I purchased the Apollointech 6-switch Panel & Source Relay Box off of Amazon for $189. It is a copy of the sPOD, but at a fraction of the cost. Thanks to Amazon Prime I had it in two days ready for the weekend! I wanted to post on here in case others are considering this much less expensive alternative.
Here is my review;
Upon receipt the unit was packaged very well. The Source box & switch panel are both metal with a nice finish.
The wires have a very nice webbed heat shield and all of the terminated ends have heat shrink around the terminals.
The directions in the box are fairly basic, but more then adequate with images to help with the steps.
Installation of the Source box was simple and the cables were long enough to cleanly run along the fire wall out of the way. The board and internals (relays, fuses, terminals etc) of the source box all seem solid and good quality.
The switches have a solid feel and the kit comes with 10 faces with different symbols to choose from. I haven't confirmed if OTRATTW faces will work, but I am guessing they do!
Getting the switch panel in place was a bit tricky. Removing the freedom tops let me get better access to the top 7mm bolts you have to tighten on the hangmans loop. Once I test fit the panel and got it in the right position it mates up to the plastic trim piece very well! It is also very secure and I don't for see any issues with the panel coming loose down the road.
So far I only have two sets of lights wired into it and everything is working flawlessly. The volt meter gauge is nice to have in case I use the lights while camping.
Very happy with the purchase and for the $, this is a great product.
I have the 4 switch A pillar mount and I have been really happy with it so far. One thing that might be of interest to some folks worried about people fiddling with their switches when the top/doors are off. The switches don't work unless the key is in the run position.
The kit comes with a mini fuse piggyback to power the switch panel & they have you use an accessory power that is only hot when the ignition is on. I believe it was the M6 fuse.
I made a very small notch in the side of the fuse box to run the wire & allow the fuse box cover to close completely.
Apollointech Switch Panel & Relay Box Review with pics(sPOD knockoff)
I'm not sure how useful it will be, but this Apollointech version carries a 24 month warranty and the electronics on an sPOD are only warrantied for 90 days. Me thinks I need to revise my desire for an sPOD and give this a go, especially given the ignition feature.
I'm not sure how useful it will be, but this Apollointech version carries a 24 month warranty and the electronics on an sPOD are only warrantied for 90 days. Me thinks I need to revise my desire for an sPOD and give this a go, especially given the ignition feature.
Another good point! I received an email from Victor (who seems to be the face of the company) a few days after receiving the unit offering help in any way. He even gave tips on install (which I already had completed) & said if there was any issue or concern to contact him to correct it immediately. I didn't have any issues, but it is nice that they are at least willing to correct if their are mistakes. Some reviews said A part was missing and they emailed Victor and received it a day or two later.
Thanks for this write up, I am going with the Appollointech version as the cost of the SPOD is just not warranted.
The fitment around the loop and it's placement in regards to the sun visors has been the only complaints I have heard. Glad to hear you got it in without too much bother.
The sPOD offers some cool features/ options like the touch screen and air pressure gauge, but for your basic operation I find the Apollointech more then adequate for the $. I figured I can get a 20" Light bar with the money I saved
As for the fitment, the 2007 - 2008 JKs are different then the 2009-2017. The hangman loop on the 07-08 is centered and on the newer models it is offset.
The switch panel in this kit is setup for the offset loop ( 2009 - 2017 ) I think most of the complaints came from 07-08 owners. If you have those years, You will have to drill some holes and mount the switch panel to your plastic trim piece.
Thanks for this write up, I am going with the Appollointech version as the cost of the SPOD is just not warranted.
The fitment around the loop and it's placement in regards to the sun visors has been the only complaints I have heard. Glad to hear you got it in without too much bother.
i have the same one and it works great. I am always for supporting the original manufacturer but when there is such a huge difference in price, sometimes its not worth it. The quality of this is solid and has worked great so far.
I have the same setup and have a couple of more comments on it..
1. The switches from OTRATTW will indeed work, but I could not find any to match the style that comes with this unit. But for the time being I just added one that is different for one of my accessories.
2. The fuses in this thing are crap....not that they blow easily, but I overloaded one (my fault)....when I pulled it out the plastic came off and the fuse part stayed in the terminal....when I tried to steal a good fuse out of another slot, it came apart as well. So I have now changed all of mine out with decent fuses.
3. the switches are good enough, but I was installing a switch through the bottom of mine to kill the panel at night when I am not using it (see item 4), and I pulled a wire off one of the pre installed switches and the whole blade came out of it with the wire.
4. And this is my only real complaint about the unit.....it is distractingly bright at night, I find that when I go to glance into my rear view mirror, my eyes seem to instantly be drawn to the light of the panel and not the mirror, So I drilled a hole in it and installed a switch, broke the 12 volt line to it so I can kill the whole panel at night. I mostly use anything I have wired to it offroading and have no need for anything that it powers driving down the road except occasionally the CB radio, and I just deal with the light then.
5. The fitment of the switch panel is awesome, really looks like it belongs there. the double sided tape that seals the bottom of the unit held up well for months and was still holding when I pulled it off to install the cutoff switch. I reinstalled with Velcro because I did not have the tape handy. The clamp around the footman loop is a little bit of a pain, hard to get to the screws if you push it all the way back.....I tightened mine and then drove the clamp back with a hammer and screw driver.
