Baja Designs Squadron Sport Ditch Lights installed using AUX switches - DIY writeup

[Rbaz]

Using the pre-wired auxiliary switches made this super easy. Here are the pages from the manual.

1 - Cut the 2 light connector wires away from the rest of the harness
2 - Connect white to white (hot) and black to black (ground). The pick below is both ends of the light connector wires. Thos are all the connections you need to get power through the OEM pigtail.

3 - Connect the wires to the pigtail of your choice. I used the smaller pigtail, plugged into port "A" near the washer fluid reservoir. I connected white to green for hot and black to black/white for ground. This means I will be using the "Aux 4" switch which has a 10A fuse. I'll use the other switches for bigger or more power hungry equipment later.

(If your lights have a backlight function you'll typically have 2 hot wires and a ground. If that were the case I would wire my primary light function to the black wire on the pigtail, the backlights wire to the green wire, and the grounds to black/white. This would give you primary lights on "Aux 3" and backlights on "Aux 4")

4 - Test and make sure everything lights up

5 - Mount the brackets and lights per the instructions. I saw that some folks were worried about the snorkel interfering with the light when the hood is open. As you can see the light is no where near the snorkel and my hood is open at the higher setting in the pic.

6 - Route your wires and secure with cable ties to your preference and enjoy

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[Badkarma8541]

Looks great. I was looking at these last night. What mount are you using

 

[Rbaz]

I bought the kit from Baja Designs.

Baja Squadrons link

 

[mightysnopants]

Nice! So you only wired to the pigtail To both power the lights and switch them on and off? No wiring to the battery?

 

[Rbaz]

Nice! So you only wired to the pigtail To both power the lights and switch them on and off? No wiring to the battery?

Yes, no need to wire separately for power.

 

[EZink]

Yes, no need to wire separately for power.

Any pics of how and where you hooked it up to battery?

 

[Rbaz]

Any pics of how and where you hooked it up to battery?

The trailhunter has the pre-wired aux switches in the cabin. You connect to the switches using pigtail adaptors and hookup points in the engine bay and the cab. Toyota has taken care of power and switching for you.

This is the two front hookups that are on the driver's side near the washer fluid. I took the plug out of the one I used and you can see the metal contacts.

The pigtail connectors that plug into the port came with my car as a set of three, like in this pic.

I used one of the smaller ones.

Outside of this there is no need to hookup a switch and the power separately. The wiring harness I got with the lights had a relay, cables that take power to the lights, a cable for bringing power from the battery, and a cable for the switch. With the pre-wired aux you can cut away everything except the cables that take power to the lights and wire them directly to the pigtail.

 

[EZink]

The trailhunter has the pre-wired aux switches in the cabin. You connect to the switches using pigtail adaptors and hookup points in the engine bay and the cab. Toyota has taken care of power and switching for you.

This is the two front hookups that are on the driver's side near the washer fluid. I took the plug out of the one I used and you can see the metal contacts.

The pigtail connectors that plug into the port came with my car as a set of three, like in this pic.

I used one of the smaller ones.

Outside of this there is no need to hookup a switch and the power separately. The wiring harness I got with the lights had a relay, cables that take power to the lights, a cable for bringing power from the battery, and a cable for the switch. With the pre-wired aux you can cut away everything except the cables that take power to the lights and wire them directly to the pigtail.

Gotcha! Thanks, I misread your previous answer. I had originally thought you said, you did need to separately wire it to the battery.

 

[Darkchief22]

Just wired up my lights same way. The prewired is amazing if you got that option.

 

[Rbaz]

Just wired up my lights same way. The prewired is amazing if you got that option.

Yeah, agreed! It's got me thinking about what else I can do. With the wiring simplified I'm willing to try some other stuff.

 

[Darkchief22]

Yeah, agreed! It's got me thinking about what else I can do. With the wiring simplified I'm willing to try some other stuff.

I typically carry a small air compressor for plugging nails and blowing up inflatables. But with Aux 1 rated for such high amps might just do that

 

[TurnerXC]

Just got the same lights in. Waiting on my brackets from WESTCOTT. Wired my Midland GMRS up to Aux 4 this weekend.

 

[Cory39744]

Using the pre-wired auxiliary switches made this super easy. Here are the pages from the manual.

1 - Cut the 2 light connector wires away from the rest of the harness
2 - Connect white to white (hot) and black to black (ground). The pick below is both ends of the light connector wires. Thos are all the connections you need to get power through the OEM pigtail.

3 - Connect the wires to the pigtail of your choice. I used the smaller pigtail, plugged into port "A" near the washer fluid reservoir. I connected white to green for hot and black to black/white for ground. This means I will be using the "Aux 4" switch which has a 10A fuse. I'll use the other switches for bigger or more power hungry equipment later.

(If your lights have a backlight function you'll typically have 2 hot wires and a ground. If that were the case I would wire my primary light function to the black wire on the pigtail, the backlights wire to the green wire, and the grounds to black/white. This would give you primary lights on "Aux 3" and backlights on "Aux 4")

4 - Test and make sure everything lights up

5 - Mount the brackets and lights per the instructions. I saw that some folks were worried about the snorkel interfering with the light when the hood is open. As you can see the light is no where near the snorkel and my hood is open at the higher setting in the pic.

6 - Route your wires and secure with cable ties to your preference and enjoy

How in the world did you get the cap off the Aux wire connector harness under the hood? Ive been trying for an hour.

 

[Rbaz]

Ha! Yes it is a pain. I used a set of those extra long pliers. It took me a minute too. I have seen a couple of videos where people remove other pieces to get to those ports, but I didn't need to do that once I figured out that I have to use the pliers.

 

[Cory39744]

Ha! Yes it is a pain. I used a set of those extra long pliers. It took me a minute too. I have seen a couple of videos where people remove other pieces to get to those ports, but I didn't need to do that once I figured out that I have to use the pliers.

I finally got it. Thanks!!

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