First World Problems

I should research more, I'm sure I will.

I got a baby Baja Designs S1 as a hitch light. No harness, a terminal kit, build your own. Sweet, my only question was do I fuse this thing when running a switchpros? Answer: You don't need to but I'm not saying you should not. OK...

I decided to look at the Squadron Sport LEDs in the garage. Super cool harness, 30A inline fuse, relay, illuminated little switch. Impressive. The only thing you wire this thing to is the battery and a ground. Awesome, but I have a switchpro.

My thoughts are - Of the 3 wires to the toggle switch, one is a ground for illumination, one is power for illumination/switch, and one is sending power to the relay when you switch it.

My other thoughts are, 30A fuse / 40A relay? OK, maybe a relay is not a bad idea and the switchpro can turn it on.

So, my plan is to keep the BD harness, switch it with the switchpro, and to do so, out of the three wires to the BD switch, ground the ground and figure out which is the relay switch. Ignore the other wire.

Sounds good to me, but is that a sh*t plan?

Yew!

 

Found this from BD on another forum. Doesn't seem to jive with my plan, but more to consider.

If you're using a Switch-Pros, I would buy a big spool of wire and run your own leads from the lights. This way you can make everything cut to fit. If the wiring harness that came with the lights is long enough, you can use it as a pigtail to the Switch-Pros. You would disconnect it at the switch. For gauge of wire, it just depends on length and amperage of the light.

S2 Sport .9 amps each
S2 Pro 1.7 amps each
Squadron Sport 2 amps each
Squadron Pro 3.33 amps each

S8
https://www.bajadesigns.com/images/S...ta%20Sheet.pdf

Blue Sea systems has a great chart that tells you what gauge to use.
Part 1: Choosing the Correct Wire Size for a DC Circuit - Blue Sea Systems

 

I have some flush mount backup lights (rigid). I disconnected the harness and ran it directly to the switch pro considering it's all built in there. The only thing I kept intact for a wiring harness was the ARB compressor and I ended up calling Switchpros to have them walk me through the wiring. I'd think with 3 amps you'd be fine wiring straight into the Switchpro and a common ground for each light.
You can call them to confirm.

 

Thanks @NoRcptn, that seems to be the conventional wisdom, I can part out the rest of the harness to myself.
Here's what I'm looking at now - I'll probably see what you said, with window dressing.
https://youtu.be/OoE_nQeCyvw

Edit: Video not helpful, they blow past any wiring - more of an advertisement. But, I'll probably go with the BD post and what @NoRcptn said in the end.

 

Here's the part that confuses me about 12V - 2.5A light(s). Maybe 5A together. Yet, they put a 30A fuse in their own harness? Can I have (one) amp rating for wires and fuses? I don't care what the light draws, I want to know how to protect it.

 

Yeah that does seem odd. I mean the fuse isn’t going to be higher than the rating for the wire. But I honestly don’t know enough about electrical to have an educated opinion. @RainMan_PNW mightnknow more. Any of the switchpro wires in the 20amp circuit should be absolutely fine then. That being said I was supposed the switch pros were using (I think 14 gauge) for their 30a circuit. But they said it was all good and so far seems to be.

 

The main thing you want to protect with fuses is the wire. If the wire is sized properly, that will also protect the load device.

 

Well, I think you both have it right. The switchpros wire is 14ga. They say to use 10-12 gauge if the run is over 6'. I'm running 12ga to the bumper for a single 1.5 amp S1 light. The other runs will be 12ga as well, but less than 6'. It appears I don't have to fuse the wires, it's not indicated. I may add a fuse block anyway. As cool as the supplied harnesses are, I can shorten all runs and over build them a tad in the process. So - part out the BD harnesses, run custom lengths with 12ga, follow switchpros instructions, maybe add fuses although not required by switchpros.

 

I don't have a SwitchPro, but it sounds like they fuse their outputs, which is a proper engineering design. If that's the case, then there is no need for additional fusing unless you want a fuse at the load device to specifically protect it.

 

They do, it looks like you can even specify the overload cutoff wherever you want in the settings (within allowed amperage). I have to read more on that. I don't see myself overloading the system, but nobody wants to put a ton of money into a switch to burn stuff.

 

This is a pretty helpful link that I reposted above from another site BD post.
Part 1: Choosing the Correct Wire Size for a DC Circuit - Blue Sea Systems
It looks like strictly speaking, I should be running 10ga to the rear bumper. Distance is round trip apparently, so double the length to device. I imagine a frame ground at the device may take the distance back to one-way. I'm only running a baby light back there on 12ga, bigger wire than the supplied and pretty long squadron sport harness. The fuse section is harder to understand, but the idea of protecting the wires to protect the device makes a lot of sense.

 

Nice little site and app!