partisan1911

On my '98 with automatic I have front and rear winches, air compressor, air locker front and rear, and auxiliary lights. I would like to keep all the switches consolidated.

Does anyone have any ideas on the best place to mount a switch panel? Pictures would be great if you have mounted a switch panel that holds a bunch of switches. I have seen the 12volt guy website and he makes nice panels. What I really need is where to mount a big switch panel.

9812vram

Sounds like you need some room! I always thought it would be cool to have an overhead dash panel integrated into the roof like semi's have. There's not a lot of room so it would have to be shallow, but..... Or maybe one of those roof console deals that goes straight back from the rear view mirror, only full of switches... Or the old angled panel on the dog house beside the 4x4 shifter....

partisan1911

With the cb, cupholders etc the box by the 4x4 shifter wouldn't work. The idea of a roof mounted console might work. Do you know of any prefabbed that would stay up there? I guess there might be an extra brace up there I could screw into but don't know what is under the roof liner.

vrj

Try a switch switch box from Whelen, Brooking, Sho-Me. I have one on my truck and it is perfect for me.

Mine is a Whelen 6-Switch box with 25amp fuses on switches 2-5 and can replace the fuses with any fuse upto 25amp.

The first switch has a 40amp relay AND an automatic circuit breaker built into it and works great when there is a short but then resets itself (automatically) when the short is fixed.

My switch box is setup as follows:

Switch #1 - Air Compressor for my Pacbrake air bags and air horns
Switch #2 - Rear Backup Lights and power for aux. fuel tank's fuel pump. This switch is a seperate spring loaded toggle switch located on the dash.
Switch #3 - Front PIAA fog lights
Switch #4 - Aux. HAM/CB amplified speakers
Switch #5 - Open
Switch #6 - Open

Whelen and Brookings has different types of switch boxes. They are used allot on emergency vehicles like police, fire, emergency vehicles.

I built a bracket and bolted mine below the drink cup holder on my truck above the transmission bell housing hump.

Regarding your winches, my suggestion is to not use the switch box... Not enough amp. coverage. I have a winch mounted on a custom/removable base in the bed of my truck. I can easily unmount it and quickly mount it on my front bumper.

My power cable is a #8 wire from the battery to a 100 amp magnetic circuit breaker switch made by Monster Cable. The #8 power cable is then routed from the magnetic switch to the winch. Same setup going to the rear of my truck. The winch has the battery connects from forklifts also commonly used on other electical applications. When I want to use the winch I just flip the switch... Thats it.

Works great for me ... Hope this helps.

9812vram

No sir, I don't know of anybody that makes one... Are ya good with fiberglass fabing?

MasterLow

You guys should check out the WiredHDH switch panel. Have had mine for a few months now and love it. Basically the panel, which is about the thickness of a credit card, has adhesive on the back and a very thin ribbon cable behind it. I had the overhead cubby and modified it with a piece of 1/8'' textured abs, happened to match my stereo reducer plate. I puddled jb weld all around the black abs in the cubby after I trimmed it to be as close as I could to the front. After taking the A pillar off it's super easy to get the single cable up to the console. The actual box you hook your accessories into is mounted in the engine bay, for super easy access. Got mine mounted on the fuse box lid next to my XZT. Comes with 2 pages of stickers to go with the 8 buttons. So far I have just the fog lights and reverse fog lights hooked up, have a horn, air compressor, and the exhaust brake to hook up to it. The switches can be individually programmed to be constant on/off or momentary, like the horn will be. Blue led's are not too bright at all, perfect ambient lighting.

partisan1911

That switch panel has a hefty price up front but I think it is what I have been looking for. Was the 5' cord suitable or would the 15' be more accommodating?

MasterLow

Now that i thought about it, pretty sure I got the 15' and left the slack up above the sun visor.

vrj

The WiredHDH switch panel is pretty slick. I've seen something like this before and they would match the dash on Gen. 3 and above trucks perfectly. Great setup and article.

The two (2) things I like about the Whelen switch box that I have is switches 2 - 5 are fused with built-in relays AND switch #1 which is also a relay has an automatic circuit breaker built in. When the demand is too high there is a problem the switch breaks the connection and resets itself if the break is fixed. I don't have to worry about replacing fuses on switch #1.

Does the WiredHDH switch panel have any circuit breakers built in? If it does, I'll probably purchase one since I'm in the market for a used 2004 - 2007, 5.9 Dodge 2500 4x4.

Thx

infidel

Looks like the WiredHDH is all relays in a separate box from the keypad. The only juice that flows though the keypad for switching is the ground path to the relay control box.

http://www.wiredhdh.com/switchpanels#!__switchpanels

MasterLow

They're not relays, have to buy separately. But buying relays and mounting them in the engine bay seems a lot easier than running multiple cables up to the overhead.

infidel

It appears the switch panel comes with the distribution control box that houses a 10 amp relay for each switch.
10 amps will run most components but if a component draws more amps you'll want a relay close by the component so you don't have to run long distances with large wire.

From their website;

"A WATERPROOF relay distribution system with one power cable, one ground cable, up to eight automotive relays, and up to eight circuit breakers, all in a robust (but compact) housing that can be mounted in the engine compartment or along the frame rails. This methodology allows for a single, 22-gauge wire to be ran through your firewall to the switch panel instead of running heavier gauge wire from each accessory every time you add something new to your build."

MasterLow

Huh. Wonder why the dude was trying to sell me a 8 pack of relays with it.

isissound

Its probubly a realy board and you add the size relays you need for each circut I was told once that its bad to run way oversized relays butnot actually sure why so you want to pair up your amp draw with the correct size breaker and relay

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

Totallyrad

The first thing I got out of it was it would run up to 2.5 amps without a relay, after that you have to add one.