Swapped out ST radio bezel for 2nd Gen Explorer to get extra factory foglight switch.

[MidnightRebel07]

Try connecting the red wire to the hot battery post on the fuse block instead of directly to the battery itself. That's where I usually run my hot wires for switches and lights.

 

[Dauntless76]

I've been working on this project and everything is finished except for a problem i have in wiring the factory switch. I have the LED light bar mounted and all the wires run with the provided wiring harness and tested with the provided switch, everything worked fine. The provided switch had three wires(hot, switched, and ground) so i figured it'd be an easy matter to splice the three equivilant wires into the factory switch (LB/BL, OR/TN, Black, respectively). Now when i use the factory switch the 30A fuse on the hot wire from the battery to the relay keeps blowing. I read somewhere else on the forum to connect the hot wire to something other than the battery, but i can't find anything that doesn't draw similar power. See below for the relay and a wiring diagram.....why isn't this working? http://imgur.com/0acfGkL

You'll need a relay between the battery and your switch. Most aftermarket lights come with one, I'm surprised your light bar didn't. My aftermarket fogs are attached to a relay then the battery and it's been great.

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[green4WDmonster]

You'll need a relay between the battery and your switch. Most aftermarket lights come with one, I'm surprised your light bar didn't. My aftermarket fogs are attached to a relay then the battery and it's been great.

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It did come with a relay, it's in the diagram i drew. It's the box with the numbers in it. Could you not see the pics with your iPhone?

And i tried attaching it to the fuse block and it still blows the fuse.

 

[Dauntless76]

It did come with a relay, it's in the diagram i drew. It's the box with the numbers in it. Could you not see the pics with your iPhone? And i tried attaching it to the fuse block and it still blows the fuse.

Hmm didn't see the attached picture until I got on my computer. Sorry about that.

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[Kjhadfield]

So I finally finish prepping and painting the donor bezel, swapped all the switches but will still need to wire up the new switch once I figure out what I'll use it for.

1 thing I noticed was that the explorer bezel (original defrost switch location) is slightly different than the fog light switch- on the design of how it inserts into the black harness holder. The grooves didn't match up (on the top side of the switch) and I wish I took a picture but wasn't thinking about it. All I did was shave (w/ a razor) off the furthest groove to the left and then it would slide right in. Since it wasn't mention I'm not sure if anyone else had this problem but for me that was the only way to slide the fog light switch in the middle slot and I wasn't going to use the defrost switch so I made it work.

I also decided to melt the plastic tabs/posts that hold the 2wd/4hi/low and the rear window displays in place (used an old solder iron that has been repurposed to a plastic welder only)

Thanks for the thread Jerry and thanks Duane for the donor bezel

 

[grimmolate]

Thanks for this idea! Decided to paint mine silver along with the cluster surround. Also I'm not a smoker so I took out the lighter and replaced it with the bass control for my amp, then used the power lead to run the light bar. The bonus is that the circuit is already fused in the OEM panel.

1 thing I noticed was that the explorer bezel (original defrost switch location) is slightly different than the fog light switch- on the design of how it inserts into the black harness holder. The grooves didn't match up (on the top side of the switch) and I wish I took a picture but wasn't thinking about it. All I did was shave (w/ a razor) off the furthest groove to the left and then it would slide right in. Since it wasn't mention I'm not sure if anyone else had this problem but for me that was the only way to slide the fog light switch in the middle slot and I wasn't going to use the defrost switch so I made it work.

I had to do the same. The defrost switches are keyed different than the light switch.

 

[MidnightRebel07]

Looks great man.