Review: Auxbeam's new KS-80 8-circuit "Knob Switch Panel"

[jscherb]

Auxbeam's new "Knob Switch Panel" is an 8-circuit unit with some groundbreaking features, including the ability to dim lights controlled by it, various "bling" options such as chase lights and strobe lighting. There are also external trigger inputs and can turn on a circuit when some other circuit turns on, for example you can connect a trigger to a the brake light circuit in the vehicle and when the brake lights are activated the system will activate one of its circuits - useful if you want to have extra strobed brake lights that nobody can miss.



What's in the box

The contents of the kit are very well thought out and almost everything you need is included (more on what else you might need later).



Left to right in the photo above:

- Switch labels and a comprehensive 26-page instruction book
- The control box and heavy power cables to connect the box to the battery
- Cables to connect the switch panel to the control box and other necessary connections
- The rotary knob switch panel, and above it various mounting hardware
- A 100-amp circuit breaker for the main power connection and a fuse tap for connecting to ACC power
- Mounting brackets for the control box and the switch panel, and double-sided adhesive if you want to stick the switch panel in place.

The switch panel has buttons for 8 circuits (and 160 stickers to label the buttons although none are installed in the photo below), a rotary control for adjusting brightness of the backlight, of the attached light accessories, color of the backlight, speed of the lighting effects and more.

The functions of the row of buttons at the bottom include:

- Toggle
- Strobe
- Chase
- Bright
- Backlit
- Mode

More on how these functions work later.



The control box actually has 9 circuits, 8 of which are controlled by the 8 switches on the control panel and one (circuit 0) automatically comes on when ACC power is applied to the control box (in other words, when the ignition is switched on). This serves as an additional source of switched power in the vehicle, eliminating the need to tap into the fuse panel if you have a need for switched power. As one example, the manual points out that circuit zero could be used to turn on daytime running lights.

Fuses are provided for each circuit, as well as an LED for each circuit, visible just below each fuse, which will light if a fuse blows.

Connections include large screw terminals for the main power and ground connections to the battery. ACC gets connected to switched power to turn on the system when the ignition is switched on. The 4-pin is where the switch panel connects and the external triggers are used to turn on circuits based on external events, like stepping on the brake. Finally, the small gold connection in the upper right where an antenna for the optional wireless remote control gets connected.



Connecting the system

I'm bench-testing the system and with all the wires exposed on the benchtop it should be clear how everything gets connected and although it may seem like a lot of wires, the wiring of the system is very straightforward (only 4 connections) so I'll try to make it clear how things get connected.

The first step is the main power connections and the connection to accessory power. The accessory power connection turns the system on when the ignition is turned on and needs to be connected to a switched power fuse in the vehicle's fuse panel. Since I'm doing this on the bench, I've used a clip lead to connect the Acc wire to the power supply.

The main power connections are made directly to the battery with the supplied heavy-gauge cables and a 100-amp circuit breaker. These can be seen in the photo below, they're also connected to the bench power supply with clip leads for this bench test. The two main power connections in this photo are connected to the power supply (silver box) with clip leads, in the vehicle they would be connected directly to the battery. The ACC wire (smaller red wire) in this photo is also connected with a clip lead to the positive side of the power supply; in the vehicle it would be connected to a switched circuit in the vehicle's fuse panel with the supplied fuse tap. The final connection is from the switch panel to the control box. Four connections, that's all that's required to make the system operational, at this point all of the circuits in the control box can be activated by the switch panel. I know it's a bit of a jumble of wires in this photo but I think if you look closely you can follow the connections.



All that's needed at this point is to connect accessories to the control box. In this next photo I've connected four small LED light pods to circuits 5-8 of the control box. This is done by inserting the positive wire of the light into the red terminal of the desired circuit, the negative wire into the black terminal, and using the supplied screwdriver to tighten the connections.



Next: Special Features

 

[jscherb]

Special Features

All of Auxbeam's (and everyone else's) switch panels can do what's shown above. This switch panel has additional capabilities, many of which are unique to this unit.

The behavior of each circuit can be set to one of four modes:

1. Toggle - switch turns the circuit on and a second press turns it off
2. Momentary - circuit is only on while the switch is pressed (like a horn would be, for example)
3. Pulsed - blinks the attached light and the speed of blinking can be varied by turning the knob
4. SOS - a repeating series of three short lights, three long and three short

Setting the mode is easy - press the mode button and then press the desired circuit switch from one to four times depending on which mode you want that circuit to have. The color of the light above the selected switch will change depending on the mode - red for toggle, blue for momentary, green for pulsed and yellow for SOS. Once the circuit is on the mode you want, press the mode button once more to save the setting. A number of the other Auxbeam switch panel systems also have this capability, but if I recall correctly this is the first one to offer the SOS mode.

The next features I'll describe are unique to this unit and I don't know of any other system that offers these features.

