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I've never had any issues with the function of it, until now.
I wired in at a later time, another relay, making AUX 2 upfitter switch control whether the 2x lightbars in the front can turn on/off independently of the high beams. That way I can use just the high beams normally without washing out everything all the time (plus having light bar on with lows beams on if I wanted, etc). This has been like this for a while now. Everything turns off and on (functions) like it's all supposed to, until recently... for some strange reason the bottom light bar only, will stay on when the truck is turned off (intermittently), albeit dimmed, while the top light bar is completely off. What makes this weirder is that the bottom light bar still works properly in terms of brightness if AUX 1 upfitter switch is flipped on turning on both light bars like nothing is wrong (no flickering). Is this a bad ground on the bottom light bar or something, like corrosion for instance and why its intermittent, why it's dimly lit - glowing when the truck is off? I've resorted to having to pull that 40A fuse for just that bottom light bar to turn it off completely right now.
It's insanely cold here as well, so troubleshooting anything outside with a multimeter is out of the question right now. So I'm getting the ball rolling here looking for feedback for checking things when it warms up again. Maybe someone here has had a similar experience.
Things I have checked/done:
I've removed the add-a-fuse that powers my upfitter switches assembly from the passenger kick panel fuse box, but this does not change anything with the bottom light bar (still dimly lit - glowing). Where would this light bar be getting back feed from when the truck is off if it has to go through a relay first before going to the battery to turn on?
I've tried turning off the auto lamps (cycled); turning on/off fog lights. I've got the bambi mod installed too, thinking maybe there is residual power somewhere going to the fog lights, which might be back feeding into the head lights and going to the bottom light bar relay or something. I don't get it.
I've replaced both relays going to the light bars jus to check that off the list and still no change. Only the bottom light bar stays dimly lit - glowing when truck is off.
If this is without a doubt a bad ground connection, wouldn't I have the symptoms of a bad ground when the light bar is on and not when its only off? That's the part I'm confused about right now. It operates perfectly fine which tells me there isn't a bad ground connection.
My current setup is: AUX 1 upfitter is wired to RELAY 1 & 2 which go to each corresponding light bar (2 in total) in front allowing manual operation if need be whether low/high beams on. I'm glad I did it this way so I can isolate problems from one light bar to the other. AUX 2 upfitter is wired to RELAY 3 for triggering RELAY 1 & 2 for the 2x light bars in front to turn on if I turn the high beams on allowing automatic operation when doing so. AUX 3 upfitter is wired to RELAY 4 for the reverse LED pod lights (soon another small LED light bar) which are also tapped into the reverse lights as well turning on these pods automatically when in reverse, while also allowing manual operation of the LED pods if I need them on back there without having to be in reverse. Strangely enough, I also had to add a ferrite choke inline of the LED pods power wire as they were causing the backup sensors to turn off from the RF noise they made. Now the backup sensors function properly again. I think this more or less happened because I routed and tucked the LED pod wires near the backup sensors, but regardless, the ferrite choke solved that problem. AUX 4 upfitter isn't wired to anything yet. BAMBI MOD is wired to RELAY 5 and is going to the high beams power switch wire. Fog lights will remain on while running high beams whereas before they would turn off from the factory (2010 w/GEM not BCM). Stock fog light switch still functions normally, although the only drawback here is if the high beams go on when the fog lights are currently off while in the low beam operation, the fogs will just turn on when the high beams do. Easily addressable by doing the same thing as I did with the AUX 2 upfitter trigger wire for the light bars and the high beams.
The upfitter switch assembly LEDs turn from no light to turning orange when ON, so I can tell if something IS on, but no orange light is on when the bottom light bar is dimly lit - glowing. The upfitter switch assembly illumination power is tapped into the center console shifter illumination wire. All of it works as it should, except for that bottom light bar when the truck is off.
So based off all this, anything jump out as "it's a ground problem" and why?
It ended up being a ground problem with one of the light bars. I was using one of the chassis grounds and I guess it just wasn't making a solid enough connection (perhaps rattled loose or something).
Weird light bar problem
