DIY - Adding Aftermarket Switches to Floor Console for LED Lights and Power Steps

Thought I would do a short "how to" that really combines a couple of other threads with the outcome. I have purchased a couple of accessories that cannot take advantage of the Overhead Console Switches so decided I needed to add a couple of standard, albeit nicer, switches somewhere near the dash. I opted for a solution from OTR Switch Guys that allow a ton of options and even custom names: High quality OTRATTW Contura XIV laser-etched lower independent LED rocker switches ). They also sell trim plates or boxes to mount any number of switches.



First, a brief description of the accessories that these switches will need to operate:

Rock Slide Engineering Power Steps: I just received the power steps (Group by thru 6G) but haven't installed them as I will either need to find a friend, buy a jack stand, or pay someone else to install them. Anyway, what I have done is add the above aftermarket switch to replace the simple Rock Slide Engineering Override Switch that is required when installed. Because we can take our doors off as well as other situations you dont want them to extend or retract (off-roading, standing on them to reach top while doors closed, etc.), a switch is needed to override the power steps. I didn't like the plain jane rocker switch it came with so opted for these aftermarket ones that allow custom letters, in this case it says "PowerStep Override". I have pre wired this and ran the wires near the fuse box for later connection.

Oracle LED Footwell Lights under dash with Controller: I wanted to install more lighting to the interior footwell areas and give it a bit of color/refinement. However the LED lighting control module is rather large (see pic below). I concluded the best place to mount this is inside the center console. This controller has no less than 7 wires attached to it, including an infrared wire sensor that gives it remote capability since this is designed to be hidden. Although not the subject of this post, wiring this into the center console was a task in itself, which I did more than 2 months ago (so details are slipping). Basically it was done by removing the center console (note this is different from the floor console where switches are mounted), drilling a large hole in the bottom (which the carpet hides) and then running all seven wires along the passenger side of the center console (was easy to tuck in without removing it) to behind the dash where I was able to tap into the power of the one of the factory prewired lines to the aux switches under the hood. If interested, I could share more on that. But as I mentioned, I quickly realized that powering the device using Aux switches would not work since the controller needs constant power for memory function, more on that later.

https://www.oraclelights.com/produc...ing-footwell-kit?rq=mk_ford~md_bronco~yr_2021



After looking for a location to mount two new switches and its small two switch housing, I felt there were only two good solutions. One is below the factory headlight switch; to the right of the Emergency Brake Lever. However, that would take some heavy cutting since the plastic is thicker behind there (looks to be extra reinforcement in that area). I also thought about doing a custom box by having it protrude out at an angle similar to the factory light switch housing. I do some scale model building as a 2nd hobby and felt I could actually tackle that but it would be quite a bit of work and in the end might still be in the way of your legs/knees.

The second area I thought of was to the right of the USB plugs and above the phone charger (I have Lux) but I wasn't sure what was back there so posted a thread a few days ago with that very question. See pic with red squares.



Luckily, @j_anderson responded with a link to his earlier DIY on removing the floor console to add a phone charger, here: https://www.bronco6g.com/how-to-magsafe-wireless-charger-install-in-factory-location-diy/ Please check his post for details on how to remove. He uses Ford diagrams for the steps, which can be rather vague. Just take your time and look at the pictures closely where you are to release the retainer clips. Also, I was able to pull the floor console out while leaving the top retainer clips in for the center stack (HVAC controls) but the instructions show fully removing this. I had a hard time trying to remove those top clips (likely due to my LED lights in the way) so opted to leave it hanging. This gave me problems again when reinstalling everything, again likely due to the LED light strip jammed up in there. I think the 2nd hardest thing was releasing the boot to the shifter as the retainer clips are on the sides and not the front/rear. Also, you have to move the shifter to Drive to lift the floor console out.



Anway, in the end I got the floor console out to do the needed surgery in my office (note Bronco6G is in the background )



I used a dremel tool to cut out the rectangular opening. The dimensions are in the instructions but I also used a digital caliper to be sure I got it right. In the end, the hole was cut just slightly smaller and I used a file and sandpaper to make it large enough to fit. Note also that the housing has a frame around it that hides any imperfections, which it did in my case as well.