Strobe mode - on the bottom row of the switch panel is a button labeled Strobe. Pressing this button causes any circuits that are currently on to blink. So assuming you have four different lights connected to the system as I do in the photo above, if all four are turned on when the Strobe button is pressed, all four will blink simultaneously and continue to blink until the Strobe button is pressed again. Other than thinking of this as purely a "bling" function, you could use it as enhanced hazard flasher in the event of trouble on the road. If you're at a Jeep show, this would be one way to get more attention. While in Strobe mode, rotating the knob make the lights flash faster or slower depending on the direction the knob is turned.

Chase mode - even "blingier" (is that a word?) is the chase mode. Pressing this button causes all lights current turned on to turn on and off in sequence. Assuming circuits 1, 2 and 3 are active when Chase is pressed, circuit 1 will turn on then off, followed by circuit 2 turning on then off, and then circuit 3 turning on then off and back to circuit 1. Many emergency vehicles have strobe modes for their lights, so I could see this being useful for first responders and other rescue vehicles. And of course getting even more attention at a Jeep show.

One thing I should say about these special modes - if you are running things other than lights on some circuits, for example you have a fridge powered on one of the circuits, you probably want to turn that off while using Strobe or Chase modes. There's no point in turning your fridge on and off constantly in these modes and it's possible that could even damage the fridge or whatever non-light accessory is connected.

Triggers

Circuits 5-8 have another special capability which is called triggers. A trigger wire harness plugs into the trigger socket on the control box and this harness has four wires, corresponding to circuits 5-8. A trigger wire for one of those circuits gets connected to some circuit in the vehicle, and when that circuit in the vehicle is activated, the corresponding circuit in the control box is activated. So if you connect the trigger wire for circuit 5 to the break light circuit in the vehicle, whenever the brake pedal is pressed, circuit 5 will activate. And the circuit will activate with whatever mode it is set to, so you could set circuit 5 to a fast pulsed mode and use a light connected to that circuit as a highly visible flashing third brake light.

Other uses for triggers could be:

- High beams - turn on a circuit in the control box when the high beams are activated.
- Reverse light - turn on a circuit when the vehicle is put in reverse to illuminate higher power backup lights
- Hazard flashers - add additional lights to the hazard flasher function

Any vehicle circuit that goes to 12v when activated can be used as a trigger so your imagination is the limit on this one.

Brightness

One feature that will be highly dependent on the lights you're powering is the brightness feature. When the Bright button is pressed rotating the knob will change the brightness of any lights currently powered on, and it does this by rapidly turning the lights on and off. Some lights will respond well to this and provide a reasonable range of brightness control but some may not. The small LED's I'm doing this bench test with don't offer a wide range of brightness with this function. You don't want to use the brightness feature on a circuit powering something like a fridge or an inverter.

And speaking of brightness, the brightness of the switch panel backlight can be changed if the Backlight button is pressed and the knob is rotated. Nice for nighttime operation when you don't need full backlight brightness on the switch panel. And if you double-click the backlight button and rotate the knob, you can set the color of the backlight.

 

[jscherb]

Bench Test Video

In this video I'll demonstrate the basic on/off functions, setting the various modes for each circuit, the strobe mode, the chase mode and a trigger as well as a few other configuration options,



If you'd like to see more demonstration videos on this product, Auxbeam has posted a number of professionally produced videos which can be found here:



Next: Remote control operation and installing in a Wrangler

 

[jscherb]

Remote Control Operation

Several of Auxbeam's previous switch panel products have included wireless operation - in some cases the systems have Bluetooth capability so the circuits can be controlled from an app on a smartphone and their 12-circuit system includes a dedicated wireless keypad. This system also supports an optional wireless keypad, which is sold separately. I happen to have one of the 12-circuit systems and I tried pairing its wireless keypad to this system but unfortunately it isn't compatible with this unit. This is the remote for their AC-1200 system; the remote for this system looks similar but only has 8 buttons.



The remote has a range of up to 200 feet but I found it very useful inside the vehicle with the AC-1200 system in one of my overland vehicles - my vehicles include a number of electrical accessories used only at the campsite - lights on the roof rack to illuminate the campsite, and a light over the pull-out kitchen to name two. The remote has a strong magnet on the back and at the campsite it keep it in the back of the vehicle near the kitchen. Keeping it there it's handy for controlling the lights I just mentioned.

I should add one thing to the overlanding configuration discussion - the standard way to wire the system is to connect the ACC terminal of the control box to switched power in the vehicle so the system is only turned on when the ignition is on. At the campsite I wanted the system to be on independently of the ignition so I wired a switch to power the system when the ignition is off. It's wired as shown below, I also added an LED to serve as a reminder that the system is turned on when the ignition is off.



