AUX Switches - wiring diagram

After reading mudputter's thread, I still don't get it...

Here's what I want to do: I am going to install a single DMH Electric-Cutout and instead of using their toggle switch, I want to use AUX 1 for this function.

YES, I realize that using the AUX 1 Switch it will be either fully open or fully closed and I sacrifice the ability to vary the amount of opening/closing... that's okay, I had a 2008 Z06 with dual cutouts, and after the first few times playing with the switch, I was always full on or full off and nothing in between.

So:

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FlounderStalker said:

Aux 1 and 2 are 30 amps, Aux 3 is 15 amps and Aux 4 is 10 amps.

To hook the things up, you first have to spice the wires together behind the clove box. Remove or drop down the glove box door and remove the triangle shaped side panel by (I love this part) stick your finger in the round hole, curl it up, and pull!!!
The wires are about 6 inches too short, but you should be able to pull them out the door side just enough to get the strippers on them. You will need mechanical strippers, there is not enough room for using your teeth or a pocket knife, so don't even try. There is also not enough room for a butt splice and don't be a jerk and use a wire nut, so plan on twisting and soldering. The color codes are in the video.
Under the hood on the passenger side are the pass-thru wires. Hook them up to whatever you like. The color codes are also in the video. Or you can just connect to one and be surprised!!!!
You may want to change out the fuses from the stock size to a smaller one, appropriate for your use.

Here is the video - this guy goes thru the glove box and i had better luck going thru the side panel. I suppose if you have little hands and like to stand on your head, the glove box route is OK. YouTube - PASS THROUGH WIRES

Click to expand...

and

Aux 1 Yellow wire
Aux 2 Green/brown
Aux 3 Violet/green
Aux 4 Brown

Click to expand...

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So the wires as is from Ford, nothing is "ready to go", right?

Why do the wires that are pigtailed together need to be spliced in the first place? The video mentions something about "arcing", but are they just being spliced and shrink wrapped for safety?

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What do I need to do to get AUX 1 switch to work for my DMH electric cutout? I really need someone to spell it out for me so that I can do it myself, or guide the muffler guy to do it for me (when I say muffler guy, I mean Vengeance Racing in *******, GA who did my Z06).

Do all the wires have to be soldered first? Or just the one I plan on using?

When connecting to the DMH electric cutout wire, does that connect to the wires under the hood or the ones behind the glovebox?

I forgot how we did the aux switches in my F350. We soldered and shrink wrapped anything we soldered. Plastic splices suck and is something I would expect from a hack.

Here is the thing that you guys need to understand about the AUX switches...

The wiring can be hooked up in ANY fashion that you want. If you want Yellow to connect to Red like most prefer, you can do that. If you want Yellow to go to the Green, you can do that too. You can criss-cross it however you want to to make it fit your application.

The thing that you need to remember and realize is that the yellow goes to the red because they are the same wire gauge. The blue would go to purple or something, the green to the brown, whatever. I forget.

But you CAN do it however you want.

Second thing to remember... The rated amperage/fuses for the AUX 1-4 switches are only rated that because that's what the fuse that Ford put in is rated at. You want to make AUX 1 rated less? Swap the fuse from 4 into 1. Want to make switch 3 the highest? Switch 3 and 1 under the hood in the fuse panel.

You can do them ANY WAY you want -- only you can decide that.

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To get your AUX 1 to work for your cutout, you first need to get behind the glovebox. There, you will find BOTH the leads from the AUX switches AND the leads from the engine bay.

Yellow is from the AUX 1 switch. There is also a Red coming from the engine bay. Hook those together and your AUX 1 switch will now power the Red wire inside the engine bay. Use the Red wire inside the engine bay to hook into the positive feed for the cutout. Ground the cutout at a location you prefer.

Got it? Let me know and I will draw a picture, but beware that I'm no artist!

Swoop, I now understand

It would seem that Ford didn't solder the wires in the glove box and left them hanging so that users could customize and use the wires as they see fit, even if they had to upgrade or downgrade a fuse. Makes sense now.

Thanks, This now sounds like a project I can handle... I just need a muffler guy to put the DMH cutout on, and I think I can now wire it in myself.

But, I haven't been under the truck yet, but I'll have to be careful how the wire is run to keep it away from the headers and zip tie it (my last cutouts came with a lot of zip ties) so it wont melt or get scraped by underneath debris.

Okay,

Just checked under the hood and found these 4 wires (all are a THICK gauge and solid color):



Red (thick)
Blue (thick)
Green (thick)
Purple (thick)

Then, I looked behind the glove box and found these 8 wires (6 Thick gauge, and 2 thin)



These 4 match the 4 under the hood:

Red (thick)
Blue (thick)
Green (thick)
Purple (thick)

Then there are these additional 4 (2 of which are THIN guage)

Yellow (thick)
Green/Brown Stripe (thick)
Brown (thin)
Green/Violet Stripe (thin)

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So let me get this straight for wiring my DMH exhaust... take the positive lead and connect it to the RED (thick) wire under the hood. Then, behind the glove box, simply splice the RED (thick) wire to the Yellow (thick) wire and this will allow me to use AUX 1 for the DMH switch?

