Aux switch wiring?

[ShadowFox]

Guys I’m tired AF, what am I not seeing here?? Picture taken from where the battery would be.

 

[OKgearhead]

 

[OKgearhead]

In these pics , the battery is still in the truck, the wires are between the battery and the passenger fender…I just noticed that yours is a 22, mines a 23, I don’t know if that matters.

 

[ShadowFox]

You inspired me to go check one last time, found them, they were on the back side of the thick loom taped down under the red tape and the white set is taped down under the blue tape, I had to take the battery box out to even reach it.

 

[OKgearhead]

Awesome! I’m glad you found them.

 

[TXArchitect]

why did they make the wires soooo short under the hood. ugh!

 

[Cblaxx19]

why did they make the wires soooo short under the hood. ugh!

thats why @beo_tom and i made the harness that we did to sell to folks

new round of orders coming in the near future

 

[Adventuresofozz]

Aux 2 and 3 are supposedly rated for 15 amps yet they all share the same tiny 1mm gauge wire. The wires are equivalent to 18 awg which is rated for only about 10 amps in my book. I have an air compressor for my air lift suspension I'd like to power from my uppfitters but am hesitant. Anyone use them for 15 amp service?

 

[beo_tom]

Aux 2 and 3 are supposedly rated for 15 amps yet they all share the same tiny 1mm gauge wire. The wires are equivalent to 18 awg which is rated for only about 10 amps in my book. I have an air compressor for my air lift suspension I'd like to power from my uppfitters but am hesitant. Anyone use them for 15 amp service?

I always thought that the wires were 16 ga. When I connected my wires to my Upfitter harness, they were the same size and we used 16ga wire.

 

[Adventuresofozz]

I always thought that the wires were 16 ga. When I connected my wires to my Upfitter harness, they were the same size and we used 16ga wire.

1mm wire is really equivalent to 17 awg wire. Even if it were 16 awg, it would be rated for 10 amp. My compressor won't be running for very long so I'll likely still use the upfitter circuit but I'm a little disappoint to find the small wire size.

 

[Fozzy]

1mm wire is really equivalent to 17 awg wire. Even if it were 16 awg, it would be rated for 10 amp. My compressor won't be running for very long so I'll likely still use the upfitter circuit but I'm a little disappoint to find the small wire size.

Just use a relay if you’re worried and disappointed. Then you can use any switch you want.

 

[Cblaxx19]

Aux 2 and 3 are supposedly rated for 15 amps yet they all share the same tiny 1mm gauge wire. The wires are equivalent to 18 awg which is rated for only about 10 amps in my book. I have an air compressor for my air lift suspension I'd like to power from my uppfitters but am hesitant. Anyone use them for 15 amp service?

what compressor are you wanting to hook up? most compressors ive looked at have a higher current draw than our upfitter circuits anyways and come with a harness to wire directly to the battery. For example, the rough country dual compressor i have(ARB clone) has dual 40 amp fuses, so it is required to run on its own circuit. in this case, the upfitter can trigger the relay for the compressor no problem.

 

[Adventuresofozz]

what compressor are you wanting to hook up? most compressors ive looked at have a higher current draw than our upfitter circuits anyways and come with a harness to wire directly to the battery. For example, the rough country dual compressor i have(ARB clone) has dual 40 amp fuses, so it is required to run on its own circuit. in this case, the upfitter can trigger the relay for the compressor no problem.

Airlift heavy duty compressor. It came with10 awg wire and a 15 amp inline fuse. It is only a 1 CFM compressor. It would be a lot cleaner if I could keep everything in the foot well and not go thru the firewall to battery. It already has a relay and I could just use the switch to interrupt the positive but then I'll have to dig those out of the harness and also dig out the light on the gauge so it goes off with ignition. If it were a true 16 amp circuit, it would be super easy.

Load Controller Single (Heavy Duty) - 25854 | Air Lift Company

Performance Air Suspension and Air Management

www.airliftcompany.com

 

[OKgearhead]

Aux 2 and 3 are supposedly rated for 15 amps yet they all share the same tiny 1mm gauge wire. The wires are equivalent to 18 awg which is rated for only about 10 amps in my book. I have an air compressor for my air lift suspension I'd like to power from my uppfitters but am hesitant. Anyone use them for 15 amp service?

