COLIGHT 12 Gang switch Panel Relay Box

[PolarBlair]

So I've been hankering for a lightbar for some time and decided to treat myself. Christmas sales were on so I got a basic 52" lightbar and a 12 gang switch panel for £308 including shipping.

12 Gang Panel:

https://www.led-colight.com/products/new-12-gang-rgb-switch-panel-system-with-app-control?_pos=3&_sid=585b8c220&_ss=r

 

52" Lightbar:

https://www.led-colight.com/products/colight-10inch-f13-series-spot-flood-beam-thick-light-bar-with-drl?_pos=13&_sid=4c5246c44&_ss=r

I initially saw adverts on FB for Auxbeam but their 12 Gang panel was twice as expensive as the Colight version.

Both are solid state relays which although they market that as a selling point, to me says that should a relay fail, there is no way to replace it.

I've also seen unbranded identical versions of both these units on eBay for less money, but at Colights prices it was only saving £30 or so didn't seem worth the risk.

 

12 Gang Switch Panel Review:

The 12 gang control box itself is built off a thick steel plate with the electronics potted with what I'm assuming to be some kind of epoxy. Fitting instructions are easy to follow and if I understand it correctly, there is a small switch that lets you either have it hooked to the battery permanently live, or activated via ignition live using a small fused jumper. Cable length is more than you will ever need. You could mount the control panel anywhere, even in the 2nd row if you were so inclined.

The big selling point is only having a single wire to run through the bulkhead from the switch panel to the control box. I fabbed a bracket out of some stainless plate I had lying around so it could sit on top of the brake master cylinder.

Power is supplied via my leisure battery and 25mm² leads. The 150A breaker seemed like a good idea so that sits in the battery box right next to the pos terminal.

(This was the before shot - after getting all this put back in, I was in such a rush to close it up and never touch it again I forgot to take an after shot)

Did a quick bench test too and you can see what the inside of the relay box looks like.

I wanted quick access to turn off the lightbar while simultaneously turning off high beam I put it to the left of the steering column.

The included steel bracket is extremely robust and is a two part hinged construction that allows for a variety of mounting positions/ angle adjustment.

It's out of the way of my knee and unlikely to get bumped in this location. Also the easiest wire run. Only had to pop the gauge cluster out.

I've gone with green but it has RGB which I believe you can fine tune more precisely to your taste via the app beyond the preset colours. I haven't hooked up the app yet but don't really feel the need to.

I have mine on the lowest of 5 brightness settings. Brightness and colour are controlled by the dedicated buttons below the master power switch.

Annoyingly only one blank sticker is provided in what is otherwise a very extensive range of stickers for anything you could imagine.

So I used a bunch of numbers and a couple of arrows to cover the blank slots for now.

You can quickly turn off the whole panel and all items by touch with the red power button. Handy for not blinding people on backcountry roads.

 

Negatives

Each button can be set to momentary, toggle or "strobe". But the strobe is more like blinking on and off relatively slowly. If you want amber strobes to work, they will need to have that function embedded because the strobe function on this panel is unusable.

Only a single blank sticker included. Wouldn't have killed them to add a few more.

 

52" Lightbar Review

Not much to say here other than I'm pretty happy with performance for the price.

It's pretty basic and can switch between DRL mode and flood beam.Its Not going to compete with the likes of Lazer but it's still like a daylight switch.

I have reasonably powerful LED headlamps but the lightbar puts them to shame.

This is also not fully representative as my phone automatically adjusted for brightness, dimming the image.

On back roads you can see over the hills and far away!

Negatives

The lightbar switches between DRL and full beam every time power is cycled. So if you're using it on back roads and turn it off for oncoming traffic, you have to turn it back on to get DRL, turn it off, and then turn it back on again.

That could easily have been voided with an additional wire letting the user decide what mode to select.

To the Rescue!

I had just got the defender back together and was heading to bed when I saw that some poor delivery driver was stuck not far from me and had been there for most of the day already.

Conditions were not great and only getting worse and the extra light output was brilliant for peace of mind being able to see right into the distance. Nice and sheltered on my drive though!

