Baja Designs Squadron Sport vs. Rigid Duelly / D2

[65plymouth]

Yeah.. Now I am debating how I want to run the lights. Not sure what to do... I would like to have full control over the LED fog lamp pods and be able to use them whenever I want. Kinda Ticked that the power wagons don't come with the Aux switch option from the factory. Looks like I could purchase the OEM switch plate, but the harness and junction block in the engine bay is the expensive/complicated part. Bummer..

Looks like my options are limited without getting into a big wiring mess. I was looking at mounting a small switch plate above the parking brake release (gray closeout panel) from https://www.otrattw.net/ so I could manually control one set of LED pods and have a spot for external LED rear floods when I was ready and yet another spot for a light bar or something else in the furture. Otrattw has a variety of switch plates and rocker switches to choose from. But, this route may get a bit too complicated for a novice like me. 2nd page of this thread a guy does a nice install http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/4th-g ... hts-2.html but doesn't get too detailed.

This whole mess would be much more simple if I were able to run the fogs, using the dedicated fog dash button, while running high or low beams. I am going to keep searching.. There has to be a way.

[NovA ProspekT]

I wouldn't fuss too much over the fog-light switch. Contrary to popular opinion, fog-lights are not driving-lights and shouldn't be used with your high-beams anyway. Too much light up-close will cause your pupils to constrict, reducing your ability to see at a distance. Fog-lights are properly used during heavy dog, rain or snow and at very low speeds. The only time you might want them on with your high-beams is during slow speed driving off-road, where you want to illuminate the area directly in front of your vehicle.

If your goal is to see better while driving on the road, the best "bang for your buck" would be a pair of Hella 4000's mounted to a light bar on the front-bumper. If you're only mounting 2-lights, I would go with one Euro-beam and one cornering-beam, though I would prefer and recommend 4-lights. This would provide more illumination where you need it, further down the road and off to the sides. As far as wiring, you would need a switch to mount on the dash, a relay and a wire tap. Driving-lights should and must be switched to turn-on and off with the high-beams, to avoid blinding oncoming traffic. I'll see if I can find/draw-up a diagram for this, however it's pretty simple.

[65plymouth]

Thanks for all the help guys. I have researched this topic to death. I have come to a few conclusions.... Doing something similar to what Mikekey mentioned above.

1) I am going to use my fog light switch and existing OEM wiring with resistor to power 1 set of the Baja Designs Cubes mounted in the fog location.

2) I am going to run an A/M dash mounted switch (or use the one that comes with the lamps) to power the other set of cubes mounted in the fog location.

3) I am considering buying a 3rd set of cubes and wiring them to yet another switch on the dash and mounting them on either side of the winch with brackets from 4x4fabworks http://www.4x4fabworks.com/store/index. ... qrsfcn7s66. If I do this, I will also need to buy a factor 55 Flat link to get my winch cable out of the way.

It appears the above may be the easiest way of having lights on when I want them. 2 sets of cubes (one set mounted in the fog location and the other in the bumper slot) will operate via separate dash switches. The other set of cubes will be operated with the OEM fog switch and only be used with the low beams.

So now I need to determine which patterns I want where. I have a "driving/combo" and "Spot" already ordered and being delivered Friday. I am trying to decide on what other pattern I order and where each pattern should be mounted.

I am thinking:
- Spot pattern should be mounted on either side of the winch and wired using the supplied harness and A/M switch.
- Driving/combo should be mounted in one of the fog brackets and wired using the supplied harness and A/M switch..

Just trying to decide what other pattern should be run in the other fog pocket and controlled via the OEM fog switch? Cornering? Amber Cornering? Another set of driving combo? Decisions decisions.

Here is the Baja design lighting zone chart....
http://www.bajadesigns.com/Science-of-L ... -Zones.asp

Suggestions?

[Reloaderguy]

I'd upgrade your headlights first.

[OffroadTreks]

If your goal is to see better while driving on the road, the best "bang for your buck" would be a pair of Hella 4000's mounted to a light bar on the front-bumper.

Yea except that is illegal basically everywhere if you get caught. Federal DOT regs state you can only have 4 lights on at a time, which is why your fogs always turn off with your high beam. I get what you are saying, and it would work and be a cheap option. But not an ideal option for everyday road use. Maybe out on the highway with no one around.

