If you have a center console you can do what I did. I used one of those plastic project boxes from radio shack and put the switches in that then mounted the box to the front of the center console with some velcro. On my old ranger I had a light switch in the radio bezel but the LED on the switch was too distracting and very bright at night.
Where I have the switches now is better for me because they are not directly in my eye line I see the glow but they don't kill my night vision.

 

hmm, that is a good idea too, i like that

 

 

i flipped the trim kit so the cubby hole was on top, then jsut cut a piece of sheet metal to fit, and used some small allen bolts to hold it up, it was pretty simple to make

 

hey, another question i have is has anyone seen any on-on switches? 3 pole, middle pole (pole 2) is common to pole 1 in switch position 1, and common to pole 3 in switch position 2... and hopefully an LED light switch, as an "on" indicator for both positions (2 colors)

 

You'd probably have to go with a DPDT which is on-off-on

 

That sounds like a standard SPST sw, On-On; most people buy these and use them as On-Off sw.
This type of sw is available at most automotive stores; if you want a speciality sw level then you may need to look on line but it shouldn't be a problem.

If you wanted two rows of three pins then it would be a STDP sw, On-On w/six pins.

 

i found a few of them online, i'm not so sure how throws are counted, or how the poles are counted or that matter... so i don't know what i'm looking for in writing, but you know what's up

what i need is to find a line of switches, that all look the same, that have the following switching "modes"
switch 1) on-on (or on off, as described above stdp?) hopefully with indicator lights for both positions, of 2 different colours.

switch 2) standard on-off switch, except has an led in it, which turns on, when the switch is in the off (open circuit) position, if need be, which i hope i don't need to do, i can wire the same as above, but as the "off" position, i would wire an external light that will be above the switch, but i would prefer not to do this, to make it look better...

switches 3+) standard on-off switches with an LED "on" indicator.


anyone know where i might be able to find some switches that meet these guidelines?

i'm actually liking the look of these switches more and more...

 

make me one lol

 

SPST - ON/OFF and 1 row of connections
SPDT - ON/OFF/ON and 1 row of connections
DPST - ON/OFF and 2 rows of connections
DPDT - ON/OFF/ON and 2 rows of connections


that should clear it up

 

Long Answer:
Me too, I have to think about it before writing and still get it screwed up.
korey89 stated:
SPST - ON/OFF and 1 row of connections / SPDT - ON/OFF/ON and 1 row of connections
DPST - ON/OFF and 2 rows of connections / DPDT - ON/OFF/ON and 2 rows of connections
that should clear it up

The Single Throw (ST) is On-On or On-Off, one throw of the switch up or down.
The Double Throw (DT) is where there is an OFF in the middle so you have one throw up and one throw down.
The Double Pole (DP) is two rows of pins.
the Single Pole (SP) is one row of pins

ON-Line ordering is easy for that, usually who ever you use will have plenty. I like Del City, Del City - Wiring Products and Professional Electrical Supplies , but there are plenty others. this is also done with a STSP Sw, On-On (On-Off), there will be three pins just hook up an indicator to the same pole you hook up the load to. Power in the middle, power out either of the pins. If you get on-off sw then power in and power out (load) can be either but I always use the center for in, just me. (that way I always look for pwr on the center pin).

No biggy, a On-On Switch with three pins; when the sw is up there should be pwr to the lower pin so you would have pwr to the middle pin, load to the lower pin (and an indicator light for ON) and the OFF indicator would connect to the upper pin (the actual pins will have to be rung put to make sure)

As far as indicators in the switches, there are all kinds of lighted switches, your call, look around, BUT I have never seem one that has an internal indicator light that is ON in the OFF position. E-Mail DEL City and ask them what they have, there must be something.
Rat Shaq has some really nice small 12V LED packages, red/green/blue, all separate of course, but they are not too big and wouldn't take up much space and look good doing it. Take a run through a Rat Shaq Store or their Web Site and see what is available.

Again, there are all kind of switches with indicators and the LED are the big item. Find one that you like for looks and find out if you can get the OFF indicator before you buy or you need to accept the idea of external individual indicator lights.

I know this isn't what you asked for but here is two sites with plenty of switches.
Del City, Del City - Wiring Products and Professional Electrical Supplies / K-Four, K4 :: Provider of top quality switches since 1975

Short Answer:
Now, after all that, what was I thinking, I should have thought of the relay first, there is a way to hook up the off indicator light without a lot of hassle, use a 5-Pin relay, one with pin "87A" on it.
Look for a relay, standard Automotive type, with a current capacity for your load, but get one that has five pins instead of four. Pins 85 and 86 wil be the activation connections for the relay, pin 30 is for the battery connection and 87 will be for the load, the last pin 87A is the one that will becomes hot (NC) when the relay goes to normally open (NO) on the main circuit.
You will need to run a little extra wire for the switch (Pins 85/86) and indicator light but it should work without a problem.

