Which Aux switch to use for ditch lights

[MileHighCitizen]

Nice, I got mad respect for you ground pounders. I have 0 desire to do what you do, hence why I fly helicopters for the USAF.

Also, both those countries are not great vacation spots.

Nothing better than hearing you boys coming over the horizon to lay waste. Can't say I'd trade places with you either. Stay safe, brother.

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[SierraBronco]

Only that I haven't ordered one yet? I did a large capacity heavy duty marine solenoid for my winch, and that went pretty easy.

I was just curious. I find them to be so handy once I get the wiring right

 

[Tharberats]

I was just curious. I find them to be so handy once I get the wiring right

Also it definitely slipped my mind. Perusing the selection of wires and relays currently, so I'll probably go that route.

 

[swami37]

#7

 

[Donkey]

Is anyone else as annoyed as I am that the highest amp switch is slot one? Hopefully I’m not using the winch that often, I’m tempted to move it to 6 and put driving lights in 1and maybe remember to bring that up if I ever sell it.

 

[Tharberats]

Is anyone else as annoyed as I am that the highest amp switch is slot one? Hopefully I’m not using the winch that often, I’m tempted to move it to 6 and put driving lights in 1and maybe remember to bring that up if I ever sell it.

I wouldn't say I'm annoyed by it. I ran a 500amp solenoid to switch 6 for my winch, so my switch only pulls 1 or less Amp to hold it open. This one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B082HMDMLG?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

And that eliminated the need for using the biggest switch for the winch. Relays and solenoids all day!

 

[GroovyGeek]

Don't understand the 50% margin comments, particularly since if Ford slec'd them for 10A there is surely a guardband already in that spec - if for no other reason that to keep personal injury lawyers at bay.

No reason whatsoever to use AUX1 or AUX2 on single pod ditch lights. They are typically 40 watts or less each, which is 7 ampsmon a 12V system.

 

[GroovyGeek]

Is anyone else as annoyed as I am that the highest amp switch is slot one? Hopefully I’m not using the winch that often, I’m tempted to move it to 6 and put driving lights in 1and maybe remember to bring that up if I ever sell it.

Well, some people hang enough pods on their roof light bar to propell the Bronco backwards from the light pressure alone, in which case AUX1 being closest to the driver is convenient

 

[Tharberats]

Don't understand the 50% margin comments, particularly since if Ford slec'd them for 10A there is surely a guardband already in that spec - if for no other reason that to keep personal injury lawyers at bay.

No reason whatsoever to use AUX1 or AUX2 on single pod ditch lights. They are typically 40 watts or less each, which is 7 ampsmon a 12V system.

The 50% safety margin is just another way for me to make sure my amateur electrician skills don't make mistakes. Yes, since apparently they updated the wires that I wasn't tracking, I could drop it onto any of the aux switches

 

[C6ZZGT]

For future reference for anyone also looking, this is the current chart for a 2023 Badlands Sasquatch.

Bschurr, thanks for the heads-up!

But the wiring diagram still shows 4/5/6 as 5amp so I guess the vehicle will tell us looking at the fuse box..........

 

[ironmike]

For future reference for anyone also looking, this is the current chart for a 2023 Badlands Sasquatch.

Bschurr, thanks for the heads-up!

Those have been the aux amp ratings since the first Broncos rolled off the production line at MAP in May/June of 2021. The numbers from your first post (circa March ‘21) were pre-production estimates.

 

[XchrisX89]

I wouldn't say I'm annoyed by it. I ran a 500amp solenoid to switch 6 for my winch, so my switch only pulls 1 or less Amp to hold it open. This one.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B082HMDMLG?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

And that eliminated the need for using the biggest switch for the winch. Relays and solenoids all day!

As someone who just ordered a winch today, this is some very useful info. I was thinking of wiring a cutoff under the hood, but this is a much better idea! Flick a aux switch, pop out, set it up, and pull.

 

[Mrchoochoo]

To start off, I'm not an electrician: I know enough to be dangerous. To that end, I'm looking to I stall a pair of ditch lights, each one has a 48 watt draw (according to it's website). Based on that and the 12v from the battery, it would be pulling 8 Amps. Based on the attached picture from a March 2021 post, that leads me to believe that the only switch capable of handling this is Aux 1-3 (unless I were to pull some solenoid/relay shenanigans).

Is this true, or am I missing something?

I run my ditch lights on AUX 6, light bar on AUX 5,, amber fog lights on AUX 4 and rear bumper light cubes on AUX 3...no issues with any of them

 

[cr117]

Don't understand the 50% margin comments, particularly since if Ford slec'd them for 10A there is surely a guardband already in that spec - if for no other reason that to keep personal injury lawyers at bay.

No reason whatsoever to use AUX1 or AUX2 on single pod ditch lights. They are typically 40 watts or less each, which is 7 ampsmon a 12V system.

My recommendation is to have no more than 80% of the fuse-rated amperage on a circuit. You can go with 50%, but it's a little overkill. The margin should be there to avoid blowing your fuse constantly.

If you wire in a lightbar to aux 1 that's rated at 30 amps, you're gonna have a bad time. The fuse will be there to protect any shorts/fires, but you're going to be bumping right up against the fuse's max capacity and will have to replace them all the time.

 

[Tharberats]

Apparently my 50% comments weren't making sense, what I meant was to have the circuit rated for 150% of the load (a 50% safety margin). So that would be, ideally for me, a 12A rated circuit running a 8A rated device.

But, the easy way around all of that is to just use relays and solenoids to only have the aux switches running a ~1 amp load, regardless of device.

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