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So, for clarification behind the Glove Box, how would you splice the rest of the wires together for the other 3 switches? Is it in the manual?

RED + YELLOW = AUX 1

? + ? = AUX 2
? + ? = AUX 3
? + ? = AUX 4

BLUE (thick)
GREEN (thick)
PURPLE (thick)
Green/Brown Stripe (thick)
Brown (thin)
Green/Violet Stripe (thin)

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Now this may sound like a hack job, but what's wrong with cutting off the shrink/glued/sealed end of the wire(s) you want to use, and then using one of those electric "screw caps" to twist the wires together?

And the ground wire, that can simply be attached to a screw/bolt that's part of the frame/sheet metal anywhere right?

EXACTLY!

The 8 wires behind the glovebox are like this:

4 wires from the switches. 4 wires from the engine bay.

From Engine Bay to Glovebox:

Red (thick)
Blue (thick)
Green (thick)
Purple (thick)

From AUX panel to Glovebox:

Yellow (thick)
Green/Brown Stripe (thick)
Brown (thin)
Green/Violet Stripe (thin)

In Engine Bay:

Red (thick)
Blue (thick)
Green (thick)
Purple (thick)

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OK. Just think of it like this. The Red, Blue, Green and Purple wires are merely "laying around". They run from the engine bay (where you see them in your picture) to behind the glovebox. They're dead. They're as good as 4 wires just left over extra from the factory.

Imagine that YOU installed the AUX panel with the 4 switches. You have 4 leads coming off of the bottom of the switch panel. You fished them though the dash and now they're behind the glovebox, too. Connect them to make ONE LONG WIRE that terminates in the engine bay!

I guess you could think of the 4 thick wires (Red, Blue, Green and Purple) as "jumper wires", or "extensions" of the 4 coming from the AUX panel (Yellow, Green/Brown, Brown and Green/Violet). Once you connect the two ends of each of the wire PAIR that you want behind the glovebox, you'll have one live continuious wire from the AUX panel, into the engine bay.

Mark Ducati said:

So let me get this straight for wiring my DMH exhaust... take the positive lead and connect it to the RED (thick) wire under the hood. Then, behind the glove box, simply splice the RED (thick) wire to the Yellow (thick) wire and this will allow me to use AUX 1 for the DMH switch?

Click to expand...

It really is THAT SIMPLE! Just remember to connect your GROUND WIRE [black] to someplace in the engine bay.

For the rest of the AUX switches, I went like this:

Blue + Green/Brown = AUX 2 (20" LED)
Green + Green/Violet = AUX 3 (White Dually pair)
Purple + Brown = AUX 4 (Amber Dually pair)

You can feel free to connect them behind the dash (and I recommend it since they're a pain in the ass, since you're down there already) with no worries. They're terminated and weather sealed in the engine bay.

Mark Ducati said:

Now this may sound like a hack job, but what's wrong with cutting off the shrink/glued/sealed end of the wire(s) you want to use, and then using one of those electric "screw caps" to twist the wires together?

Click to expand...

Honestly, that's what I did. It's behind the glovebox, not like it's getting wet or nasty. If it's good enough for a ceiling fan rotating at whatever RPM, it's good enough for a smooth-riding truck.

Mark Ducati said:

And the ground wire, that can simply be attached to a screw/bolt that's part of the frame/sheet metal anywhere right?

Click to expand...

Yes. I actually used an already existing ground that Ford used for something on the truck. Look inside the engine bay, passenger side and you'll see a silver bolt going into the fenderwell. You'll see (I think) a clump of wires terminating there. I simply backed that bolt out, got some weatherproof eyelet wire tap ends and slid them over the bolt and then re-attached the bolt. I can go get a picture if you like, of where my ground is.

Cool... at the risk of a new member making a bad suggestion, your comments Swoop and perhaps this thread should be a sticky somewhere.

Thanks a bunch, this clears things up entirely for me.

No problem!

I kinda figured it out on my own after a bit of just sitting around and some paper and pen. Figured it out and it ain't blowed up yet!

Glad I could help!

While I'm down there, I'm going to splice all the wires together as you indicated, then under the hood I'm going to use some masking tape and with a sharpie pen label each of the 3 remaining wires for AUX 2, 3, and 4 for future reference.

What a bugger to get in there! And I have small hands too! I found that by cutting the tape holding all the wires together, I could get the Red and Yellow wire out of the side panel about an inch, just long enough to use my wire strippers on it...