With Relays, get good grounding, make sure to a fuse not only the main power wire going to pin 30 (high current) but also the activating power wire that goes to either pin 85 or 86 (low current).

Sorry for getting windy but I tend to get carried away.

 

don't worry about being windy, i don't mind. ok, so let me see if i have this straight, if i take a switch, push it all the way down then push it up, a single throw would have 1 click and a double throw would have 2? (i assume this is not how it is actually counted, but happens to be an easy way to do it?) and for the poles, i'm getting confused by the rows of connectors... your basic switch, with 3 posts (one in and 2, either/or outs) would be a double pole, because you have 2 options as to where the power goes to (not including open circuit) and an on-off, with 2 posts on the back would be single pole (because the power can only go one place)

for the relay for indicator off, i'm not going to bother with a relay, i'll just use a stdp? so i've got 2 positions for the switch to be in, and one input for power, and 1 output for power (now that i think about this, the led wouldn't be a good idea, this is for my abs off switch, and i wanted the indicator to be on when the abs is disabled, in addition to the dash light... but being that this is a very important wire, and i don't know if it works on signal, or voltage, or what ever it is... i shouldn't tap into this for the power of the led... unless i can find a switch that works on 2 completely separate circuits, but makes sure that if one is on, they both are... like when you see a breaker box, where there are 2 breakers joined together at the switch (but have them joined internally, and look like the rest of the switches...

what is the rat shaq store you speak of though?



OOOO I LIKE THESE!!!! guards for toggle switcdhes

 

looked at both of the sites you recommended, the switches that i like, i can only find them in stsp, i need stdp or *sigh* dtdp, but they have to be dp...

 

If you are just going to have pwr to the cntr, one pin for the load and one pin for the off light then the ST (On-On) SP (one row of 3 pins) is all that is needed. I wish I had a drawing program to show you.
Why would you use a STDP (On-On - with two rows of 3 pins) switch on your circuit.

IF using the STDP Sw you would be able to run two separate circuits; one that actually shuts off and turns on the ABS and one row that will be for the off indicator, could work and keeps the circuits separate. Good idea...

 

so on on and on off and on off on and any other combination of those, makes no difference to how many poles there is?

 

True !

The On-On Sw with two rows of pins sounds like it could be just what you want.
As stated, one row for the on-off of the ABS and one row for the off indicator light.

I am not sure of the actual amperage you will be switching, if the amperage is high then there may still be a consideration on using a Relay.

Get all of the electrical info and talk to the site again.

 

i don't think it's high amperage, i know someone did the abs mod and just wired a switch in, but it is a nice switch, with a built in on light and off light, the same as the one on my ipf fog lights that were on my f-250. I can't see the switch that was used being a high amperage switch, if anything, i would think it's lower than standard...

like this switch, i think there is 5 wires coming out of it, if i remember correctly...

 

late input but heres mine

 

I got these on EVILbay a while back, something like $12 for 8 switches.
They had them with green, red, blue & yellow led's. I went with green to match everything else.
I've seen similar switches at WallyWorld, but they were about $6 each.

It took a lot of patience to get them all lined up & spaced so they looked right.

 

I think I have a couple of those switches somewhere.... they came with a set of fog/driving lights. I forget how many wires they have, but the switch controlled a relay to power the lights, so they're probably only rated for 1 to 5 amps.

 

OK so just about any sw will do.
If you get a STDP (single throw "ON-ON" double pole "two rows of three pins) then it will work . One row of pins will be for the on-off of the ABS and the other row will be for two indicator lights, center pin separate pwr, top pin for the off-light and bottom pin for the on-light.
the indicator can be LED, very small.

Look around and especially in the ABS write-up you are talking about and see where they got the sw.

There are LEDs that have two colors to them, some have and extra led for the different color some just get hooked up a little different so you might only need one indicator.

luck, I will do some looking on line and see what is available for a sw with two indicator lights.

 

hmm, good thought, i was planning on just having an amber light come on when the abs is off, but a green when the abs is working, and a red when the abs is disabled might be nice too! :D

my biggest thing is making it look professional, so if i do one with this indicator light, they all have to be the same... i don't like different hokey looking switches, or a hack job...

 

I agree.

Look around at different sites and see what they have and do a search on the web and see what comes up, might be interesting.
I have never seen a dual indicator light but there must be something.