Replacing light combo switch with rocker switches

[Exo81]

Living in "sunny" Florida is great except that I keep getting caught in the rain. A few months back I was caught again resulting in a proper soaking due to a dip in the road. Who knew that water goes over the hood with a few inches of rain on the road. Anyway, one wall of water later and my combo switch bit the dust. It still functions for turn signals and running lights, however when I turn on the headlights my left turn signal comes on. I checked everything out including the TNS and Headlight relays and finally figured out it was the combo switch.  So that this doesn't happen again, I am moving to rocker switches that are waterproof.

Turn signals were easy, blk/yel from meter fuse 10Amp, grn/red for right & grn/yel for left (both from the Dir/Haz flasher 15Amp), plus a ground so the lights on the switch indicate which one is on.

Flasher - Org from Dir/Haz flasher to switch, blk to ground for both closing the circuit and for a light on the switch.  Because it is important that the light come on while you are holding the switch.

Horn - Grn/Org from the Horn relay to the swtich, blk to ground.  My clock spring has been broken for years and decided this was less messy in appearance.

Interior lights - from the Room fuse 10Amp, blu/red to the switch, blk for ground.  Then just run a wire to the lights, mine is blu/blk.  Keep in mind this is always hot so the lights can be easily left on.  To have them shut off with the running lights use the red/blk from the Tail fuse 15Amp.  I kept the lights hooked up the way there were from the factory and haven't had any batter drains for leaving the lights on.

Charging port - blu/blk from the Cig fuse 15Amp to the cig lighter or in my case dual USB port, blk to ground. I'm adding this as I might move my USB charger port to a rocker size port. I am still on the fence about that but figured I would share anyway.

Now we are the part where I am undecided if I have everything figured out, the running and headlights.

Just hooking up driving lights is simple enough. Close the circuit for the TNS relay and power goes to the tail fuse turning on the driving lights.  That could be done on it's own however if I'm reading the wiring diagram correctly, I would probably need a switch that will also close the circuit for the Headlight relay at the same time.  Here are the options as I see them.  For reference Head fuse to the Headlight relay is 30Amp and the BTN fuse to the TNS relay is 40Amp.  I have not checked but I'm pretty sure the lt grn from the TNS relay and the blu/yel from the Headlight relay are somewhere around 10-15Amp.  The wires are way to small to handle 30 or 40Amps.  I suspect the wht/blk from the Headlight relay will carry the full 30Amp from the Head fuse.

Driving lights on a stand alone switch or SPST

Driving lights - lt grn from the TNS relay, blk for ground. 

Headlights -  blu/yel from Headlight relay, blk for ground.  This closes the circuit to the relay and sending power to the wht/blk wire which then feeds back to the combo switch.  To get power to the lights themselves you need a another switch to send power to either the red/blk (low beam) or red/wht (hi beam).  My LEDs don't have a hi beam so I could just jump the wht/blk to red/blk with a fuse or circuit breaker and do nothing with the red/wht.  The red/blu is for the passing feature which will be deleted for me because, well, no hi beam.

Option 2 driving light switch closes circuit for both TNS relay and Hdlt relay or DPDT

Driving light - lt grn from TNS relay, blu/yel from hdlt relay, blk to ground for both.

Headlights - one switch for both hi and low (on/off/on switch) or low only (on/off switch).  Wht/blk to switch from Hdlt relay, low beam side red/blk to headlights, hi beam side red/wht to headlights.  Ground for indication light on switch to see that lights are on or which light is on.

I think Option 2 is the best, simplest way to do it but my hesitation is closing the headlight relay when I'm only using the running lights.  I know that without turning on the headlight switch the headlights will be off I am just concerned that I may damage something leaving the Headlight relay active when it isn't needed.  I'm sure it is probably fine but I'm still a rookie and don't want to screw it up.

Please share your thoughts and comments.

Have a great day.

Bill

[snowbird1]

A bit confused with your terminology, running lights, driving lights, headlights:

Parking lights (UK terminology - Tail/Number plate/Side lights - TNS), illegal to drive with only parking lights in the US but must come on with the headlights.

Headlights, required to have a means to dim/dip to prevent dazzling other drivers, I’m not sure if you can argue that your lights have only dim/dip.

Running lights, usually Day Light Running lights (DLRs) come on with key on, must turn off when headlights are on.

Driving lights, usually refer to auxiliary lights, fog lights, long range driving lights, cornering lights etc.

If you are using a DPDT switch first position should ground the TNS relay, second position the headlamp relay. Power from the headlight relay (wht/blk) can connect directly to either the red/wht or red/blk if you are not using a dimmer switch.

If you have DRLs, they will need a separate circuit, powered with key on via a relay that turns them off when the headlamps are on.

[garman]

Whew, that was quite a lot to try to comprehend. I'd be more tempted to just replace the combo switch and move on with life but that's just me. I haven't gotten caught in the Florida rain yet but I know it's inevitable. Maybe after being in a couple showers and when my switch goes out I'll have a different perspective.

[Exo81]

I know, it is a lot of info. My goal is to separate everything out so if one switch goes out in the future this will be simpler to access and replace. The fateful day that caused all this headache was only a 10% rain chance so I was unprepared for flash flooding. And I was less than three miles from home when the rain started. As I have been hit by rain probably 50% of the times I get out, I suspect this will happen again.

My apologies on the "driving lights". Running lights (or park lights if you prefer) is what I was referring to. I couldn't find a laser etched switch for running lights so I finally settled on one marked driving lights and that is how I came to use the term.

My only concern is the headlight relay getting damaged by being activated when not actually needing the headlights. And I have never heard that driving with the running lights on during the day is illegal.

Happy building everyone.