I'd upgrade your headlights first.

Seconded

[65plymouth]

If your goal is to see better while driving on the road, the best "bang for your buck" would be a pair of Hella 4000's mounted to a light bar on the front-bumper.

Yea except that is illegal basically everywhere if you get caught. Federal DOT regs state you can only have 4 lights on at a time, which is why your fogs always turn off with your high beam. I get what you are saying, and it would work and be a cheap option. But not an ideal option for everyday road use. Maybe out on the highway with no one around.

I'd upgrade your headlights first.

Seconded

I know.... I know... I should address the H/lamps. But, in the OEM configuration I feel the lamps are fine for 85% of my driving. I like the idea of turning night into day when I need to with the Aux lighting. Mike do you have any photos of your dash switch for your lights? Did you just use the switch that came with the LED pods/bar?

Reloader... you will be happy to know (or maybe not) that my 50w .470hm resistors came in today. Waiting on the rest of the toys. I only need to use resistors when I am using the OEM harnesses correct? If I am wiring LED cubes separate of the OEM system (switch on dash) I can just use the harness and instructions that come with the lamps correct? Sorry if that is a really dumb question.

Thanks

[NovA ProspekT]

If your goal is to see better while driving on the road, the best "bang for your buck" would be a pair of Hella 4000's mounted to a light bar on the front-bumper.

Yea except that is illegal basically everywhere if you get caught. Federal DOT regs state you can only have 4 lights on at a time, which is why your fogs always turn off with your high beam. I get what you are saying, and it would work and be a cheap option. But not an ideal option for everyday road use. Maybe out on the highway with no one around.

By light bar I was referring to a mount (such as THIS) not an additional light. You could wire each pair of lights on separate switches so that your only running two driving lights at a time, in addition to your headlights. On the highway and main-roads light 2 up; on back-roads and trails, light up all 4.

[65plymouth]

bringing this one back from the dead. For those of you "in the know".... If I wire only one set of LED pods to OEM fog harness will I need to wire in a resistor or should it be plug and play? I just received my lights yesterday and haven't even unboxed them yet. My thought is the only reason for the resistor is because of the duel pod setup. My plan is to only use the OEM wiring to run of of the two pods in each location..

I have 3 sets now. Driving/combo, Amber cornering/wide, and Spots. Thinking of mounting the amber cornering pods on the outside of the pocket and using the OEM fog harness to control those only. The other two sets will be controlled by a separate dash switch and be completely independent of the OEM system.

Can someone correct me if i'm wrong? I plan on possibly installing everything this weekend.

Thanks for all the help throughout this thread. I appreciate it.
Jeff

[65plymouth]

Mine would not reliably run 1 pair without any fooler inline. It came on with KOEO, but once the engine was running and Alternator charging, it shut off.

What did you wire up? A resistor as Reloaderguy explained above? How do you like the Squadrons?

[Reloaderguy]

Unless you match the resistance of the halogen bulbs you need the resistor.

[Reloaderguy]

Mine would not reliably run 1 pair without any fooler inline. It came on with KOEO, but once the engine was running and Alternator charging, it shut off.

What did you wire up? A resistor as Reloaderguy explained above? How do you like the Squadrons?

I've got the Diode Dynamics Canbus Anti-Flicker Modules. But those are only effective for 1 pair of Squadron Sports, not both.

Once my buddy machines a switch plate idea I have, I'm going to wire both pairs to seperate rocker switches.

Post a picture of the harness and module configuration. That doesn't sound right.

[Reloaderguy]

The modules sound like junk, if they were working the computer would not know if you had one light or three. Those cubes only pull 1.4 amps each. The factory fog circuit will easily power 5 amps continuous. Once you have working resistors/decoders you can plug in any light (or combination) you want up to max amperage of the wiring.

If you go back and read the link I posted, the system is pulsing the bulbs and measuring resistance. When there isn't enough resistance the computer turns off the circuit. A light bulb is a resistor, incandescent bulbs have higher resistance than LED. Burned out bulbs have no resistance.

