Rear backup light switch location

[JK Daddy]

So I installed by rear bumper and tire carrier. Love it. The AEV team knocked it out of the park. Tomorrow's fun will be had with the installation of the rear backup light. I purchased the IPF 8161 and it looks pretty simple except for the routing of the wiring through the harness. The switch that comes with the 8161 is ok, but it's obviously a universal switch and doesn't seem to fit the JK interior just right. I have a Rubicon and there is a blank, in the place of a switch, between my hazard light and ESP OFF switches.

Question: Has anyone purchased a factory switch for this location and used it for an accessory like the 8161 rear backup light or lights for the front bumper?

If so, would you mind sharing your experience? Ultimately, I'm trying to make the rear backup light have a factory appearance once installed and I'm open to suggestions. I found the switch at Quadratec (http://www.quadratec.com/products/52446_110.htm) but I'm not sure how to make this installation work.

Thanks!

[buster04]

I put my switch in my glove box. I just taped up the modeule and let it "float" around inside the box.

So I installed by rear bumper and tire carrier. Love it. The AEV team knocked it out of the park. Tomorrow's fun will be had with the installation of the rear backup light. I purchased the IPF 8161 and it looks pretty simple except for the routing of the wiring through the harness. The switch that comes with the 8161 is ok, but it's obviously a universal switch and doesn't seem to fit the JK interior just right. I have a Rubicon and there is a blank, in the place of a switch, between my hazard light and ESP OFF switches.

Question: Has anyone purchased a factory switch for this location and used it for an accessory like the 8161 rear backup light or lights for the front bumper?

If so, would you mind sharing your experience? Ultimately, I'm trying to make the rear backup light have a factory appearance once installed and I'm open to suggestions. I found the switch at Quadratec (http://www.quadratec.com/products/52446_110.htm) but I'm not sure how to make this installation work.

Thanks!

[pixeldzn]

It's not really possible to add a switch to that panel because there is a circuit board behind the entire width of it. Many have tried, I don't think any have succeeded...yet.

[Rock Your 4x4, Inc.]

Take a look at the SPOD. This setup is nice and looks most stock of anything out there. They just released some stickers for the panel switches, but if you don't like the stickers, you can pick up just the actuators/covers from Over The River And Through The Woods, at www.OTRATTW.com

[JeepinJon]

Take a look at the SPOD. This setup is nice and looks most stock of anything out there. They just released some stickers for the panel switches, but if you don't like the stickers, you can pick up just the actuators/covers from Over The River And Through The Woods, at www.OTRATTW.com

That is what I am running, and when I pick up the AEV bumper I will probably replace a switch with a DPDT so that I can have it either on, off, or auto.

[AEV Dave]

That factory switch cluster is probably going to be hard to do. Its a circuit board behind the face and it takes the switch inputs and broadcasts them over LIN bus to the cluster. I don't think you're gonna find enough room behind the face to place a switch.

We put ours in the center console in front of the 4wd lever. Its out of the way enough that it won't get hit, kicked or otherwise destroyed and has plenty of access for its application.

dh

[JK Daddy]

Thanks Dave. Do you use the IPF switch, or something else? Do you have any pictures you can post?

The SPOD looks like a pretty clean way to go. I'm just not sure what I'd do with 6 switches. I already have selectable lockers (w/factory switches) so I'd have 4 to 5 left over.

[tedlick]

wired into backup light circuit?

I was thinking I would wire the rear backup light in to the circuit for the reverse lights-- are there reasons why that wouldn't work? Is it not legal to do that? Are there reasons for having the light on its own switch?

Excuse the ignorance, lighting is one thing I haven't tackled with my JK yet, aside from upgrading to factory fog lights...

[JeepinJon]

Most people are using a switch with three settings, "On", "Off", and "Auto" so they can have more control over when the lights come on. The "On" setting allwos the switch to be manually turned on for things like setting up camp, the "Off" setting would be when you don't want it on at all, and the "Auto" setting would be triggered by tying into the circut for the reverse lights.

[Rock Your 4x4, Inc.]

In reply to tedlick, you can use the existing wiring in the rear of the Jeep without concern. My suggestion would be that it be an LED light so that the existing back up circuit supplement wouldn't be but .5A higher than it already is. All the JKs we've done so far have been this way and we ending up using the Trucklite 81360. It works nicely and is relatively inexpensive for what it is and the quality is nice once you have it in your hands. If you don't like the round light then I would recommend the Vison X Solstice single 2x2 in euro beam.