Originally Posted by BigRedJK

What do you guys mean by "jumped"? Are you daisy chaining the switches to each other or something? For my 4 switches, I ran 4 separate wires to my dimmer circuit (4 wires butt-spliced to one wire) and 4 separate wires to the ground (again, 4 wires butt-spliced to one wire connected to bolt on chassis).

EDIT: Nevermind. I just found this in an earlier post. I must've missed it.

<img src="https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=415120"/>

Originally Posted by Johnnyfever

Where is the dimmer circuit located?

Edit: I think I found it, orange with grey tracer behind the power window controls. Gonna have to research this cause my power windows don't have a light in the switch?

Still open to suggestions.

Originally Posted by bobholthaus

Okay, I was right, 7 &8 can be jumpered to save wiring; just run that negative to some screw on the sidewall of the jeep (don't get the negative from the dimmer circuit is what it's saying. Grounding elsewhere on the vehicle is fine. There are multiple grounds screwed into the tub on the sides of the foot wells). And yes, all 6s can be jumpered like you originally thought.

Now, back to the jumpering of all 2s, your source power. Okay, now a quick lesson on wire gauge and amps. 1 amp equals 13.8 watts. The following chart shows you how many amps (and watts) certain wiring gauge can handle:

AWG Gauge -- Maximum Current amps (watts)
0 -- 300 amps (4140 watts)
1 -- 238 amps (3284.4 watts)
2 -- 188 amps (2594.4 watts)
3 -- 150 amps (2070 watts)
4 -- 120 amps (1656 watts)
5 -- 94 amps (1297 watts)
6 -- 74 amps (1021 watts)
7 -- 60 amps (828 watts)
8 -- 48 amps (662 watts)
9 -- 38 amps (524 watts)
10 -- 30 amps (414 watts)
11 -- 24 amps (331 watts)
12 -- 18.6 amps (256.7 watts)
13 -- 14.8 amps (204 watts)
14 -- 11.8 amps (162 watts)
15 -- 9.4 amps (129 watts)
16 -- 7.4 amps (102 watts)
17 -- 5.8 amps (80 watts)
18 -- 4.6 amps (63 watts)
19 -- 3.6 amps (49 watts)
20 -- 3 amps (41 watts)
21 -- 2.4 amps (33 watts)
22 -- 1.84 amps (25 watts)
23 -- 1.458 amps (20 watts)
24 -- 1.154 amps (15 watts)
25 -- 0.914 amps (12.6 watts)

So, 14 gauge wire can handle 11.8 amps. 11.8 amps multiplied by 13.8 watts gives you 162.84 watts (remember 1 amp = 13.8 watts). So, you can safely run 162 watts through 14 gauge wire. As long as ALL of your equipment on all four switches doesn't exceed 162 watts, you can jump all 2s with 14 gauge wire and be fine. Do the math above and save this chart and you'll always have the right size wire for the job. In our jeeps, where space is at a premium, I try to keep the gauge number as high as possible (which is a smaller wire) for space purposes.

And while we are on this subject, your fuse size should be correlated to wire gauge, not the draw of your equipment. Your fuse size should never exceed the amp number in the above chart for your given wire size. Therefore, with 14 gauge wiring, your fuse should not exceed 11.8 amps. And you need to round down, not up. Because if you stick a 15 amp fuse on 14 gauge wiring, the wiring could start on fire before the fuse blows (since it can only handle 11.8 amps but your 15 amp fuse won't blow until it sees a surge greater than 15 amps).

And that my friends, is everything you'll ever need to know about wire gauge, amps/wattage, and fuse size. Kind of.

Originally Posted by bobholthaus

Yes, that surely seems logical. From a cost perspective, it's probably cheaper. Can anyone think of a good reason why you'd need separate grounds?