[Colibri]

[65plymouth]

2016 PW Tradesman

Factory Fog Light Circuit
Diode Dynamics Anti-Flicker Modules
Baja Designs Splitter
2 pairs of Squadron Sports

Without the Modules, 1 pair connected work fine with engine off. Once the engine is started, they won't turn on. Both pairs connected, will not turn on.

With the modules, 2 pairs connected, turn on (engine on or off) but after a couple of minutes, lights turn off and won't turn back on until cycle ignition off. Leave only 1 pair connected, and work just fine.

I'm going to prefer the flexibility of individual switches in the same spot for Spot and Wide Cornering. If going slow or following others, I don't want the spots on. If going fast and straight, I don't want the wide lights causing extra fill/diffusion. Turning or medium speed, both on together. Trying to use the stock fog switch and a separate rocker is to slow/confusing for cycling lights off.

Thanks!

If you don't use the stock fog lamp wiring wont you get a bulb out light or something? Based on my readings, something has to be plugged into to fog light harness and you cant just leave it unplugged and zip tied. I may be wrong though. Like I said earlier, I am going to run two of my three sets using A/M wiring harness and switches. Still trying to figure out what i need from https://www.otrattw.net/. Thinking about using the spot just above the parking brake release for mounting the switches.

[65plymouth]

The modules sound like junk, if they were working the computer would not know if you had one light or three. Those cubes only pull 1.4 amps each. The factory fog circuit will easily power 5 amps continuous. Once you have working resistors/decoders you can plug in any light (or combination) you want up to max amperage of the wiring.

If you go back and read the link I posted, the system is pulsing the bulbs and measuring resistance. When there isn't enough resistance the computer turns off the circuit. A light bulb is a resistor, incandescent bulbs have higher resistance than LED. Burned out bulbs have no resistance.

Thanks for all the detailed explanation Reloader. You wouldn't happen to have any additional photos of the harnesses you made with the 50x .47OHM resistors? I have the resistors sitting on my desk just need to build the harnesses. Thought I could get away with not using them if I only plugged one set of LED pods into the OEM harness. Appears not. Time to buy a soldering gun, some shrink tube and wire.

[Reloaderguy]

There are four options:

1) Fogs with lows only.
2) One set of cubes on a switch.
3) AEV Procal.
4) Custom harness: http://harness-connection.us/products/f ... ams-on-kit

5) Pull the bright lever back for a second and then push forward to brights and fogs stay on with brights. No fuckery needed.

Verified on my truck.

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/2013- ... k-bug.html

[olyelr]

There are four options:

1) Fogs with lows only.
2) One set of cubes on a switch.
3) AEV Procal.
4) Custom harness: http://harness-connection.us/products/f ... ams-on-kit

5) Pull the bright lever back for a second and then push forward to brights and fogs stay on with brights. No fuckery needed.

Verified on my truck.

http://www.cumminsforum.com/forum/2013- ... k-bug.html

Well i will be go to hell. Aint that the truth.

Looks like it has to be done evry time you switch back to lows though. Pretty cool none the less.

[65plymouth]

As promised I am jumping back on this one to share my experiences with the Baja Design Squadorn install as well as my thoughts about construction, light output etc.


So here is what I did.

I bought three sets of Baja Designs Squadron Sport LED pods. Driving Combo, Amber Wide/Cornering, and Spot. Purchased Baja Designs Ram fog brackets as well. This stuff was not cheap. I found the pairs of lights for $208.00 on Amazon and the fog brackets were $94.00. I also purchased brackets from www.4x4fabworks.com to mount the spots on either side of the winch. More on this later.

Started by pulling everything out of the box and laying out the harnesses that came with the lamps. I decided that I was going to run the Spots (mount on either side of the winch using the 4x4fabworks brackets on one Baja Designs harness and the driving/combo lamps mounted on the inner fog spot on the other Baja designs harness. I am using the round red switches that came with the BD lamps to control the Driving/Combo and spots independently of the OEM system. The Amber wide Corning would use the OEM Fog harness and be controlled with the OEM fog witch.

