Adding a toggle switch to an Auxbeam switch panel
 

For those looking to add a toggle switch to an Auxbeam switch panel, I have drawn out a simple wiring diagram that should make the process straightforward and remove any guesswork. I am not an electrician by any means, so if something looks off let me know. This setup works on my 2001 4Runner and have not had any issues.

TL;WR:
Connect the positive accessory wire from your existing, chopped wiring harness that came with your accessory to the red trigger wire on the Auxbeam circuit box instead of using the fuse-tap/add-a-fuse that is supplied with the Auxbeam.

Why?
Adding a switch allows you to use the Auxbeam - and by extension anything that is wired to the Auxbeam - when the vehicle is off, as opposed to having it wired hot full-time, or only being able to use it when the ignition, headlights, or acc power is on. This is useful for things like scene lights at camp, using accessory ditch/fog lights, or any other low-amp equipment without the need to run the truck. As a bonus, you are able to toggle the switch panel off (similar to the memory button on the Auxbeam itself) in away that requires less precision in the scenario of oncoming traffic, or simply turning the panel off for the sake of not seeing the backlit buttons.

Ramble
For my application, I have 2x Baja Designs S1s, 2x Hella 500FF driving lamps, and 2x Heretic rock/dome lights. The BD S1s were the only lights to supply a complete plug-and-play wiring harness, which is what I repurposed for the sake of this install. Before the Auxbeam, I also ran a second wiring harness that I used for the Hellas. Both harnesses would be adequate for this project, but I chose to use the BD harness because there were less overall connections that I would need to either splice or terminate (the other harness was a dual-switch, dual-light harness for individually powering the Hella pods). You could make your own harness, but if you already have to cut up your existing harness to wire the accessories to your Auxbeam, you may as well reuse the rest of it.

How:
It’s really simple, but it’s worth noting that my initial attempt at this project resulted in a weird start/crank condition on the truck. In short, instead of wiring the Auxbeam circuit box with the supplied fuse-tap, simply connect the positive lead that would have gone to your accessory (like a light) to the small red wire on the Auxbeam. Do not connect the ground from that same harness to the Auxbeam - that was a mistake that I made that was grounding out the whole system and causing the weird cranking issue. That’s pretty much it. Install the Auxbeam as instructed otherwise, and take care of any extraneous wires on the wiring harness side. I replaced the toggle switch that came with the BD harness with a 12V/20A-24V-10A rocker switch. This switch probably could have handled the load without the relay, but I don’t have a good enough grasp on electrical systems to take the risk - the relay was already wired into the harness I had and didn’t require any additional effort to include. I grounded the wiring harness to the truck.

All said and done, I have two wires running through my firewall - The braided wire from the Auxbeam circuit box to the controller, and the POS/NEG/ACC bundle from the wiring harness relay to the switch. This setup was a lot better than having three separate harnesses and up to five physical rocker switches to achieve the same thing. Included are some relevant images for the project. I’ve included the relay in the diagram as a visual representation of the wires coming on/off of the four pins, but if you are repurposing an existing harness they are likely all bundled and insulated. Just observe which wire bundles are coming off (I.E. one with an in-line fuse, one with three wires with spade connectors for a switch, etc) and interpret from there.


Other
I made a custom harness for the Heretic rock/dome lights so that the lights could be removed with my roof rack (they are being used as scene lights), does not have excessive slack, and the harness itself could be disconnected separately as well. I used 16AWG 2-conductor wire and 2-pin DT connectors to achieve this. I bought 32’ of the wire which left plenty left over for my application, but YMMV. I used this phone mount for the Auxbeam. It's good for now, hopefully it doesn't break.

Damm
 

You are smarter than a whip there squatty. you can't be married.

Thank you so much for putting this together. Been searching for a way to make this happen! I can't wait to try it out.

Happy to help, let me know if anything comes up!

It explains why I have enough time to figure this stuff out…