Factory Aux switch issues

[Overwatch]

Hi all,
I have an electrical question for anyone on the factory AUX switches. I thought I was good at wiring, I'm not, but I had put on simple things: winch, 2 sets of lights and a new rear stop light. My battery started each day so low the engine often wouldn't even turn over, and I needed to plug it in every night to a battery tender. I changed the battery and nothing changed. I took everything off the battery and it still happened. I finally undid the AUX switch wiring to my lights and now it's perfect. Is it possible to miss-wire the Aux switches? They worked. I'm really at a loss here.

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[Grayhound]

Can you talk to us about how you did the wiring? Did you use any relays? Are your ground grounded well?

 

[ecidiego]

Hi all,
I have an electrical question for anyone on the factory AUX switches. I thought I was good at wiring, I'm not, but I had put on simple things: winch, 2 sets of lights and a new rear stop light. My battery started each day so low the engine often wouldn't even turn over, and I needed to plug it in every night to a battery tender. I changed the battery and nothing changed. I took everything off the battery and it still happened. I finally undid the AUX switch wiring to my lights and now it's perfect. Is it possible to miss-wire the Aux switches? They worked. I'm really at a loss here.

How are the switches setup in uconnect? are you sure you're not just leaving them on?

 

[JEEP4U]

If your vehicle has ESS, I would not utilize them in a high priority circuit....... example: traction devices.

 

[Overwatch]

The Jeep is a 392, so no ESS. The switches were basically wired red to each light. I should mention the winch was not on an AUX switch, just two sets of lights...each with only two LED Rigid lights per switch. I only turned them on when I used gthe lights which is very rare. The switches were not lit up inside the jeep. I did have the Uconnect setup to always have them on when i pressed the button.

 

[Overwatch]

Just found this on the forum: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...pro-spot-installation-jl-w-aux-switches.9920/ I may have completely miswired these. I have red and black to the battery using the ring cables. Then the switch wire to the Jeep AUX switch.

 

[GATORB8]

Tied them in underhood, right? There is a B+ in the footwell that could have caused drain if hooked to something if it was there.

 

[GATORB8]

Just found this on the forum: https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/fo...pro-spot-installation-jl-w-aux-switches.9920/ I may have completely miswired these. I have red and black to the battery using the ring cables. Then the switch wire to the Jeep AUX switch.

What about the red and black at the switch wire?

I'd lop it off before the switch (on the light side) should just have two wires then, ground and switch.

 

[rcadden]

Black should be attached to a screw somewhere on the Jeep. There's a few 10mm available right near the battery/fuse box.

Red should be attached to the appropriate AUX light.

Nothing should be wired directly to the battery.

You don't need the switch if you're wiring them to the AUX buttons - those function as the switch.

 

[Overwatch]

Thank you all! rcadden had it I think. I have a switch and the battery connected, plus I never griounded the second black. I really messed this one up. I'm going to try this again and make sure everything is grounded.

 

[rcadden]

Thank you all! rcadden had it I think. I have a switch and the battery connected, plus I never griounded the second black. I really messed this one up. I'm going to try this again and make sure everything is grounded.

If it's helpful, here's a photo of my (poorly organized) battery area.

You can see the three blue screws along the rail - any of those are good for grounding. You can see the one black wire going to the one on the right - that black wire is coming off one of my a-pillar lights.

Underneath the big fat black wire is the mess of other wires coming from my lights. The reds from each of those is connected to the appropriate AUX wire from the little bundle that's in this part of the battery area.

I have 2 spots (L and R) hooked up to AUX 1 and then 2 floods (L and R) hooked up to AUX 2, so I can turn them on separately. These are Nilight lights that came with the wiring harness. The harness had a relay, a switch, and an inline fuse - I simply cut all that section out. Since the factory AUX switches have the switch and they're fused, I didn't need all that.

The winch is connected directly to the battery, but with the power shutoff that you see - whenever I go wheeling, I just turn the nob so the winch is hot. When I'm airing back up at the end of the run, I turn the switch back off.

 

[Terrymo]

Thank you all! rcadden had it I think. I have a switch and the battery connected, plus I never griounded the second black. I really messed this one up. I'm going to try this again and make sure everything is grounded.

Here’s a great video from @Northridge4x4

 

[jhmartin]

If you are using the AUX switches then you want to throw out any wiring harness / relay /switch that came with the item (unless it going to draw > then the aux capacity; 15 and 40 amps depending on the switch) and wire the hot (red) to the AUX switch lead and the ground to one of the ground points. Easy-peasy.

 

[ELJL]

Easy-peasy.

You (actually the engineers at Jeep) would think.

Im waiting for the day someone burns their ‘rig’ (pun) down for not understanding basic electrical wiring principles. ??

 

[ecidiego]

You (actually the engineers at Jeep) would think.

Im waiting for the day someone burns their ‘rig’ (pun) down for not understanding basic electrical wiring principles. ??

The aux wires are a serious liability imo for Jeep....

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