How many switches do you need?

[FrostQ]

Is 4 switches sufficient? Will I regret not getting 6?
So far I only have a winch that I need to hook up.

Looking into getting the Trigger 6 Shooter or the Trigger 4 Shooter. Any comment on this switch?

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[ralphgb]

Is 4 switches sufficient? Will I regret not getting 6?
So far I only have a winch that I need to hook up.

You always need one more.

 

[BDinTX]

I've got a switch for rock lights, offroad driving lights, and may eventually wire a power disconnect for the winch to another. If I didn't have a power tank I'd consider putting the compressor on one. If you run out of switches you could always combine lights. LEDs have pretty low current draw.

 

[brewski]

You do not want to hook your winch up to an easy access dash switch, it is pointless (IMO).

The OEM is 4 Aux switches, which is fine and I make that work. Ideally I wish it was 6. You may need different. I'd recommend thinking of what you think you will do and then use that for your switch count. On my JK I had 6 and only used 5. One of those switches was a engine fan kill switch which I will not be doing again. I don't plan on doing the deep water crossings with my JL like I used to do with my JK.
- I have reverse lights and I have a 3rd high mounted reverse light which I would prefer to have one a separate switch, but due to having 4 switches I put all on 1 switch. it works and is better solution to me than doing an aftermarket set up.
- For forward lights I have Baja Designs LP6 which takes up 2 switches and is all I need for forward lights.
- My last switch is not used yet, but between side lights or rock lights I have 1 switch. Frankly I dont see the need for rock lights even though I have a desire for them for many years. I don't usually do really challenging stuff at night. At night it is more about a trail and seeing around corners.

For air compressor I keep the switch by the air hook up because in past jeeps this is the most convenient and the 1 jeep I had the switch on the inside with air connection under the hood it was not a good set up.
I also have a rear glass light (Brawlee - highly recommend them) for when I'm doing food prep on a tailgate table, packing or diaper changing in the back area. This switch is in the back where it is convenient, again not convenient to have to go to the front to turn on/off a localized non-driving light.

 

[Jamrock]

I have never heard of a kill fan switch before. You use this when crossing high levels of water?

Educate me please.

 

[brewski]

I have never heard of a kill fan switch before. You use this when crossing high levels of water?

Educate me please.

well the idea is that if you're going thru deep water and the fan is running (doubtfully would kick on when crossing since the water would cool your engine) you can kill the fan so it doesn't splash water throughout your engine bay potentially splashing water in bad places. On my JK I had breather lines extended to my snorkel and fuse boxes, etc protected to help prevent shorts. Driving thru deep water is just a pain and has so many side effects with water ingress that I don't care to do those crossing anymore. I built my JK up well, but I was not kind to it. The maintenance involved with that kind of build up is not worth it to me anymore and I aim for a more stock like setup and look for suspension components with a more OEM mindset of install and forget. Without a lift it is annoying to remove your wheels every oil change to lube all the joints. And driving thru deep water just increases this maintenance and checking fluids to make sure you did not get water ingress.

to set the fan up like this is a little tricky. Switches are set up to turn something on, not to turn something off. So to do this I ran a switch into a relay and the fan was rewired into that relay. The relay is a different than most with how it operates. With JL Aux switches you could do this a lot easier since the switches can be programmed to be normally closed and latched open. But the fan still pulls a lot of Watts so I don't think the Aux switches can handle the current and you might have to still go thru a relay.

Edit: I believe this is the relay I used Amazon link

 

[Jamrock]

Cool.

I guess the hard part would be to remember to turn the fan back on afterwards. I can easily see someone having overheating issues from that.

I have always been amazed to see how people drive their Jeeps through rivers. For most vehicles (Independent Front Suspension), we need to regrease springs, etc. after driving through flooded streets. If we don't, we get a lot of squeaking sounds from the suspension.

We also have to ensure that the cv joint boots still have enough grease in them. If the grease gets washed out, metal starts to rub on metal. That would be the end of the cv joint.

Did you have to do anything like that?

 

[elf883]

Is 4 switches sufficient? Will I regret not getting 6?
So far I only have a winch that I need to hook up.

Looking into getting the Trigger 6 Shooter or the Trigger 4 Shooter. Any comment on this switch?

i did six and need more - go with 8

 

[FrostQ]

You do not want to hook your winch up to an easy access dash switch, it is pointless (IMO).

I'm a noob...care to elaborate? I'm connecting my winch to one of these (https://www.warn.com/power-interrupt-kit-62132) and I need it to be connected to a switch.

 

[CarbonSteel]

It came with 4 and initially I thought it would be enough, but I could use 6 pretty easily.

 

[No Spark V6]

I'm a noob...care to elaborate? I'm connecting my winch to one of these (https://www.warn.com/power-interrupt-kit-62132) and I need it to be connected to a switch.

I did this on mine and used the aux switch instead of the included one.

 

[FrostQ]

I did this on mine and used the aux switch instead of the included one.

I didn’t get the tow package. No aux switch for me.

 

[JL MADDOG]

I've connected 3 of the 4 OEM switches, primarily for lights, and I'm not sure if I will need more or not.

I'll start worrying about that when I find myself needing a 5th switch.

 

[brewski]

Cool.

I guess the hard part would be to remember to turn the fan back on afterwards. I can easily see someone having overheating issues from that.

I have always been amazed to see how people drive their Jeeps through rivers. For most vehicles (Independent Front Suspension), we need to regrease springs, etc. after driving through flooded streets. If we don't, we get a lot of squeaking sounds from the suspension.

We also have to ensure that the cv joint boots still have enough grease in them. If the grease gets washed out, metal starts to rub on metal. That would be the end of the cv joint.

Did you have to do anything like that?

I watch my temps a lot, so I don't see an overheat issue ever happening for me. Others who don't pay attention sure, but they're also unlikely to do a fan switch. I never forgot to toggle the switch back. I have forgotten to take the jeep out of 4H when I get to pavement though a few times. I'm surprised how easy this is to do.

I'm a noob...care to elaborate? I'm connecting my winch to one of these (https://www.warn.com/power-interrupt-kit-62132) and I need it to be connected to a switch.

Those are a good set up if you want to add a switch. I was saying to not use a easily accessible switch for driving. I've never hooked up a winch with a switch and out of all the jeepers I know, none of them do either. I know guys who wired their controls (line out/line in) to buttons on their dash that didn't even do a power interrupt switch.

If you have some sort of winch that has a bluetooth connection and is always "on" for that, I could see having a switch so you don't have a drain on your battery, but in that case I would just wire it to an ignition line, like fuse #50 (to my knowledge this is a power when ignition is on fuse for all engines, but I could be mistaken). Hooking it up to the ignition is basically makes the ignition source your switch. But instead of toggling a lever/button your vehicle does it automatically when it is running on in ON.

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