New switch panel

[rhkcommander]

Check out the switch panel I made today, to replace the thin crappy steel "test run" that lasted for years. I got tired of it flexing but it still worked, plus the way I wired it previously was too messy for my liking

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I used aluminum, drilled it all by hand - used a punch but one or two attempts walked off the markings

I used rivets because in all the years of having the previous panel on, I never had to take it off. The steel hardware I used was turning orange with rust so aluminum panel, aluminum rivets . for wiring, I am using one cable with multiple wires inside. They are color coded, green will be grounded at the battery and I will assign the other colors as needed. I thought about painting the panel but I don't want to wait for primer, paint, clear to dry. Instead I brushed the aluminum - looks pretty

buttons are as follows:
Reverse lights Fog lights
Glow Plugs Starter (might flip these two around but probably not)

 

[rhkcommander]

Took a while of digging, here is the old steel panel. You can see it was so thin I had to use washers to reinforce it on the toggle switches. Plus the holes weren't all round

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[rhkcommander]

Another popular thread by yours truly...

Anyway - got the buttons hooked up. Haven't installed the indicator lights yet, was too tired to do that little bit.

Pushbutton starter, glowplugs, toggle reverse lights, and soon to be fog lights (haven't finished hooking them up on the bumper)

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[LCAM-01XA]

Why did you decide to put the push-buttons to the left of the steering column? You are turning the ignition on and off with your right hand, makes more sense to put the starting push-buttons to the right as well...

And idk about them aircraft covers, suppose it makes sense to put one for the reverse lights, if anything it'll stop you from accidentally engaging them and blinding whoever's behind you (my luck says it's bound to be a state trooper ), but the one for your fog lights will mostly get in your way I think...

Btw what happened to the tank selector switch, do you only have 1 fuel tank and thus do not need a switch?

 

[rhkcommander]

It made more sense to me to have them on the left:
I can put in keys to the truck while glowing the plugs, gives my left hand more to do since I have a stick shift. Plus it also adds some redundancy - I can use either left or right hand to crank the truck over. And I didn't like that whole area being devoted to the fuel tank switch, which I will get to in a minute - I also didn't want to get rid of my cubby hole

Doesn't make sense to try to shift into reverse and flip switches with the same hand either. I've got head lights, wipers, reverse and fog lights, and turn signal lights all in one area. The other side, I took out the wait to start light and mounted a plate in its hole, right now it just controls my stereo / amp. The stereo turns on with key on so I wired it up so the switch turns both amp and stereo on.

How often do you swap fuel tanks? Not very often unless you are driving a whole lot. I have it attached down under the dash, I just have to bend forward a little, it's not far from stock. I haven't finished figuring out what I want to do with it, I am thinking either mounting it to the 'fuse cover' or cutting a whole in the 'fuse cover' to access it - mounted to some of the dash support stuff.

Those covers are easy to take off, I rarely need my foggers on. The light for the reverse switch blinks - all of them are red but the reverse blink to get my attention if I forget to flip them back off. I like the covers for extra insurance in case I bump into them while working the signals or something - to each their own

 

[LCAM-01XA]

The way mine is right now I have the ACC, IGN, Start, and Glow all on the right side. There are also two toggles currently used for the fogs and spots, but I'm gonna reassign them as fan #1 and #2. My reverse floods come on when the headlights switch knob is turned all the way to the left, I have the dome light separated from that circuit so it only powers the cargo lamp and the rear floods - don't like that much either as to turn the floods on I have to first get the gauges to full brightness which makes it harder to see in the mirrors. Plan is to keep all driveline-related switches to the right of the steering column, and move all light switches (fogs, spots, rear floods with guard, side floods, and a push-button to flash the factory reverse lights lamps and another for the ICC lights), to the left of it. Right side panel is already done, on the left there isn't much space tho, that's why I asked about moving the tank selector switch - any chance you can get a picture of where you put it?

 

[rhkcommander]

I will try to get a pic tomorrow for you. You should take one of your setup - I'd love to see it. Is your truck an auto?


Forgot to mention in general: Another (nice IMO) thing about push button starter is it bypasses neutral safety switch. I always make sure shifter is in neutral but its more convenient this way. And it keeps you from breaking that potmetal bracket in the steering column that actuates the starter stuff.