Auxbeam does offer an optional ACC wire that includes a switch, but it's a simple on/off and doesn't automatically turn the system on when the ignition is turned on, which the circuit in the diagram above does do. The Auxbeam option: https://auxbeam.com/collections/swi...t-2-pin-acc-power-wiring-haneness-with-switch


Installing the KS-80 in a 1997-2006 TJ Wrangler

The mounting bracket supplied with the kit works fine in the TJ - in this photo it's mounted on the driver's side inner fender. While this seems to be the best and easist location to mount the control box in this model Jeep, it is too far from the battery for the supplied battery cables to reach so either the optional 7' cables (https://auxbeam.com/collections/wir...0-7awg-with-6m-and-8m-tinned-copper-wire-lugs) would need to be purchased, or you might be able to squeeze the control box in somewhere closer to the battery. Or, you could buy a set of jumper cables from someplace like Walmart, get some appropriate terminals and cut the jumper cables to the right lengths and crimp the terminals in place on the cut ends of the wire.



Several possible mounting locations for the switch panel in a TJ:



Installing the KS-80 in a JK/JKU Wrangler

Unfortunately the supplied mounting brackets don't really work well in a JK/JKU Wrangler. You might be able to modify them to fit somewhere, but my approach was to make a custom bracket. It's a fairly easy bracket to make - the metal can be found at most home centers, the shape can be cut with a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade, holes can be done with a drill and the bends can be done over the edge of a workbench with a hammer if no other means are available for bending.



If anyone is interested in a full size template for the JK/JKU mounting bracket, PM me and I'll send it to you.

Some aftermarket companies make offer mounting brackets for the JK, such as this one: https://americanadventurelab.com/product/jeep-jk-auxbeam-brackets/. I haven't tested these so I can't confirm that they work with the KS-80.

Also mounting the control box as shown is too far from the battery for the supplied cables, so as with the TJ, longer battery cables will be necessary.

A few locations to install the switch panel:



A while back I reviewed the Auxbeam RA80x2 switch panel system and in my review showed a number of details of a JK installation that I won't repeat here, such as alternate locations to mount the control box and finding a path through the firewall to route the cable to the switch panel. That review can be found here: https://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/barn-door-for-jk-factory-hardtops.127687/post-3104431

Next: Final Thoughts and Reviews of Other Auxbeam Switch Panels

 

[jscherb]

Final Thoughts

Like Auxbeam's other switch panel products, this is a high-quality product that's well thought out and comes with most of what you'd need for an easy implementation. I've been using various Auxbeam switch panel products for a long time and I've found them to be very reliable. If the special capabilities of this system meet your needs, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. If you need a switch panel but maybe this isn't the list of features for you, then check out the other Auxbeam switch panels, you'll probably find something that suits your needs very well. I've included links to reviews I've done of some of their other switch panel products below.


Reviews of other Auxbeam switch panel systems

These are a few of the other reviews I've done on Auxbeam switch panels. Even if a review isn't about the particular switch panel you're interested in, you may find tricks and tips in those reviews that can help you install and use any of the switch panel models.

- Auxbeam Bluetooth-Enabled 8-Circuit Switch Panel: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads...ircuit-switch-panel.58281/page-2#post-1034515

- Review: Auxbeam slim switch panel systems: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/review-auxbeam-slim-switch-panel-systems.82463/

- Auxbeam 6- and 8-gang Switch Panels: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/auxbeam-6-and-8-gang-switch-panels.64350/

- Review: Auxbeam 12-gang Bluetooth switch panel with remote: https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/review-auxbeam-12-gang-bluetooth-switch-panel-with-remote.74713/

- Six-Gang Switch Panel Review (plus how to make your own custom switch labels): https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/auxbeam-6-gang-on-off-control-switch-panel-kit-review.53068/

- Auxbeam 6 Gang on-off Control Switch Panel kit review: https://forum.expeditionportal.com/threads/barn-door-for-jk-factory-hardtops.127687/post-2942757

 

[llamalander]

Nicely Done! I hope they send you the next panel free for your work-
I appreciate the through breakdown, super helpful--

Depending on your lights, you can also try a cheap PWM dial controller to dim LED's, but make sure whatever you get can handle the wattage of your light. Obviously not as cool as the hardware above, but for specific lights it can be a nice addition.

 

[jscherb]

Nicely Done! I hope they send you the next panel free for your work-
I appreciate the through breakdown, super helpful--

Thank you. I've been reviewing Auxbeam products for quite a few years, all of the other reviews I linked to at the bottom of this review were done by me, and that doesn't include reviews of lighting products I've done. Hopefully my reviews have helped people and hopefully my comments back to Auxbeam have helped them too.

Depending on your lights, you can also try a cheap PWM dial controller to dim LED's, but make sure whatever you get can handle the wattage of your light. Obviously not as cool as the hardware above, but for specific lights it can be a nice addition.

I haven't checked the waveform of the dimming function with my oscilloscope but based on the behavior of the LEDs when dimmed I believe the dimming waveform from the system is PWM.