I pulled the clutch delete plate located on the left side of the steering shaft on the fire wall (2 bolts). I wrapped both BD designs harnesses in wire loom and ran them through the hole and along the drivers side fender upper rail. Used silicone to close up the gap between the wire loom and clutch delete plate and mounted the two BD switches in the blank panel above the parking brake release. Low enough that they are out of the way but not anywhere near my knee. I may upgrade to rocker switches in the future. This was the best spot for switch mounting IMO and if I messed up the drilling or decided to move to rockers in the future, the plate can be replaced pretty cheap from the dealer.

Once the BD harnesses were ran to their locations I started messing with all the brackets and lamp mounting. The 4x4fabworks brackets worked to an extent but interfered with the winch receptacle/plug on the passenger side of the cast winch mounting bracket. I unscrewed the winch receptacle (two screws) and let it hang for the time being. I contacted Alex from 4x4fabworks and he is going to work on a solution. He hasn't seen a 4th gen power wagon in his shop so I sent him a bunch of photos of the problem. Apparently the older PWs had a different winch plug location. Anyway, Alex is very professional and had a willingness to help. We will see what he comes up with.

I found the BD brackets for the fog lamp location to be a huge pain in the ass. The bracket mounting holes are slotted and the lamp mounting holes are slotted as well. You can imagine how many different ways there are to get everything mounted in the fog hole. I probably installed and pulled each bracket back out 10 times. Also, it is virtually impossible to adjust the pods while they are mounted in the bumper. Even slight tweeks called for completely pulling the entire bracket out of the bumper to get a wrench on the Pod mounting point. PAIN IN THE ASS!! Aiming the lamps was a Pain as well. The allen bolts (for up and down adjustability) are not accessible while the pods are mounted in the bumper. Best I could do was get them close while they were on the ground and then torque them down. Install them in the bumper and the move them up and down by hand hoping they were tight enough to stay once I got them where I wanted them. I wrestled with the fricken fog lamp brackets and pods for several hours. Maybe I was being a bit OCD about fitment and aiming, but I did pay a premium for made in the USA lamps and brackets. Thought they would be a bit more plug and play.

I ordered the 50w .47 Ohm Resistors that Reloaderguy suggested and copied his pigtails exactly. The pigtails were installed between the Wide/cornering lamps an the OEM wiring harness. They work flawlessly. No flickers etc... A big thanks to Reloader and everyone else that offered suggestions/opinions in this thread.

So now I can control the spots (winch mounted) and the Driving combo lamps (mounted on the inside position in the fog location) via two dash mounted switches. They operate completely independent of the OEM system. I then have the Amber Wide/cornering lamps (mounted on the outside position of the fog location) wired using the OEM fog switch, OEM harness, and custom pigtail with resistor. Everything works great and I am finally happy with the lamp angles etc.

The BD Squadron Sports are really bright and seem to be constructed really well.. The spots render my highbeams useless. If I turn on the oem low beams, spots, driving combo, and cornering lamps, Night is turned into day. I am really impressed how bright these lights are. I think using the fog locations and tow hook brackets are the cleanest, less intrusive, way of mounting lights on these trucks. Nothing behind the grill and no huge lights mounted on a pre-runner bar. I used to have 2 6 inch Hellas mounted on a bar on my old chevy. I liked the look, but I feel like I get more for less with the LED cubes.

I know this thread is "useless without pics" so I will make an attempt to get some up today.

Thanks for the help.
Jeff

[Reloaderguy]

Nice! The output of the Sports is impressive for sure.

I've got a buddy working on my switch plate idea currently. Giving up 1 of the cup holders in the floor console for a plate to mount my Ham Radio faceplate and 4 Carling rockers. He will be 3D Printing some test pieces this week. Planning on machined aluminum for the finished piece. It does have the flexibility for working with whatever type of switches desired.

I don't care about losing the cup holder but that area is exposed to falling stuff plus it is out of reach while driving. I installed one of these http://www.otrattw.net/Three-Position-V ... older.html above the e-brake release.

[Reloaderguy]

Great write up. I have cubes mounted on the Rigid bracket. The cubes are dispersed so they are pretty imprecise and don't require perfect aiming. I got them reasonably close then pulled the brackets with the cubes mounted and cinched everything up.

I'm curious about the winch plug solution, keep us posted.