When I had my bumper guard installed by Kraken Motorsports I had them add a pair of Rigid Industries Dually Flood lights. Since in the Crosstrek is the baby of the Subaru family, my car came with several poverty buttons that could not be filled even when buying the most expensive trim level. (A poverty button is a non-functioning blank where an actual button would be on a more expensive trim.) I did my homework and found that the button for aftermarket fog lights on a Forester would fit perfectly in on of my blank spaces. I found I could buy an OEM button from China and have it shipped all the way here for $1.76. It took 4 weeks but finally arrived. It fit perfectly and even had a graphic that would be appropriate. It was a 4-pin switch. I was to later learn what that meant.
When I dropped the car off to get the lights installed, I gave them the switch. Mentioned that it was a 4-pin switch and was assured that this would work perfectly. I made an assumption that the lights would be wired up through the ignition so that when the car is off, so are the lights. This was my mistake for making an assumption.
When I picked the car up, everything looked good but the kid doing the wiring said there was still a bit more to do and I needed to wait. I’d already returned my rental car and didn’t have much choice. After a while they called me over. The kid was confused because the switch only worked once and then stopped working. The owner, hearing this immediately knew what the problem was. They had wired it up directly to the 12v battery instead of into a relay. So for want of a 25¢ relay, my switch was burned up. I told them just to use the red button that came with the lights and I would get another switch and relay. I was already a bit frustrated because the labor on the lights was more than the estimate and nearly as expensive and installing the entire bumper guard.
I really didn’t like the red button. It felt weird and it was hard to decide which way was up. I left it loose inside the fuse box area until I decided what to do. In the end, I decided not to mess with the relay and replacing the poverty button. I drilled a small hole in the blank space below the cabin light dimmer and installed the red button. In the process of manipulating the button, I managed to short it out and blow the fuse. I eventually found and replace this fuse, in line near the battery. I ran with the red button for a while but really wasn’t happy with it. Mainly my problem was that I could not turn it on easily but touch.
I found a lighted toggle switch on Amazon. Unfortunately, they came in an 8-pack so I have 7 spares. I had a little trouble removing the red button and ended up destroying it and another fuse in the process. Lesson learned too late: remove the fuse before messing with it in the future.
I had the choice of blue, red, orange/yellow, and green. I was a bit torn because my footwell and console lighting are blue but the wilderness has copper access all around. I ended up going with the orange. I studied the wiring diagram for the red button and the new toggles and found the two positive pins to be reversed. The toggle is illuminated when on. It is in easy reach of the steering wheel. It is hard wired to the battery so I need to remember to not leave it on when I don’t need them. They are bright. I have already had legitimate reasons to use them. I’m happy with the way they turned out.