The only way to remove the switch housing is to push it back thru from the rear (snaps in place). I definitely didn't want to go back and remove all of these panels just to wire the 2nd switch so I connected all my wires for both switches in advance. These switches illuminate separately with your dash lights, etc. from turning the accessory on, which means they have no less than five connections each. Two connections are grounds for the two separate lighted areas (which i jumped in unison), one is power on with the car to illuminate the switch, while the remaining two are to switch the accessory on. Below is how it looked in the back with all wires firmly connected. I used heat shrink for each connection. Note the Ford connector for the USB plugs just to the right:



I carefully lined up the floor console and kept the wires on top as I reinstalled the panels in reverse order. The small panel that goes just above this (and below the HVAC controls) is the last to add, which is how I was able to keep the wires up on top until I was done.

Below are a few pics of the final result. Thes first two pics are just the Bronco turned on showing the illuminated text on the switches. I have this wired to the same fuse terminal as my Dashcam (Fuse #35), which turns on with your ignition.





The ones below are different examples of the interior lights turned on, which also shows the switch symbol lit up red . The footwell LED lights are comprised of two separate 15" strips that I tucked in between the upper and lower part of the dash (where there is a nice ridge to hide them under). Note I used the ColorShift version which can be controlled by the separate controller. They have others that cannot be controlled and are fixed at one color/brightness. I may add a couple more to this for the rear cargo area. I am just touching the surface with this LED controller as there are a ton of options from color, brightness, fades and everything in between one could do. It also has about 10 buttons for presets, which you can save (as long as you don't lose power it will retain them). I am going to save a few with the brightness much more subtle than these examples. Maybe a slow fade in/out of different shades too. With 10 presets, it can be based solely on your mood!





Recall that I originally mentioned that the LED controller (and lights) were wired into one of my Aux Overhead switches (using the handy pre wired connection behind the dash). However, that idea didn't work due to a major negative (in my mind) to this LED controller, which I did complain to ORACLE about. Evidently it has no memory function, which is why I couldn't leave it wired into the Overhead Console since it cuts all power to the controller which would erase all those various lighting presets you spend time saving (which takes significant time). The product description did not mention this and even Oracles' tech support seemed to be not sure since at first they told me it did have memory. In the end you have to have a constant 12 volt source to the controller and use the little buttons on the remote to turn your lights on and off. I didn't want to rely on a remote control or the hidden bulky controller itself to turn these on and off. I guess I am more traditional and wanted a true automotive switch. Thus the work around is that the controller gets a constant power source (I used Fuse #29) and the switch I added is simply interrupting the power between the controller and the LED Lightstrips. For those of you that know how those aux switches are wired, this would have been very hard to duplicate using them. The Rock Slide accessory is similar in that the wire required for switching on and off is coming from its harness and not the vehicles 12 volt system, thus the need for traditional switches. I am sure there is a way to get this to work with the overhead aux switches but it would take a lot of reconfiguring and it would give me two less buttons to use, which I am already using three...

Anyway, hope this is somewhat helpful. Oracle has a tone of other solutions. This is just one. I also think they will be developing more custom lighting for the Bronco over time. I already have another Oracle product for the Bronco, the grill Bronco lights, which work great.

just need two or three more leds followed by a disc ball and you'll get that 5* uber/lyft rating.

Good stuff man! You should take a pic with just the accent lighting on, while it's dark.

I had no idea I wanted lighting under the radio, now I do

So glad you posted this, gonna actually read it for the details now

Great solution and write up.

Absurd that the Oracle controller requires constant power to retain settings.

@Panzer948 Did you tie both the power for the illuminated switch and the LED strips or controller to fuse# 35?

Panzer948 said:

Thought I would do a short "how to" that really combines a couple of other threads with the outcome. I have purchased a couple of accessories that cannot take advantage of the Overhead Console Switches so decided I needed to add a couple of standard, albeit nicer, switches somewhere near the dash. I opted for a solution from OTR Switch Guys that allow a ton of options and even custom names: High quality OTRATTW Contura XIV laser-etched lower independent LED rocker switches ). They also sell trim plates or boxes to mount any number of switches.

First, a brief description of the accessories that these switches will need to operate:

Rock Slide Engineering Power Steps: I just received the power steps (Group by thru 6G) but haven't installed them as I will either need to find a friend, buy a jack stand, or pay someone else to install them. Anyway, what I have done is add the above aftermarket switch to replace the simple Rock Slide Engineering Override Switch that is required when installed. Because we can take our doors off as well as other situations you dont want them to extend or retract (off-roading, standing on them to reach top while doors closed, etc.), a switch is needed to override the power steps. I didn't like the plain jane rocker switch it came with so opted for these aftermarket ones that allow custom letters, in this case it says "PowerStep Override". I have pre wired this and ran the wires near the fuse box for later connection.