 

[LCAM-01XA]

My setup is not complete yet, right now I have switches all over the place, basically I put them wherever I could find the space. And you know how space availability is on these trucks

I have a hand-shaker as well, but it was a slushbox truck so no cubby hole to the right of the column. I was thinking of losing the whole "Wait-To-Start/Water-In-Fuel" panel, but then I thought of having someone else drive my truck - when a red light that clearly says "water in fuel" comes on anyone would know what's wrong, if it's just an LED of some random color it could be a while before it even gets noticed. If anything I'd be more inclined to move the tank switch to where the OD cancel switch used to live, that would keep with my theme of driveline stuff to one side, lights and accessories on the other.

 

[rhkcommander]

My water in fuel sensor didn't exist when I bought the truck. Still working on that, but I have a fuel filter with the drain at least
Plus I'm the only one around who knows how to (or that I allow to) drive it . So both of those lights were useless to me. Makes sense to have extra safeties if anyone else is going to be driving it. I thought about making an adjustable timer controller for the glowplugs but then I realized only I would be driving it so why bother, if anyone drives it I will have started it for them at the least... And I'd rather finish getting oil and coolant sensors running.


You might be able to swap that half of the dash out for a manuals' with the cubby - holds change and other junk nicely. Otherwise that is a good spot for more switches. In your case I would just make a panel to cover the whole area if you've got that much stuff to control. It wouldn't be too hard to retain or upgrade the WIF/WTS lights back into it either


Shouldn't be hard to cut the cargo lamp wiring from the dimmer/light knob and run it entirely separate I imagine.

 

[79jasper]

Could add a buzzer or beeper to the water in fuel warning.
Used to drain mine all the time, but I never got anything out of it, so rarely do it now. Actually I should soon, just to check.

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[LCAM-01XA]

Panels do indeed swap right away, but I no wanna has a cubby, the factory slushbox panel already provides ample space for mounting switches. That area of the dash is already set up more or less how I want it, except the two switches that now power up lights relays need to be switched to ground fan relays instead, but that's all in the wiring and thus no big deal. Tis the panel on the left of the steering column that's gonna be interesting... Need to find me some switches first, I want red, blue, yellow, and green in matching style, but haven't decided on the style yet Radioshack has some high-current mini-toggles, not lit up but they come with colored rubber caps, which achieves the same thing. Don't really need indicator lights with toggles, position of switch lever alone shows on or off. At the same rate sure would be nice to be able to see what color which switch is in the dark... Ah, decisions decisions!

Cargo lamp is already rewired how I want it, it's pretty useless to begin with, but better than nothing. It's the flood lights that I need to separate from it and run on a separate switch.

Jasper, I thought about a buzzer, but that's better left for catastrophic engine failures, like temperature skyrocketing or the oil pressure bottoming out. Idk yet, not too worried about it right now, declustering the cluster that is my current cluster of switches takes priority

 

[rhkcommander]

Theres some toggles that have leds built into them, i will see if i can find a link

Heres one type
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000BB0706/ref=redir_mdp_mobile

 

[Greg5OH]

Where did you get the blinking light for the everse lights? i need one of dem

 

[94f450sd]

Bust the steering wheel lock and steal your truck in less than 5 minutes.

 

[rhkcommander]

Where did you get the blinking light for the everse lights? i need one of dem

You can add a capacitor or simpel circuit to make a normal LED blink, or you can be lazy like me and just buy a normally-blinking LED and add a resistor to step down the voltage from 12V to 3V.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...ed&sprefix=blinki,aps&rh=i:aps,k:blinking led

http://www.amazon.com/microtivity-I...&qid=1405485080&sr=8-11&keywords=blinking+led

http://www.amazon.com/microtivity-I...8&qid=1405485080&sr=8-2&keywords=blinking+led

Bust the steering wheel lock and steal your truck in less than 5 minutes.

Your fooling yourself if you think yours is safer. And you still have to give power to the FSS. 5 minutes - the guy must have a handicap.

Mods, Feel free to edit this out if you feel the need to:
How to steal an IDI - break in, break steering gear, pop hood, snip a wire from somewhere and fray the ends with your teeth. manually jump glowplugs with said wire, hook wire to the IP and battery positive - you can literally wrap it around both connections, and then use your keys or a tool - hunk of metal or wire to jump the starter solenoid to start it. ****, you just stole ANY IDI. Dummy switches won't protect you either. To turn it off again just unhook the IP wire again. Also you can reconnect the original IP wiring and it will be like having it in key on - stereo will work