Help Wiring Ditch Lights

Wiring BD SS ditch lights. The switch on the harness only has a black and red wire. I cut that off as I wanted to wire in an OEM look switch with 4 wires. The Rago diagram for the switch lists corresponding wires that I assume should be in the “upgraded” harness I bought from them but as I said I only have red and black. I’ve wired this thing nine ways from Sunday and the best I can get is the switch to light up. I wired the 2 pole switch back in to make sure everything would work and it does but I want the nifty push switch. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks all.

 

The black wire should be able to go to any old ground point as it is only used to light the small lights in the switch. The Red 2 wire goes to one of your other dash switches that will make it light up with the rest of your dash lights like when you turn on your headlights, I've never wired up a switch up this way so someone else will have to chime in with which wire is the best to tap in for that. The green wire needs to be connected to the hot side of your wiring which I'm not sure but it sounds like it would be the red wire from the original switch and red 1 is the output of the switch and would go to the black wire from the current switch. If you could post a picture of your current wiring I would be able to tell you with more certainty.

 

I asked this recently & was able to wire it up correctly:

https://www.tundras.com/threads/ditch-light-switch-switch-power.77880/

 

OK, so I just finished up installing my new switch bus panel on my '18 Platinum and it turned out FANTASTIC! I too, used Rago switches and can understand the difficulty that you may be having. So, I will try to simplify this for you. First off, the Rago wiring diagram assumes that you are going to wire the switch to a relay. The "harness" that attaches to the switch is suppose to have the 4 wires as indicated on the Rago wiring diagram. If it does not, call Rago and have them send you the correct harness!! Are you going to wire your ditch lights to a relay? If not, then skip to the next paragraph. For a relay situation, let me define what each one of these wires should do. The green wire should RECEIVE a positive current from either the battery or a fuse tap. This is the main power that will come into the switch which is controlled "on/off" by the switch. the "red 1" wire takes that positive current and carries out to your relay. So, when you push the Rago switch to on, the power goes from the switch, out Red 1, to the relay, and the relay then carries power to your ditch lights. Get it? Your ditch lights are NOT directly connected to the switch but rather to a relay in between the switch and the lights. Wire "red 2" requires a positive current from, preferably, a light source that comes on and off with your dash lights. Thus, when you turn your headlights on, the little led light in your switch will light up. The black wire is simply a ground wire for the little LED light in the switch. In fact, you do not even need to hook up "red 2" or the black ground wire to make your ditch lights work, with a relay configuration.

If you are NOT using a relay configuration, then the green wire will bring in your positive power to the switch from either the battery or a fuse tap, and "red 1" will simply carry the power directly to the ditch lights. Your ditch lights will have to be grounded to the vehicle... NOT to the black wire on the switch!!!! Again, the black wire on the switch is simply the ground wire for the little LED light in the switch. Remember, YOU MUST HAVE THE 4 WIRE HARNESS to make this switch work. Now, did this answer your questions?

 

Yep thank you. I had a feeling Rago sent the wrong harness. If i wanted to make it work with the harness they sent, any suggestion on how to do that? It has a relay with a red and black wire coming to the cab of the truck with a single toggle switch attached. If i cut off the toggle what would i do with the red and black wires?

 

Not sure what you mean by "cut off the toggle". What toggle? It's a push switch, right? Meaning, you push the switch in, and the accessory turns on; push the switch again, and the accessory is off, correct? And when you say "it has a relay", do you mean that is has an "inline" relay? OK, I am clearly confused by what you are looking at. Do me a favor and post some pics of what you are working with. A pic of the switch; a pic of the harness; and a pic of the ditch lights. I am assuming that you purchased all of these items as a kit from Rago?

 

Great place for lighting info. https://www.tundras.com/forums/lighting.20/

 

I was referencing the original switch on the wiring harness was a 2-wire toggle.

luckily, I got it to work with the push button. The issue was in fact a bad switch. Truth be told I didn’t know if it was the “square” switch or “rectangle” switch I needed. I now know the square is for third gen and rectangle is for second but I digress. I plugged the connector I had wired in from my square switch in to the rectangle one and voila works like a charm. Ordered a new square switch and I’m good to go.

just in case someone finds this post later on:

Black from BD harness goes to green
Red from bd harness goes to red1
Red 2 goes to an illumination lead
Black goes to ground.