Oracle LED Footwell Lights under dash with Controller: I wanted to install more lighting to the interior footwell areas and give it a bit of color/refinement. However the LED lighting control module is rather large (see pic below). I concluded the best place to mount this is inside the center console. This controller has no less than 7 wires attached to it, including an infrared wire sensor that gives it remote capability since this is designed to be hidden. Although not the subject of this post, wiring this into the center console was a task in itself, which I did more than 2 months ago (so details are slipping). Basically it was done by removing the center console (note this is different from the floor console where switches are mounted), drilling a large hole in the bottom (which the carpet hides) and then running all seven wires along the passenger side of the center console (was easy to tuck in without removing it) to behind the dash where I was able to tap into the power of the one of the factory prewired lines to the aux switches under the hood. If interested, I could share more on that. But as I mentioned, I quickly realized that powering the device using Aux switches would not work since the controller needs constant power for memory function, more on that later.

https://www.oraclelights.com/produc...ing-footwell-kit?rq=mk_ford~md_bronco~yr_2021

After looking for a location to mount two new switches and its small two switch housing, I felt there were only two good solutions. One is below the factory headlight switch; to the right of the Emergency Brake Lever. However, that would take some heavy cutting since the plastic is thicker behind there (looks to be extra reinforcement in that area). I also thought about doing a custom box by having it protrude out at an angle similar to the factory light switch housing. I do some scale model building as a 2nd hobby and felt I could actually tackle that but it would be quite a bit of work and in the end might still be in the way of your legs/knees.

The second area I thought of was to the right of the USB plugs and above the phone charger (I have Lux) but I wasn't sure what was back there so posted a thread a few days ago with that very question. See pic with red squares.

Luckily, @j_anderson responded with a link to his earlier DIY on removing the floor console to add a phone charger, here: https://www.bronco6g.com/how-to-magsafe-wireless-charger-install-in-factory-location-diy/ Please check his post for details on how to remove. He uses Ford diagrams for the steps, which can be rather vague. Just take your time and look at the pictures closely where you are to release the retainer clips. Also, I was able to pull the floor console out while leaving the top retainer clips in for the center stack (HVAC controls) but the instructions show fully removing this. I had a hard time trying to remove those top clips (likely due to my LED lights in the way) so opted to leave it hanging. This gave me problems again when reinstalling everything, again likely due to the LED light strip jammed up in there. I think the 2nd hardest thing was releasing the boot to the shifter as the retainer clips are on the sides and not the front/rear. Also, you have to move the shifter to Drive to lift the floor console out.

Anway, in the end I got the floor console out to do the needed surgery in my office (note Bronco6G is in the background )

I used a dremel tool to cut out the rectangular opening. The dimensions are in the instructions but I also used a digital caliper to be sure I got it right. In the end, the hole was cut just slightly smaller and I used a file and sandpaper to make it large enough to fit. Note also that the housing has a frame around it that hides any imperfections, which it did in my case as well.

The only way to remove the switch housing is to push it back thru from the rear (snaps in place). I definitely didn't want to go back and remove all of these panels just to wire the 2nd switch so I connected all my wires for both switches in advance. These switches illuminate separately with your dash lights, etc. from turning the accessory on, which means they have no less than five connections each. Two connections are grounds for the two separate lighted areas (which i jumped in unison), one is power on with the car to illuminate the switch, while the remaining two are to switch the accessory on. Below is how it looked in the back with all wires firmly connected. I used heat shrink for each connection. Note the Ford connector for the USB plugs just to the right:

I carefully lined up the floor console and kept the wires on top as I reinstalled the panels in reverse order. The small panel that goes just above this (and below the HVAC controls) is the last to add, which is how I was able to keep the wires up on top until I was done.

Below are a few pics of the final result. Thes first two pics are just the Bronco turned on showing the illuminated text on the switches. I have this wired to the same fuse terminal as my Dashcam (Fuse #35), which turns on with your ignition.

