under the hood and have AUX 2 turn on all 6 lights?

My reasoning is that I don't think I can wire the D-Series/rock lights to the DSS's wiring without there being exposed wires somewhere in the back.
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DHW

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SO I went ahead and tried this, wiring lights to both the Aux 2 connection under the dash and under the hood, flipped the switch and the ENTIRE JEEP EXPLODED! Luckily I had just returned from LARPing and was wearing a full medieval suit of armor, thus saving my life!
 

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Whew. I'm glad you survived.

I don't know how to answer your question. AUX1 and 2 are 40 AMP rated and I don't think it would matter if you were using only 1 of the wires (inside vs outside) or both. I think there is 40 AMPs to either one or both combined.

My advice would be to NOT hook all of the lights directly to the AUX1 or 2 wires. You need to know the amperage of each light and add them together to see if they add up to less than 20 AMPs. I say 20 AMPs because when you turn an electrical appliance on, it draws up to twice the amperage that it needs to run, on start up, So if your lights are 5 AMPs each, when you turn them on, you will pull up to 60 AMPS initially and overload it blowing the fuse.

Does that answer your question?
 
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Whew. I'm glad you survived.

I don't know how to answer your question. AUX1 and 2 are 40 AMP rated and I don't think it would matter if you were using only 1 of the wires (inside vs outside) or both. I think there is 40 AMPs to either one or both combined.

My advice would be to NOT hook all of the lights directly to the AUX1 or 2 wires. You need to know the amperage of each light and add them together to see if they add up to less than 20 AMPs. I say 20 AMPs because when you turn an electrical appliance on, it draws up to twice the amperage that it needs to run, on start up, So if your lights are 5 AMPs each, when you turn them on, you will pull up to 60 AMPS initially and overload it blowing the fuse.

Does that answer your question?
Ha, thanks. Just having a bit of fun since I didn't get any responses.

And yes, I already thought of exactly what you stated, except I didn't know the part about drawing twice the amperage on startup. Does that also apply to LED lighting?

The total amperage for all six lights in the rear is 13.5. So double that you have 27 amps.

However, I've had 4 DSSs hooked into AUX 1 for months, and the total amperage for those 4 lights is 17 amps. Double that and you have 34 amps, but I've never had any issues at all with those lights. That's why I was wondering if doubled amperage on startup does not apply to LED lighting.
 

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Ha, thanks. Just having a bit of fun since I didn't get any responses.

And yes, I already thought of exactly what you stated, except I didn't know the part about drawing twice the amperage on startup. Does that also apply to LED lighting?

The total amperage for all six lights in the rear is 13.5. So double that you have 27 amps.

However, I've had 4 DSSs hooked into AUX 1 for months, and the total amperage for those 4 lights is 17 amps. Double that and you have 34 amps, but I've never had any issues at all with those lights. That's why I was wondering if doubled amperage on startup does not apply to LED lighting.
I don't know how much of an increased amperage there is with LEDs when turned on. It seems logical that their draw is substantially less.

If it were me, I'd probably use the AUX switch to activate a relay to power the lights.
 

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I wouldn't worry about your load being half. More like 3/4 of the rating. Those rating are based on continuous load. Fuses and relays can take quite a bit more than their continuous rating to blow.

Read the below info for a MUCH better explanation than I can give.

https://www.12voltplanet.co.uk/fuses-guide-uses.html
 

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Late to the party, but wandering if you ever connected the lights to the both sides of the harness (cabin and under the hood) of the same AUX switch? Did your Jeep explode if you did it? 😀😀😀
 
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Late to the party, but wandering if you ever connected the lights to the both sides of the harness (cabin and under the hood) of the same AUX switch? Did your Jeep explode if you did it? 😀😀😀
Ha, the good ol’ exploding Jeep gag! But no, I never did. I connected all six lights in the back to AUX 2 through the cabin and haven’t had any problems. But I guess that question remains unanswered. Still don’t know if that would work.
 