Before anyone says it, I was only standing this close while picking up slack and checking everything was in position. Winching was done with me well away!

With another truck pulling the van from the front, while we were anchoring the back wheel, we got him out and stopped him sliding past the point of no return down the bank and probably rolling into the field.

Got the chance to use both the lightbar, switch panel and winch in anger and was pretty happy with all of it.

Haven't had it long enough to be able to say anything about longevity, but certainly appears to the best bang for buck option short of unbranded eBay offerings.

[Bowie69]

Thank you, I had looked at these in the past, but like you found them too expensive really, your find does make it cheaper. 

One question, have you used the app and was it any good/use? 

[PolarBlair]

39 minutes ago, Bowie69 said:

Thank you, I had looked at these in the past, but like you found them too expensive really, your find does make it cheaper. 

One question, have you used the app and was it any good/use? 

No, not yet. I have downloaded it but not synced it up yet. To be honest, beyond finely tuning RGB colours I don't really see the point. You could in theory use it for remotely switching lights but if you're standing next to your truck anyway, it seems easier to me to just reach in and hit a button.

That being said, you could use it to remotely switch on a parking heater like a thermotop-C. I've just acquired one and only realised it could be handy for that while writing this reply. Got me interested now. Next time I'm in my workshop I'll try the app and report back.

 

Edit:

By loading the app I've just noticed you can set flash speed. So maybe it can be used effectively for strobe function. I'll have to take a look.

I'm not with my truck but I downloaded the app and it seems fairly straightforward. Will update once I've had a chance to test it.

Edited January 22 by PolarBlair

[elbekko]

Does the app have a "I'm going to send all your data to the PRC" feel to it, or is it decent?

I've considered something like this for using in the Merc, so I could just use my phone as a switch panel and wouldn't have to modift the interior at all.

[ThreePointFive]

Looks good, i like the idea that this gives you a whole load more take off points for accessories without cutting any existing wiring. The single wire through the bulkhead is also good, as I already have far too many additions going through mine. 

You could turn those direction arrows 90 degrees and have winch in/out control...

I wouldn't trust the app though. 

[PolarBlair]

5 hours ago, elbekko said:

Does the app have a "I'm going to send all your data to the PRC" feel to it, or is it decent?

I've considered something like this for using in the Merc, so I could just use my phone as a switch panel and wouldn't have to modift the interior at all.

App feels reasonably well thought out. Nothing special but still bare bones and functional. It asks for some permissions all of which I denied except Bluetooth and only when the app is in use. 

I believe it asks for storage permissions to let you use your own custom button images.

Synced up immediately and I was able to easily set the button functions.

Flash interval can only be set through the app from what I can tell however selecting modes between constant/ momentary/ strobe is much easier and faster using the app.

It reacts immediately with no delay that I can detect.

This is the main screen:

 

This one is for programming functions:

 

"Strobe" can be set to blink as quickly as 0.2s intervals which is ok but not what you would call a strobe function. Fine for amber beacons flashing though and better than the stock flash speed of 0.8s.

 

 

You can also have it in landscape so for those that don't want the control panel visible at all, it's entirely possible to just operate the unit from your phone in a dash cradle.

If I want to use this to remotely switch on a parking heater, I'll need to figure out some kind of Bluetooth repeater setup as there's no way it will reach from my house into the shed. Could be perfect for anyone that parks on their drive though.

[PolarBlair]

3 hours ago, ThreePointFive said:

Looks good, i like the idea that this gives you a whole load more take off points for accessories without cutting any existing wiring. The single wire through the bulkhead is also good, as I already have far too many additions going through mine. 

You could turn those direction arrows 90 degrees and have winch in/out control...

I wouldn't trust the app though. 

I had considered that but I use a wireless remote for my winch so the extra wiring seemed like more bother than it was worth.

You could definitely use it for a switched winch isolator too. I've got 3 kids so I just went for a dumb isolator that sits in the battery box. Don't trust those wee blighters as far as I can throw them!