Diode Dynamics Lights to AuxBeam

[Lateknightucd]

Good morning all,

Here’s the basic idea of where I want my lighting to go:

DD SSC2 flood lights with amber backlight on the rear, right, and left of my to-be-delivered Xtrusion Overland bed rack. The flood color is white for things like camp set-up, work lights, etc. with the amber backlight being used for ambient camp lighting, running lights, etc. The idea is for the backlights to all be switched together and for each “zone” flood light to be switched independently (i.e. the two “left” lights switched together). Diode Dynamics already has the lights set up for main beam priority so if the backlight and the main light receive 12V at the same time, only the main beam will function so no worries there.

These, along with a few other items, will run to a 6-gang AuxBeam relay box under the hood. In planning all this out, I have a few questions.

Since the backlights are all switched together and each light needs a ground, is there any reason I can’t run all the backlight leads to a bus bar and all the grounds to a bus bar on the underside of the bed rack towards the front and then run a single ground, single backlight, and one hot lead per zone forward to the relay box. I figure running five wires up front is advantageous to running many more.

If that’s acceptable, does anyone have a lead on waterproof bus bars? I looked at a bunch of marine options but they basically have snap-on covers that leave the sides exposed and don’t seem appropriate for this application. I suppose I could also mount the bus bars in a weatherproof box but that starts to look less clean in my mind. Alternatively, I could mount a bus bar behind the rear seats and use that as the stopover on the way to the engine bay. In any case, I could use some advice here.

Finally, for wire gauge, the SSC2 Sports draw 0.6A per pod so I’m looking at 3.6A. I have spools of 18G wire but the directions recommend 16G. That said, the wiring harness sold by DD appears to be 16G unless you go with the “heavy duty harness”. The directions are for the SSC2 Sport and Pro so I’m wondering if they’re covering both bases with that recommendation. For reference, the Pros draw 2A per pod vs. the Sports at 0.6A.

Thanks in advance for the help!

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[Jhbryaniv]

Sounds similiar to my plan for my rack.

I will have 4 lights one on each corner 0f the rack, essentially hanging from the underside of the crossbar. 1&4 will point to the sides and be mounted right behind the cab. 2&3 will face ~45* off the rear uprights pointed down and out (think ditch lights but for the tailgate area).

Mounted where the crossbar overhangs -

1&4 will switch individually, 2&3 will switch together.

The idea being if I'm driving at night I can light up the sides of the truck, or use them as area floods at camp.

I'm running them to the upfitter switches on the dash. Plan to ground each light as close to the light as possible to limit wire runs, and only have 3 power wires for the 4 lights running to the engine bay.

Alternatively, you could run a chunky power cable from the engine bay to the bed and install all the switching stuff in a box in/under the bed... (just thought of this, haven't thought it through at all.)

 

[Lateknightucd]

Definitely a similar idea. The way the AuxBeam system is set up, running the relay box further back means that I need long, expensive extension cables for the switch panel that resides in the cab. Additionally I’ll have front lights as well so relocating the relay box isn’t ideal.

The more I think it through to more I wonder if mounting bus bars behind the rear seats isn’t the way to go (similar to mounting aftermarket audio gear).

 

[Jhbryaniv]

Definitely a similar idea. The way the AuxBeam system is set up, running the relay box further back means that I need long, expensive extension cables for the switch panel that resides in the cab. Additionally I’ll have front lights as well so relocating the relay box isn’t ideal.

The more I think it through to more I wonder if mounting bus bars behind the rear seats isn’t the way to go (similar to mounting aftermarket audio gear).

Could be, but what about cab penetrations?

Are there places to come in back there? I honestly don't know.

Real world, it would be great if a company made an affordable setup that was essentially the same thing as the auxbeam switch, but the relays were Bluetooth or some such. Where they didn't need to connect to a single control box. Imagine if you weren't required to plug into the control module for auxbeam, and they had essentially little relays that you wired in line with your setup. You could add lights and switches anywhere you wanted, just buying a smaller relay box.

I call it a relay box, but I'm pretty sure auxbeam etc uses solid-state hardware.... But y'all get the idea. And they coukd be controlled via either an app on the phone, just like my smart home switches, or through a TouchPad they sell...

Its gotta exist somewhere....

 

[Lateknightucd]

There’s a grommet at the base of the cab on the driver’s side tucked behind the bed. Lots of folks use that for bringing bed light LED strip wires in. That said, I just looked at it and 18 x 18G wires (three wires per pod with 6 pods) basically takes up the entire grommet.

 

[Lateknightucd]

Also I like the idea of “mini relay boxes” around the truck connected by Bluetooth but then you’re limited by how much power you can bring back to each of those locations from the battery. At that point the cost of running 6-10G wire for “mains” power is going to prove cost-prohibitive.

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