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Dimmer wire location for switches on the A-pillar

34K views 32 replies 21 participants last post by  JL ONE 
#1 ·
I'm posting this for the rest of the poor bastards like myself that spend all day trying to avoid pulling the dash apart or running a wire all the way across their Jeep for a dimmer connection to a switch.

There is a wire loom behind the inside driver kick panel that contains this silly orange/gray dimmer wire. Mine was running vertically towards the AC panel. It's not easy to see or get to, but it beats pulling your dash apart!

2dr JK Jeep A-pillar dimmer switch RR driver side orange/gray standard manual no power doors locks
 

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#2 ·
Same color on a 2012 JKU with power locks. It goes to the light in the lock button on the door. I guess it's cheaper for Jeep to use the same wiring harness regardless of power locks.
 
#6 ·
Main reason I mentioned no power locks was due to finding lots of info where people were tapping into that wire on the outside kick panel where the wires were running to the doors. I didn't have those wires since I didn't have the locks.

I added all the tag words at the end so hopefully someone will find this information more easily than I did.
 
#4 ·
Illuminated switches. The backlights of the switch come on with the dome light or the dimmer.
 
#8 ·
It is, but do you plan on removing your doors?

If so connect it on the body side of the harness (where the door harness connects).
 
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#12 ·
fused Diode Isolation

Gents,

I would recommend adding a 5-10am fuse on the wire that you tap into. If you don't and the wire grounds out when you turn on the lights you could possibly fry the dimmer wire and this can cause a expensive repair. I personally found my dimmer wire in the kick panel and used a 10 amp fuse and also added a diode to prevent back feed into the truck. Diodes allow power to only travel in one direction in the circuit, I recommend using them when tapping into a circuit to prevent any electrical gremlins on existing circuits. I worked in the car audio industry for 8 years specializing in alarms/Remote starts. one time a installer hooked a dimmer wire to a ground that ended up costing the shop $800, so just some food for thought.
 
#14 ·
Gents,

I would recommend adding a 5-10am fuse on the wire that you tap into. If you don't and the wire grounds out when you turn on the lights you could possibly fry the dimmer wire and this can cause a expensive repair. I personally found my dimmer wire in the kick panel and used a 10 amp fuse and also added a diode to prevent back feed into the truck. Diodes allow power to only travel in one direction in the circuit, I recommend using them when tapping into a circuit to prevent any electrical gremlins on existing circuits. I worked in the car audio industry for 8 years specializing in alarms/Remote starts. one time a installer hooked a dimmer wire to a ground that ended up costing the shop $800, so just some food for thought.
dkndyii,
Couple questions if you don't mind and forgive me as I'm just learning about what goes into electrical wiring. I am planning to install a couple switches and want them back-lit to dim with the dash lights. So I will be tapping into the orange/gray dimmer wire. I think this is correct in my head but are you able to verify this for me? I would run this wire to position 6 (bottom right on back of switch) and then jump the ground from 8 to 7 (top right on back of switch) correct?

Also, I like your idea of adding a fuse and a diode to the circuit. I am pretty familiar with what each of those do but can I add something like this:
12135037 GM MULTI-PURPOSE ELECTRIC DIODE ELECTRIC-DIODE FUSE RELAY BLOCK BOX OE | eBay

Would this accomplish both the fuse and diode combined into one? If so, would this just go into any generic in-line fuse holder?
 
#18 ·
Hey guys, I am doing the same setup pretty much. I will have to look for this orange grey wire. I have some questions for those that did this setup.

1. For pin 6 on the switch, what gauge wire did you use and then combine into before merging into the orange/grey wire?
2. for pin 2, what constant power did you use? I was thinking of the cigarette lighter line, but have been reading about some fuse tapping and was considering doing that.
3. For the ground on pin 7, can this be combined with pin 8 or does it need to be its own ground?

I hope this makes sense! Just trying to properly plan this work. Thanks!
 
#19 ·
1. I used 18ga wire (even 22ga would be ok, its a really low-amp circuit)

2. My setup didn't include relays, so I got power from the heated seats fuse in the fuse box (its rated to 20A and I needed only 7A for the lockers). If your accessories are more power hungry (lights, compressor, etc) you better use a relay. Then for pin 2 you may either tap in a fuse box or tap into the cigarette lighter wire. I recommend the latter since it gives you much cleaner setup (no need to drill the hole in the fuse box and run the wire from the box all the way to the dash).

3. 7 and 8 can be combined together for the most cases (if you want the top part of the switch to illuminate when the switch is on).
 
#20 ·
I just got done wiring a bumper light bar, hood light bar, 2 cube lights, and a roof light bar. I am using CH4X4 rocker switches. My problem is that I followed the wiring diagram that they included with the switches, and the lights on the left hand part of the rocker switch stays lit, and when I have the switches turned off it feels like they are actually in what should be the on position. Has anybody ever used this brand of rocker switch, and ran into this problem? I am thinking about switching the positive wire, and the accessory wire does anybody know if this would damage the switch or blow a fuse? I have never run into this problem before, and I would say it was bad switch if it was just one, but it is all 4 of my switches. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you. :pu:banghead::confused:llinghair:
 
#21 ·
Update

I pulled the Apiller spod and switched the wires around, and now it is working right. The wiring diagram that came with it was wrong. I know that this was a post for the dimmer wire, and thank you guys because it really helped me when I was trying to figure out how I was going to do that.
 
#25 ·
There is an orange wire with grey stripe that feeds the footwell light on the drivers side for sure that I know of. You have to undo the wire loom to find it. I’m out of town, but can post pictures of its location for you when I get home.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#24 ·
Not sure about the 2015, but I plan on doing the same set-up on my dual LED switches when I get them next week on my 2017. However, I will be tapping into the foot well light circuit. There are 2 LED's on each side. 1 comes on with the door open and the other is connected to the dimmer circuit. I'm not sure of the wire colors, but it will be easy enough to find.
 
#26 ·
I'm adding a (6) Switch Pod below the A/C controls where the useless net basket dealy holder is located.

Q: I assuming that the Dimmer Orange/Grey Striped wire is the same throughout the dash , so without tapping into the now deleted (ARB Air now) factory "E"locker switch there should be a wire located in the center console, right.
 
#30 ·
I kinda have to ask this. Does it bug you if the lights are on during the day? Or are they already hot and you just wanted them to light up before you put the key in? Part of me says just ignition on tap and be done with it. But both are totally valid reasons.
 
#31 ·
I have a question about this. I'll be installing a few of these switches in the spring and am wondering whether both lights are powered by the dimmer circuit or just the lower one.

Looking at the wiring diagrams, it appears that the lower light gets power from the dimmer circuit but the upper light is powered by the 12v input circuit when the switch is turned on.

I played with one of the switches a little with a 9v battery just to see what happened and it seemed to confirm my suspicions.

So with that in mind... if I'm not using a relay and am just passing 12v through the switch to my dash cam, will the lower light be dimmed appropriately while the upper light is always fully bright when the switch is on?
 
#33 ·
i second this thank you. i know this thread goes back some years.. but i found it enlightening [pardon the pun]

i will be hopefully wiring a hornblasters wrango train horn kit and a whelen air horn each to its own rocker switch on my a-pillar and i needed to know where i could find a dim-able switched power source. Ive never wired anything on my jeep before so im sure to run into some problems but between WF and youtube ill hopefully get through it.
 
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