The wires at the switches are just a signal wire to a relay to turn on what you want to power them with.

 

[Adventuresofozz]

The wires at the switches are just a signal wire to a relay to turn on what you want to power them with.

Why then do they have relayed 10 and 15 amp options for switches 1-4? If this were the case, they'd all be 5 amp non relayed circuits like switches 5 and 6.

 

[OKgearhead]

The wires coming from the switches don't have to be large wires to carry a signal to a relay, the relay or fuse box carries the power to the accessory.

 

[Adventuresofozz]

The wires coming from the switches don't have to be large wires to carry a signal to a relay, the relay or fuse box carries the power to the accessory.

I know how relay systems work. What I'm trying to say is that switches 1-4 are , according to the manual, already relayed and available to directly service 10 and 15 amp circuits. One would think that Ford would've upped the wire size for the two 15 amp circuits.

 

[Fozzy]

Airlift heavy duty compressor. It came with10 awg wire and a 15 amp inline fuse. It is only a 1 CFM compressor. It would be a lot cleaner if I could keep everything in the foot well and not go thru the firewall to battery. It already has a relay and I could just use the switch to interrupt the positive but then I'll have to dig those out of the harness and also dig out the light on the gauge so it goes off with ignition. If it were a true 16 amp circuit, it would be super easy.

Load Controller Single (Heavy Duty) - 25854 | Air Lift Company

Performance Air Suspension and Air Management

www.airliftcompany.com

I am running 4 Rigid lights on the back of my bed rack. They draw 3 amps each for a total of 12 amps on one of the 15 amp switches. I have not had any problems with them blowing the fuse or relay. I have left them on for well over an hour as we wiped the boat down and packed up. I have checked the small wires for signs of heat and nothing so far. I would say give it a try, compressors usually have a high amp spike and level off. If it was a 15 amp spike I would think the fuse would be a 20 amp. Then add the instructions say to use a fuse tap, really a fuse tap? not even a good one. The up fitter switch would be better than a fuse tap. It's also just using the relay for the pressure switch, not power distribution. EDIT- I just read there is a warning not to let the compressor run for over 4 minutes without a 5 minute break. Probably to protect the fuse tap and fuse box.

 

[Adventuresofozz]

I am running 4 Rigid lights on the back of my bed rack. They draw 3 amps each for a total of 12 amps on one of the 15 amp switches. I have not had any problems with them blowing the fuse or relay. I have left them on for well over an hour as we wiped the boat down and packed up. I have checked the small wires for signs of heat and nothing so far. I would say give it a try, compressors usually have a high amp spike and level off. If it was a 15 amp spike I would think the fuse would be a 20 amp. Then add the instructions say to use a fuse tap, really a fuse tap? not even a good one. The up fitter switch would be better than a fuse tap. It's also just using the relay for the pressure switch, not power distribution. EDIT- I just read there is a warning not to let the compressor run for over 4 minutes without a 5 minute break. Probably to protect the fuse tap and fuse box.

I agree. I have it all wired and done. Test run on #2 was successful. No warmth on the wires. I ran them up to 50 psi and. Gave it burst under pressure without any problems. The fuse taps are nuts I agree. I had a wire thru the firewall but pulled it out and everything is wired inside now.

 

[Nickac]

I know how relay systems work. What I'm trying to say is that switches 1-4 are , according to the manual, already relayed and available to directly service 10 and 15 amp circuits. One would think that Ford would've upped the wire size for the two 15 amp circuits.

As an electrician, I have to agree here. Ford sold us short on this. There really is no point to have them “relayed” with such small wires. 1.0mm wire is really only good for 10 amps at most.

For those that want to understand here is the jist. A fuse is really just. Thin piece of wire that will melt is the current gets to high or hot. If you use undersized wire, your wire just became the fuse and will melt instead, making a disaster. Now there are a lot of factors that go into wire and its current carrying capacity. Hanging in free air, voltage, outside temp, hot engine bay, and length, to name a few.

The point is this, they sold us short. They could have really just ran slightly bigger wire and made the amps all the same. How about a relay box?

My plan is simple. I’m going to buy a fused relay box with 6 relays rated for 40 amps each and truthfully that’s how I would have done it anyway. Let the upfitters run the relay. It will protect your factory wiring. As for running a compressor I will buy a separate external relay rated for 100 amps and let the upfitter control that.