I just got my new F-250 Diesel home, and I was looking at the uplfitter switches. I have never had any experience with these before. Would it be hard to run a bed light to and use one of these switches? Are they wired for power already, or so they need to be attached to the battery somehow?

Any other ideas for their use? Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

They’re already hot & ready. The bundle/harness is in front of the driver, near the steering column, under the hood (near the battery & coolant reservoir. Alittle hard to get to but all you’ll need is a good ground.

 

Without pictures it didn't happen. Lol I've seen pictures so I know it happened. Hey Steve!!!

I'm adding some LED lights at the back of my truck to add light for hooking up the camper. I have a relay and others hooked it up to the reverse lights and an upfitter so they can choose to manually turn it on. Also thinking of putting a LED light bar on the front in the hole behind the license plate. ZROADZ has one for the '17s that goes in there but when I asked they said they hadn't gotten an '18 in to see if it fits in it yet. That would be another switch.

 

Oh and for a bed light in my previous truck, I got some LED weather rated strip lights and mounted them. They came with some adhesive tape but I didn't trust it so added 3M double sided automotive tape and they never budged. I thin hooked them up to the interior lights so they would go off when those did and I wouldn't leave them on. If I wanted more light I would just leave a door open.

Definitely in this truck I would use an upfitter for them. I have the bed lights and haven't really checked out how bright they are yet. If not bright enough, I may add some LED strip lights.

 

On the gas, access to the blunt-cut wires and power box is pretty good. On the diesel, it's pretty difficult. I just added some strobe lights to mine.

The upfitters are great. You have six total circuits. Four of the circuits are rated for 25A and two are rated for 40A. (Switches 1-4 are 25A and switches 5-6 are 40A). They are already wired to the switches, down to the power box with rated fuses and relays.

Another cool feature is there is a small jumper 5A fuse in the power box. It has two positions. By default, none of the circuits are powered until the truck is on. But you can move the jumper to the right and allow both 40A circuits to be powered even with the truck off.

On the diesel, it is best to remove the power box to access the wires. There are two push clips and the box will slide up and out. You can turn it on it's side to get it out of the way. Underneath will be all the blunt-cut wires. These are positive wires, each is a different color. They are all tagged from the factory with stickers, too. You'll have to find your own grounds. There is a nice grounding post right near the upfitter power box, but make sure to disconnect both batteries before removing the ground bolt. It sparks if you don't.

There are also "pass through" wires which are in the passenger kick panel area inside the cab. These are also connected to the powerbox and switches, and can be used if you need to run stuff in the cab with the switches, like a dash cam / radar detector, etc.

For a $165 option, I love it.

 

You'll find this helpful:
https://www.fleet.ford.com/truckbbas/non-html/Q-252.pdf

 

I couple things I'd add here. Make sure you grounds are to the frame, not the aluminum body. Ford has placed many ground points all over the place if you look for them. A ground can always be run back to the battery.

Regarding the pass-through wires: They are NOT connected to the Upfitter Fuse/Relay box, but they certainly CAN be. This allows easy entry of a hot wire from the Upfitter box under the hood, into the cab for running goodies you might add in there, and control it with an Upfitter switch.