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factory switch for aftermarket PIAAs


corrond56

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I am trying to use a factory switch to power my PIAAs. I am having more trouble than I thought trying to get this wired. I grounded my relay for the PIAAs under the hood so the only wire I have coming from it to the switch is the one that should supply it power. My switch is grounded through the ground that came with the factory switch and the power to the switch is being supplied through the "hot when headlamps are on" supply. In theory from what I can tell everything should be working but it isn't for some reason. Can anyone help me with this??
 


Quartermile

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Why is the switch grounded? You should have power in and power out, the only reason for a switch to be grounded is if it has a light in the switch, check to see if you are terminating the poles of the switch to the correct area
 

corrond56

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the switch is grounded because the switch illuminates at night and when the fog lights are on there is and indicator light.
 

mjonesjr

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Here is a wiring diagram to wire up the factory switch to auxiliary lights.

 

corrond56

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so basically the LB/BK is my hot output to the relay and then the TN/OR is my input when the lights are on.... This is the way I thought I had it. I will double check my wiring.
 

corrond56

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well I went by the wiring diagram and for some unknown reason I still cannot get this to work. There has to be something in the switch f'ing this up. I know my relay for the PIAAs is good because the come on when they are straight wired. I think I am just gonna use a toggle switch for them. I'm getting fed up.
 

corrond56

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ok so I just thought of something on the way home. The guy at the junkyard said those switches are push to ground, not push to power. So what if I ran my relay hot input to a constant and then ran the relay ground to the switch in place of where the hot is supposed to be? On the LB/Bk. this deserves testing in the near future...
 

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ok so I just thought of something on the way home. The guy at the junkyard said those switches are push to ground, not push to power. So what if I ran my relay hot input to a constant and then ran the relay ground to the switch in place of where the hot is supposed to be? On the LB/Bk. this deserves testing in the near future...
That would work.
 

doyouquaxu

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did your truck not come with fog lights? i'm guessing not since youre going through all this work to wire the lights, when you could just have used the stock harness.
 

corrond56

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doyouquaxu, yes my truck did come with factory foglights. I could have very easily tapped into the stock harness and had the PIAAs come on when the factory fog lamps were on but that was not what I wanted. I was going after the ability to operate them independtly while maintaining the factory look (as few aftermarket switches as possible.) So on my dash I have two factory fog light switches instead of the normal one. To the average person it looks stock.
 

99_3.0

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That's a pretty clean looking setup. Me likey!
 

mjonesjr

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ok so I just thought of something on the way home. The guy at the junkyard said those switches are push to ground, not push to power. So what if I ran my relay hot input to a constant and then ran the relay ground to the switch in place of where the hot is supposed to be? On the LB/Bk. this deserves testing in the near future...
If you went by the wiring diagram I posted you would have know that it was a switched ground and not a switched 12v.
 

corrond56

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mjonesjr, I was looking at which wire from the relay got connected to the switch and at what pin. I completely overlooked the fact that it was a ground wire:damnit1:
 

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