This past week Matt installed the Kaizen Relay from our good friends over at Kaizen Speed! They sent us a relay that provides an On + F1 strobing light feature, toggled directly from the Raptor’s factory upfitter/AUX switches on the headliner. We’re using this relay to control the Baja Designs Squadron A-Pillar lights we installed on SDHQ Built mounts a few videos back, but we could be using it to apply the same On + F1 strobe feature to every light on the vehicle! For those of you wondering why we're installing this relay, Matt wants to have strobing functionality for increased visibility off road and in emergency situations.
As you might remember from a couple videos back, Matt designed a fuse block mounting bracket for the Raptor so we could reliably power our ICOM radio from LVJ Motorsports. We heard from a bunch of you guys who want one too, so we'll be bringing them into production soon - but first we needed to test a final pre-production version of the bracket. Installing this relay gave us the perfect excuse to swap them out considering we needed to tap into the factory upfitter wiring bundle.
The installation of this relay went very smoothly, Reid's instructions and wire labelling were very helpful. We were done within 45 minutes of popping the hood! The guys over at Kaizen Speed are incredibly thorough and make sure they've thought of everything before bringing a product to market.
Reid also wanted to extend some savings to you guys, so he kindly set up a discount code "BUILTRIGHT" for 25% OFF this exact Kaizen Relay we installed (KAI-5520). While we might eventually experiment with some more complicated (yet expensive) control units in the future, this Kaizen Relay gives us the exact strobing effect we’ve been looking for, without breaking the bank!
For those of you with a lot of gear wired up in your rigs, these units are linkable and can be set up to make your vehicle’s accessories perform all sorts of functions. Check out the raw (unmodified/pre-programmed) relay here. Instead of the classically unreliable box-style relays of last century, the Kaizen Relay is an incredibly-well thought out device that has tons of functionality and applications for anything automotive.
Have you ever used a modular relay with a test button? Neither had we... and being able to test our wiring connectivity with their test feature was very cool to see. Everything worked perfectly and lit up the first try - our amber Baja Designs Squadron Sports mounted on SDHQ's beefy A-Pillar light brackets were as bright as ever, and now they had a very grabbing, effective and easy to use strobing function!
Matt decided to set up the truck's 6th upfitter/AUX toggle switch to enable the strobing feature, the 2nd switch to power on the lights with a consistent, non-flashing pattern, and he's keeping that 1st toggle set to turn on the OEM off road fog lights. Everything worked flawlessly from these interior switches, so we didn't end up needing to dig back into the wiring and got everything buttoned up!
We had to quickly test the setup at night of course, so Matt and I met back at the shop later that night to shoot some 'flash effectiveness' content. (You might've seen us leak clips from this install last week on our Instagram account, @builtrightind. Follow us on there to see what's happening before it's written up here!)
Not only are we amazed at the power of Baja Designs' Squadron Sports for their size, but when controlled by the Kaizen Relay, they absolutely come to life. This is a must for emergency or off roading situations where you need to be seen. And at a decent price point too... Thank you again to Reid over at Kaizen Speed, if you guys are looking for automotive relays or go-fast parts, he's your guy!
Watch the full installation below:
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1 comment
Definitely looking into this one!! I have the squadrons mounted in the factory fog light holes on my F-450 and I use my factory strobes all the time when I’m making wide turns in my gooseneck on small streets. I’m curious if there’s a way to use the relay to toggle the strobe effect on the factory fog lights as the squadrons are plug n play. Any ideas?