sea bass

Tried searching and even googling and couldn't find what I want.
I simply have 2 unused switches on my spod - and I hate toggling through the locker selector when I'm trying to turn on/off my lockers. Plus, I'd like to be able to use them whenever I want. To just quickly flip one on/off on the trail would save me a bunch of frustration. For example - in moab, I like engaging the front when pulling up on a steep ledge so the tires would climb instead of pushing into the ledge. Having to mess with the selector and figure out which way to push and how many times was driving me crazy!



So - can someone point me in the right direction?
If you did this - does the indicator light still work on the dash?
Would this mess with traction/stability control if in 2wd and doing donuts in the snow?

Thanks in advance!!!!

Captain Obvious

A while back i was thinking about doing the same thing and emailed the sPod guy. He sent me a "theoretical" writing diagram and instructions with the disclaimer it was not advised since it wouldn't prevent accidental activation on pavement (you know gotta please the lawyers, haha). Unfortunately,I don't have the email (or can't find it), but you should be able to just email their customer service for it.

ronjenx

Search the forum for Locker Bypass Mod.

You can tap into the locker relay ground wire, run it through your switch, then to ground.

When you throw the switch, the locker will engage, but the light will continue to flash because the locker position is different from what the computer thinks it should be.
The good thing about the mod is, the OEM switches will continue to function normally.

Like the warning mentioned above, lockers on slick roads can throw you into oncoming traffic, or off the road.

sea bass

Ok - so I only tap the ground wire to my spod ground - no 12v power?

I did find that thread but wasn't sure how it would apply since the spod is already hooked to 12v power.

ronjenx

Well, through one of your switches, to a ground.
No power needed. In the OEM system, the computer supplies the ground to energize the relay coil.
With the mod, you supply the ground when you throw the switch.

The write-up has all the details, including wire colors and locations.

sea bass

Right on - I'll read it again. I gave up because I didn't think applied :-).


Thanks for the help!!!

SoK66

This won't work using an sPOD, sPODs only switch positive current. The sPOD grounds don't toggle on/off with the switches, so if you ran a wire from an sPOD circuit ground and tapped into the JK's locker relay grounds, the lockers would be on permanently.

To use an sPOD as your locker switching method you have to use the sPOD relays to toggle positive current to the lockers, completely bypassing the factory logic and relay circuits. It can be done by removing the locker relays' yellow with trace wires and tapping in leads from your sPOD B+ terminals, one for each locker.

This won't prevent the locker dash lights from flashing, AND, this will disable your factory locker switching system. Using the more common ground tap method has no effect on the factory setup, it just bypasses it.

ronjenx

Is it possible to make it so one of the sPOD switches doesn't handle any power? That way the switch can be used to supply ground to the relay coil.

sea bass

I did talk to john from Spod today - he did not recommend using the spod to switch the factory lockers. I unfortunately already ordered my otrattw switches too :-(

Mark Doiron

Not sure if this will help, and it would really be a kludge, but maybe what I did to implement an engine fan switch can be modified for this. Here's the diagram for that ...



As for inadvertent actuation of the locker while driving, what I did for that was to modify my dual-lit sPOD (has the button for the switch panel lights) so that the button for the panel lights became an sPOD power button. When pushed off, all of the sPOD switches are inoperative and not backlit. It takes two actions to turn on any of the sPOD-controlled devices: Turn on the power switch, then activate the sPOD toggle for that device. Since all of the sPOD devices I have wired are needed only off-road, this works well for me.