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You can use either location, or both locations. It is basically a Y connection to the load side of the relay protected by the single fuse. No matter how you connect it, the max amps for total load applies.
 
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You can use either location, or both locations. It is basically a Y connection to the load side of the relay protected by the single fuse. No matter how you connect it, the max amps for total load applies.
Appreciate the clarification!
 

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Nash_Dj

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You can use either location, or both locations. It is basically a Y connection to the load side of the relay protected by the single fuse. No matter how you connect it, the max amps for total load applies.
That sounds definitive, than. Thanks a lot for clarifying. Heading to my garage, right now, to do exactly what I asked for, 2 LED lights on the cabin connection and 2 under the hood!!! My amperage is total of 8A, so safe on this side as well... What an excellent group of people on this forum, I was in doubt 8 hours ago, asked the question and all resolved by now... 👍👍👍 Thanks.
 

Muskylounge6801

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I was thinking of doing the same thing except different ...Haha.

So I have the internal access purple wire running some low amp internal LED strip lights from go recon (Blue). I finished installing front and rear Hauk Bumpers. They both have lights in the bumpers. The rear activated off reverse, the front lights work off the factory headlight switch. I was thinking off bypassing this factory switch and running a connection from inside the engine bay access to the same purple wire and use Aux4 for both blue LED strip lights and the front lights on the hauk. Just got my X2O gen three Smittybuilt that will go on once I decide the final wiring on the front lights.

You may ask why bypass factory switch? Mine has a little gremlin. Shortly after wiring the Blue LED my factory fogs wouldn't come on. Maybe for 10-20 on/off cycles then all of the sudden it came on and worked normal. Then after wiring the front fogs for hauk bumper everything worked perfect. Some reason after finishing the back bumper/back up sensors and reverse connections, front lights stopped again. I dont know if there needs to be so many start/strop cycles for it to resume but I am just wanting a direct switch wired so they come on when I want them to.

I am not trying tpo hijack your thread, I am just basically wondering to use both purple wires inside engine bay and inside passenger door/floor if this would be OK or should I just use aux3 for external and aux4 for internal strip lights.

Thanks in advance
 

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Whew. I'm glad you survived.

I don't know how to answer your question. AUX1 and 2 are 40 AMP rated and I don't think it would matter if you were using only 1 of the wires (inside vs outside) or both. I think there is 40 AMPs to either one or both combined.

My advice would be to NOT hook all of the lights directly to the AUX1 or 2 wires. You need to know the amperage of each light and add them together to see if they add up to less than 20 AMPs. I say 20 AMPs because when you turn an electrical appliance on, it draws up to twice the amperage that it needs to run, on start up, So if your lights are 5 AMPs each, when you turn them on, you will pull up to 60 AMPS initially and overload it blowing the fuse.

Does that answer your question?

If he's using LED's the amp draw is pretty much insignificant... 40amp would be a major appliance/compressor/etc. draw

Rigid DSS lights are approximately 54 watts each, amp draw is 3.86.
https://www.rigidindustries.com/d-ss-pro-flood-black-261113.html
 
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I am not trying tpo hijack your thread, I am just basically wondering to use both purple wires inside engine bay and inside passenger door/floor if this would be OK or should I just use aux3 for external and aux4 for internal strip lights.

Thanks in advance
This thread is over 2 years old, hijack away!

But based on RedBaron's response above, it seems you can wire stuff to both the under hood and under dash connectors of the same AUX switch as long as everything total wired to that one switch doesn't exceed its amp limit.

And as an update, I've had those same 6 lights running off AUX 4 since late 2019 with no issues.
 

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This thread is over 2 years old, hijack away!

But based on RedBaron's response above, it seems you can wire stuff to both the under hood and under dash connectors of the same AUX switch as long as everything total wired to that one switch doesn't exceed its amp limit.

And as an update, I've had those same 6 lights running off AUX 4 since late 2019 with no issues.

Thanks man, I kinda figured since the LED strips are so low amps that adding two lights on front wouldnt even come close to the 15 amps.
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