All in all...love this panel, have had it for about 5 months. I actually paid 220 for mine, but I would buy this again if I bought another jeep.
One thing to note, if you install to the M6 fuse slot, as the directions say and as I did, your switches will work when the key is turned to either ACC or ON--not just ON.
mine showed up yesterday and I installed it too. I am pleased so far, I still need to wire in the lights, but the relay box and the switch box were both of nice quality and installed very well. I like the looks of it. I went with the blue lights.
I have been looking at this and am encouraged by the positive reviews. I also share the concern about it being too bright at night. Is there any alternative to installing a kill switch that would blackout/shut off the lights and allow switches to still work?
I wonder if installing a small potentiometer inline to the lighted blade of the switch panel would allow you to dim it at will? Anyone know enough about electronics to know if this would work?
Any reason you couldn't intercept the wiring to the switch label LED and tie it into the dash illumination circuit? That way they would only be on when the the headlights are on. It would also make them dimmable. It is hard to say for sure without seeing the back of the switch pod but I am sure that it wouldn't be to hard and seems.
Any reason you couldn't intercept the wiring to the switch label LED and tie it into the dash illumination circuit? That way they would only be on when the the headlights are on. It would also make them dimmable. It is hard to say for sure without seeing the back of the switch pod but I am sure that it wouldn't be to hard and seems.
I'm enjoying the discussion of how to possibly dim the lights, but for anyone considering that as a barrier to purchase, I want to point out that I do not consider the Apollointech to be too bright. So preferences obviously vary.
Stephen - The dimensions are very similar to the sPOD from the pics and videos I have seen. I would guess that would work!
As for the dimmer, I know autometer makes a dimmer for their LED gauges. It seems to be a potentiometer.
I would imagine you could wire something along those lines to dim the switches but I personally do not find it as distracting as some have noted. It may be as simple as a potentiometer on the input line near the fuse box, but I'm not certain.
An on/off switch right on the panel would be the easiest.
Probably the biggest reason I bought a system like this was not having to tap into existing lines and have wires running every which way!
Time will tell how it holds up. The switch panel and source are both mounted very securely so we will see if fuses and relays etc fail over time from rough roads/ terrain.
It looks like a decent system for the price. Just the switches and pod itself make it a value. I assemble, sell, and use bussman panels so I am a little bit partial to those for a few reasons but I might have to pick one of these up to play around with.
Couple of things come to mind the first was already mentioned but make sure that the overcurrent protection is solid. Fuses falling apart isn't a good thing and neither is a really cheap higher amperage circuit breaker. The other is as an industrial electrician I have encountered 100's of issues with terminal blocks on equipment that vibrates. As part of our maintenance procedures we check terminal block to verify they are not vibrating loose or becoming loose due to expansion/contraction based on heat from loading/unloading the circuit. Just something to keep in mind. Who ever buys one next can you post some good pictures of the wiring on the switches?
Does anyone with the Apollointech kit run a dual battery setup? I think the installs all show the relay box attached to the driver's side.
I'm considering the Genesis dual battery kit, which includes a mounting location for the fuse box. This kit mounts in the rear, passenger corner of the engine bay. I'm just wondering if it is/would be compatible with the Apollointech relay box..
That kit has a mounting location for you factory fuse box. The apollointech "source" relay / fuse box gets mounted on the driver side and only cables for power & ground are ran across to your passenger side to hook up to your battery and factory fuse box.
Should be just fine. I've considered the dual battery setup to and don't for see issues.
I purchased this about a week ago and I'm very happy with it. But I'm coming across one issue. The device was functioning great for about a week. I tapped into the M7 fuse with no problems. Each time I turned my Jeep off the unit would power down. As of yesterday the unit constantly stays powered on. I'm somewhat ignorant on the topic of wiring. Can you offer any suggestions?
Does it shut off if you pull the fuse tap? If not, then it is probably an issue with the unit itself. Im not sure how much you can actually fiddle with the unit. Email the seller? they seem to be good about addressing issues.
Thanks for this review - similar to another review I read online and finally swayed me from the SPOD I've had in my shopping cart hoping for some good discounts I currently only KC A-pillar and rear backup cube LEDs but I want more in the future. Thanks for taking the time to write up this review
After reading this thread last Thursday I ordered one and with Prime shipping it arrived Friday. I installed this and hooked up my accessories on Saturday. Installation was very easy, start to finish I think it took me 90 minutes but that included have to re run some of the wiring for a few accessories. This unit seems to be built very well and a great option for $300 less than a sPOD. I was worried about the volt meter being to bright at night but for me it isn't and it doesn't bother me a bit.
Im imaging it taking me a while to run the wire through the firewall, but 90 minutes total to install this has me optimistic. Should be here on Wednesday
Just installed on of these today. I previously built my own similar to the Dbox 5 for those that remember those builds going around.
I wanted to clean up the wiring a bit and move the switches overhead. For the price of this unit it was worth it.
My install went without a hitch. The packaging was nice, the product seems solid. I pulled the fuses and didn't notice any inherent problems. The wiring seems well done, the wiring behind the switches is neat and solid. Overall very pleased with it, and the double lighted switches are nice for identifying the switches at night.
Oh, and many thanks to the OP for posting the initial review of this product.
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