I'm thinking of finally hooking up first responder front grille and rear LED's to my upfitter switches.
What I have noticed is that I occasionally hit the switches getting drinks out of the cup holders, or if the cup holder tray is retracted and I have something on the floor that I need to reach for. (I have the front bench seat not the center console). Sometimes I catch it immediately and other times it goes unnoticed unless I see the upfitter switch light on.
Accidentally turning on red LED's could get me in a lot of trouble. Even if it's just for a second or two.
Does anyone know of a way to have a safety or lockout cover on one of the upfitters? Can one of the 4 be removed and replaced with something like the one in the picture?
Thanks.

 

I would suggest you leave the upfitter switches alone and put that switch in an out of the way / easily accessible spot in the dash.

 

That's what I've been thinking I'll have to do, unless one of the very creative and bright folks on this forum has figured something out.

 

The upfitter switches are a single unit and not able to be disassembled into four individual switches (not without a lot of re-engineering at least). If you want to create a safety switch, it could be as simple as installing the switch into the ignition activated circuit in the switch wiring harness - that is, the wire that provides the switchpack with power only when the key is on, allowing the switches to trigger the relays. Doing so would give the effect of the key being off unless the "kill switch" is manually turned on.

However, as Scott said, you'd be deactivating a "kill switch" and then flipping an upfitter on -why not just use the "kill switch" as your emergency light switch and tuck it somewhere unlikely to be accidentally activated? I use a few of my 8 upfitter switches as warning lights (amber) and even with a jump seat haven't had much of an issue, although it comes down to user.

And a third option that I just thought of as I was typing, what if you wired them in such a way that in order to activate the emergency lighting, you needed to have switch 1 AND switch 4 on at the same time? Or some similar combination. It would drastically lessen the chance of accidentally activating the lights, unless you bump all the switches at once. Almost like a code that must be entered *flip switch 1 and then 4*. Just a thought.

 

I found this on an F150 forum. Seems like the same switches. If I'm able to do the same with Super Duty switches I'll report back.
Anyone ever had the switch cluster apart? Are they 2 prong switches?
Thanks.

 

Well that's pretty cool, now where did he get those switches?

 

Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Woodstock-D41.../dp/B00BN5P8DU

 

Very nice!

 

I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person accidentally flipping upfitter switches with my large cup holder use. The solution I have contemplated is a fixing a barrier to prevent this. I've picked up a matte black door pull and it looks like a decent option. I might trim it before attaching.

 

The switch pack is an assembly. Each switch is powered from an common buss bar internal to the pack.

 

Here is what I did to help prevent accidental flipping of the upfitter switches.
It is a 3.5" wire door pull.

 

Nice job. Looks great. I'm assuming you popped out the upfitter pack, drilled and screwed. Was there much meat for the screw heads?

I'll try this this weekend. Reps sent.

 

Here are some more pics. I found it a chore to depress the tabs to pop out the upfitter pack. I ended removing quite a bit to get access to them.

 

What size screws did you use for this? I've got thread size but looks like I need a smaller head to clear some of this plastic. Thanks.

 

Got it figured out. I had some smaller head screws in a multipack I got at Harbor Freight a while back. The ones that came in with the cabinet pulls were too long and the head was too big. It took some reaming with the drill and some pearing with a sharp knife to clear some of the plastic cover so the screw heads would sit right.
I went with two cabinet pulls from Home Depot. They didn't have black but I think the brushed nickel works just as good.
Thanks David_h for the idea.