The ones below are different examples of the interior lights turned on, which also shows the switch symbol lit up red . The footwell LED lights are comprised of two separate 15" strips that I tucked in between the upper and lower part of the dash (where there is a nice ridge to hide them under). Note I used the ColorShift version which can be controlled by the separate controller. They have others that cannot be controlled and are fixed at one color/brightness. I may add a couple more to this for the rear cargo area. I am just touching the surface with this LED controller as there are a ton of options from color, brightness, fades and everything in between one could do. It also has about 10 buttons for presets, which you can save (as long as you don't lose power it will retain them). I am going to save a few with the brightness much more subtle than these examples. Maybe a slow fade in/out of different shades too. With 10 presets, it can be based solely on your mood!

Recall that I originally mentioned that the LED controller (and lights) were wired into one of my Aux Overhead switches (using the handy pre wired connection behind the dash). However, that idea didn't work due to a major negative (in my mind) to this LED controller, which I did complain to ORACLE about. Evidently it has no memory function, which is why I couldn't leave it wired into the Overhead Console since it cuts all power to the controller which would erase all those various lighting presets you spend time saving (which takes significant time). The product description did not mention this and even Oracles' tech support seemed to be not sure since at first they told me it did have memory. In the end you have to have a constant 12 volt source to the controller and use the little buttons on the remote to turn your lights on and off. I didn't want to rely on a remote control or the hidden bulky controller itself to turn these on and off. I guess I am more traditional and wanted a true automotive switch. Thus the work around is that the controller gets a constant power source (I used Fuse #29) and the switch I added is simply interrupting the power between the controller and the LED Lightstrips. For those of you that know how those aux switches are wired, this would have been very hard to duplicate using them. The Rock Slide accessory is similar in that the wire required for switching on and off is coming from its harness and not the vehicles 12 volt system, thus the need for traditional switches. I am sure there is a way to get this to work with the overhead aux switches but it would take a lot of reconfiguring and it would give me two less buttons to use, which I am already using three...

Anyway, hope this is somewhat helpful. Oracle has a tone of other solutions. This is just one. I also think they will be developing more custom lighting for the Bronco over time. I already have another Oracle product for the Bronco, the grill Bronco lights, which work great.

Click to expand...

You have ambient lighting in both front footwells with the Lux pkg. I'm curious why you didnt tie the wiring the existing ambient lights? as you know it also has a switched dimmer from the factory.

It looks like studio 54 in there!

Thanks for posting this! My LEDS and RSEs are arriving this week and I haven't gotten to the details of wiring it all up. I really like the switches you installed, I was planning to use the upfitter switches but now I see that may not work out. I'm also running a 3 channel dash cam at the same time. Ran my tow controller this weekend, that alone was an experience, I think Lux has extra wire bundles behind the dash, it was tight back there.

Very nicely done!

Coming from a Polaris Slingshot, we like our led lights!

buzpro said:

You have ambient lighting in both front footwells with the Lux pkg. I'm curious why you didnt tie the wiring the existing ambient lights? as you know it also has a switched dimmer from the factory.

Click to expand...

True but I would lose the ability to control them with controller, which was the main reason I wanted them. I also don't want them on all the time. This is just supplemental lighting when needed, hence the separate switch.

akturbo said:

Thanks for posting this! My LEDS and RSEs are arriving this week and I haven't gotten to the details of wiring it all up. I really like the switches you installed, I was planning to use the upfitter switches but now I see that may not work out. I'm also running a 3 channel dash cam at the same time. Ran my tow controller this weekend, that alone was an experience, I think Lux has extra wire bundles behind the dash, it was tight back there.

Click to expand...

Interesting, I am looking at getting a tow controller (brake controller right) for my Bronco as well. Would love to see a post about that!

Dom said:

@Panzer948 Did you tie both the power for the illuminated switch and the LED strips or controller to fuse# 35?

Click to expand...

No, the illuminated switches need to come on with vehicle power or they would stay on all the time so they are wired to #35, which is an extra fuse slot under the steering wheel. I am also using it for turning on my dash cam. The lights (really the controller) needs to have constant power or the controller would lose the presets so they are tied into #29 which is on all the time. The switch cuts power between the controller and the lightstrips.

Natai said:

Great solution and write up.

Absurd that the Oracle controller requires constant power to retain settings.

Click to expand...

I agree and told them as such. I was really thinking I simply had a defective unit and was trying to return it when they called back and said it was normal...

Panzer948 said:

I agree and told them as such. I was really thinking I simply had a defective unit and was trying to return it when they called back and said it was normal...

Click to expand...

Damn. Seems like poor design on Oracle’s part.