Auxbeam switch troubleshooting (3 Viewers)

[drowzyGX]

Hey Y’all,

My auxbeam switch stopped working recently, and I’m having some difficulty with troubleshooting.

Below is a picture of the switch and information on voltage readings taken with my multimeter.

Any thoughts on what might be the issue are greatly appreciated.

All voltage measurements are with the key switched to acc.

Voltage at the circuit breaker is ~300 mV

Voltage at the power lead on the switch circuit board is ~300 mV

Voltage in the tap a fuse plug (little red cable, top plug bottom right) is ~60 mV

Voltage of the power cable in the switch plug (4 cables bottom right) is 0 mV

Voltage in the bus bar is ~10mV for each positive slot.

The panel in the car has no power: it doesn’t light up and the switch buttons do nothing.

Is the control board shot, or is the cable that runs from it to the switch panel in the cab shot?

I’m at a loss.

 

[Tacticus]

Hey dm me I have the exact same one, we can set up a time and I can help walk you through it in comparison to mine.

Have you tried forcing power to the ignition signal wire to ensure it can turn on. You can take that cable and connect to constant power i.e the positive of the battery

 

[drowzyGX]

Thanks man! That’s really generous of you. Car got towed to the dealer today for an ongoing issue with the brakes, but I’ll holler once it’s back.

I did not try moving the tap a fuse wire to a different source, but I think, based on the voltage readings, that cable is getting power.

 

[drowzyGX]

got the car back from the shop today.

Tested the 4 pin connector that plugs into the in-cab switch. Confusingly, each of the 4 pins on the cable have power: 15.4mV.

So the fuse panel has power…everywhere. The tap a fuse for the backlighting has power. The switch has power.

But nothing works.

@Tacticus ill find some times I’m free this week, and share them with you in case you’re free then, too.

 

[Jstawgn]

A few times I have issue is due to the pilot wire losing contact. Make sure the pilot are making good contact with 12 volt source.

 

[drowzyGX]

Is the pilot wire the one from the battery? If so, I’ve tested that at both sides of the circuit breaker, and where it screws in to the fuse block. It has power everywhere.

 

[Jstawgn]

Is the pilot wire the one from the battery? If so, I’ve tested that at both sides of the circuit breaker, and where it screws in to the fuse block. It has power everywhere.

Its a small wire that need to be wired to +12 volts to activate the system. It's like the solenoid wire for relay. It needs to be activated to turn the system on. Usually wired to source that is only one when the vehicle is at least in ACC position to prevent the system from turning on all the time and drain the battery.

 

[drowzyGX]

Its a small wire that need to be wired to +12 volts to activate the system. It's like the solenoid wire for relay. It needs to be activated to turn the system on. Usually wired to source that is only one when the vehicle is at least in ACC position to prevent the system from turning on all the time and drain the battery.

That wire! I have not moved it from the normal wiring location (tapped in to the ACC fuse). Thank you for the suggestion. I’ll give it a try.

 

[Tacticus]

got the car back from the shop today.

Tested the 4 pin connector that plugs into the in-cab switch. Confusingly, each of the 4 pins on the cable have power: 15.4mV.

So the fuse panel has power…everywhere. The tap a fuse for the backlighting has power. The switch has power.

But nothing works.

@Tacticus ill find some times I’m free this week, and share them with you in case you’re free then, too.

Hey I sent you a text

got the car back from the shop today.

Tested the 4 pin connector that plugs into the in-cab switch. Confusingly, each of the 4 pins on the cable have power: 15.4mV.

So the fuse panel has power…everywhere. The tap a fuse for the backlighting has power. The switch has power.

But nothing works.

@Tacticus ill find some times I’m free this week, and share them with you in case you’re free then, too.

Hey I sent you a text let me know I'll still be available

 

[drowzyGX]

Final update: auxbeam customer support was top notch! The fuse panel was shot.

I emailed auxbeam, sent a few videos trying different troubleshooting suggestions at their request, and they mailed me a new, in-box 8 gang switch setup.

I only needed the fuse box portion, but I’ll hold on to the rest for backup.

Tested out the new one, and everything works.

Gonna pull the old one this weekend and swap it for the new.

 

[Rednexus]

Great looking terminals/wiring BTW!

 

[drowzyGX]

Great looking terminals/wiring BTW!

Thank you!!

It took a lot of practice and a couple tries to get the wiring in my bay cleaned up, and, I hope, safe as far as wire gauge, fuses, circuit breakers, etc. are concerned.

Really love the hydraulic crimping tool I got on Amazon. Stocked up on heavy gauge wire, good terminals, and marine-grade shrink wrap a while back.

 

[Rednexus]

Thank you!!

It took a lot of practice and a couple tries to get the wiring in my bay cleaned up, and, I hope, safe as far as wire gauge, fuses, circuit breakers, etc. are concerned.

Really love the hydraulic crimping tool I got on Amazon. Stocked up on heavy gauge wire, good terminals, and marine-grade shrink wrap a while back.

I bought one for my setup after seeing your connections. Still haven't started assembling it yet - might be a winter project.

 

[drowzyGX]

The switch panel itself was a pretty quick install if you already have all your accessories wired under the hood.

The panel runs 2 wires into the cab via the firewall, and 3 wires + circuit breaker under the hood.

Making harnesses and running the wires for all my accessory lighting and winch is what took me ages. The winch control box in particular was a hassle.

I’ll post some more pictures this weekend after I get the new panel installed.

 

[drowzyGX]

Well, the new unit is dead. I hit the red on/off button on the center of the switch panel. The LEDs on the panel flickered then went off. Now the entire fuse block is fried.

The circuit breaker didn’t get tripped, and I had only one accessory (cheap led flood lights) connected. So I don’t think it could even have been overloaded.

 

[cbra928]

what happened? did you figure it out or did they send you another auxbeam replacment? i ask because mine died like yours and they are sending me a new one.

 

[drowzyGX]

My bad! Thought I updated this after figuring out the issue.

Short version: the end-user (me) is an idiot.

The body ground I had for the switch panel was bad. This is why it died after I got the new unit installed.

I fixed the body ground and both units work great.

 

[gkkuchipudi]

In fuse box which fuse did you connect to?
I have installed one today the power is not turning on..
How do I know I dint get faulty piece ?

 

[drowzyGX]

I have a line that runs from the battery to the supplied 60amp circuit breaker. Then a line from the circuit breaker to the switch panel. I have the ground of the switch panel connected to a body ground under the hood - same one the battery connects to.