Auxbeam 6 Gang BC60 Review: Clean Wiring, Smart Control
Auxbeam 6 Gang BC60 panel tames messy 12V wiring with clean controls, auto-dimming, and solid relay power for trucks, UTVs, and boats.
Price: $118.99
Original Price: $139.99
Rating: 4.7/5 (2297 reviews)
Pros
- Clean, factory-like dash install
- Solid relay box and wiring
- Useful automatic panel dimming
- Straightforward DIY installation
- Good value versus competitors
- Plenty of labels included
Cons
- No app or advanced programming
- Plastic faceplate scratches easily
- Fixed harness length limits placement
Most universal switch systems promise to “clean up your wiring.” The Auxbeam 6 Gang Switch Panel BC60 is one of the few budget-friendly kits we’ve tested that actually delivers on that promise without feeling like a science project or a fire hazard.
Turning a Spaghetti Dashboard into a Single Panel
Our off-road editor installed the BC60 in a 2018 Tacoma that already had a front light bar, ditch lights, rear work lights, a small compressor, and rock lights—all previously controlled by five mismatched toggle switches scattered around the cabin.
The first impression after the swap: the interior looked like it came that way from the factory. One small panel, six clearly labeled buttons, and no more drilling multiple holes in trim. As a universal 12V switch panel, the Auxbeam BC60 is designed to live in trucks, Jeeps, UTVs, ATVs, and boats, and in practice it was easy to adapt to each.
I also ran a second unit in a side-by-side (Can-Am Defender) that sees wet mud, pressure washing, and night runs. Over two months of weekend abuse, the panel and control box stayed dry inside, and we never had a mystery reset or random shutoff.
Layout and Build: Better Than Its Price Suggests
The BC60 consists of two main parts:
- A compact relay/fuse control box that mounts in the engine bay or under a seat
- A slim, touch-style 6-button switch panel that mounts in the cab
The panel housing feels more solid than most no-name eBay switch pods we’ve tested. The buttons have a crisp, positive click—despite the “touch switch” language, they feel like short-travel mechanical switches with a lit icon area, not a mushy membrane pad. That’s a good thing: with gloves on, we could still find and toggle them reliably.
The control box lid seals with a gasket and screws down firmly. It’s not something we'd dunk underwater, but it shrugged off a few aggressive pressure washes in our side-by-side with no moisture inside. The relay and fuse layout is tidy, with clear labels that make troubleshooting simple.
If there’s a weakness, it’s the panel’s plastic faceplate finish, which picked up light scratches fairly quickly in the UTV. Nothing structural, but if you’re picky about cosmetics, mount it where it won’t be whacked by keys or gear.
Auto-Dimming That Actually Works on the Road
Auxbeam’s auto-dimmable system sounds like a gimmick until you live with it. There’s a small ambient light sensor on the panel that automatically adjusts brightness.
On our Tacoma test, we mounted the panel low on the dash near the shifter. During daytime highway driving, the backlight stayed bright enough that you could glance and confirm what was on. Driving into a tunnel or cruising back roads at night, the illumination gently dimmed so the panel didn’t blaze in your peripheral vision.
Compared with old-school rocker switch banks (like the basic Nilight panels), this made a real difference on long night drives. We didn’t find ourselves reaching to dim the panel or throwing tape over it. It just behaved.
The sensitivity is tuned decently: we didn’t see the brightness hunting up and down with every passing shadow. It changed only when ambient light really changed—sunset, tunnels, or night.
If you’re used to something like an sPOD or Switch-Pros system with multi-level brightness presets, you don’t have that level of granular control here, but for the price, automatic dimming is a genuine quality-of-life upgrade.
Wiring and Install: Simple Enough for a Weekend DIY
We’ve installed a lot of switch systems, from cheap toggle drills to high-end solid-state modules. On that spectrum, the Auxbeam BC60 is closer to plug-and-play than most.
The kit includes:
- Main power harness with in-line protection
- Pre-terminated leads inside the control box for each circuit
- A single multi-core cable running from the control box to the dash panel
- Mounting bracket plus double-sided adhesive tape
- A sheet of labeled, backlit-compatible stickers (60 icons)
1. Mounted the control box near the battery using existing threaded holes 2. Ran the single panel cable through an existing firewall grommet 3. Mounted the panel with the bracket on the lower dash 4. Landed all accessory positives to the labeled outputs in the control box and moved their grounds to clean chassis points
From start to finish, including cleaning up the old wiring, the job took about three hours. On a fresher vehicle without previous hacks, it would be shorter.
A Jeep JL owner on our team ran into a slightly trickier firewall routing due to limited grommet space, but still finished in a Saturday afternoon with basic tools. We never needed to cut any new large holes in the dash—just one small pass-through hole in a trim panel in the UTV.
Compared with the popular Nilight 6-gang relay boxes, the Auxbeam’s bundled harness is better thought out: properly jacketed, clearly color-coded, and less guesswork about which lead is which. However, calibration-level wire length is fixed; if you’re mounting the panel very far from the control box (e.g., rear-cab mounting in some RVs), you may need to extend the harness.
At-a-Glance: Our Lab Notes
How It Stacks Up Against Other 6-Gang Systems
We compared the BC60 against two common alternatives we’ve used on rigs in our fleet:
- Nilight 6 Gang Switch Panel (typical budget option)
- Switch-Pros SP-9100 (premium solid-state controller)
Nilight’s 6-gang kits are often cheaper, but in our tests they feel more generic. The Auxbeam BC60 wins on:
- Panel feel: Auxbeam’s buttons feel more deliberate and less toy-like
- Auto-dimming: Nilight panels are fixed-brightness, which can be harsh at night
- Harness quality: Auxbeam’s main harness is better organized and labeled
Against Switch-Pros SP-9100:
This is not a fair price comparison—Switch-Pros units cost several times more—but it’s useful for understanding what you gain by spending big:
Switch-Pros gives you:
- Solid-state switching (no physical relays to fail)
- App control and more sophisticated programming
- Advanced features like strobe, ignition logic, and dimming control for outputs
If you just need to run lights, a compressor, maybe a small fridge, and you’re not chasing advanced logic or Bluetooth control, the Auxbeam makes a compelling argument at less than half the cost of those premium systems.
Real-World Use: Lights, Compressors, and the Edge Cases
On the Tacoma, we dedicated the six circuits as follows:
1. Front light bar 2. Ditch lights 3. Rear scene/work lights 4. Rock lights 5. Small onboard compressor 6. Spare
Our electrical specialist measured inrush and sustained current, especially when the compressor kicked on. The BC60 handled the transient draw without false trips. We didn’t observe nuisance shutdowns or flickers when multiple loads switched on simultaneously.
In the UTV, we focused on water, dust, and vibration. The panel stayed readable even after getting dusted and wiped with a gloved hand. The click feedback didn’t fade, and the auto-dimming sensor wasn’t blocked by occasional mud splatters.
One limitation: all six circuits are simple on/off. If you’re hoping to dim an LED light bar from the panel or set up complex momentary functions (like winch controls), this isn’t the right tool. For winches or other high-stakes gear, we still recommend dedicated, properly rated controls even if you have spare circuits on the BC60.
Who Will Love This Panel—and Who Should Look Elsewhere
From our combined installs and testing, the Auxbeam 6 Gang BC60 is a sweet spot for:
- Truck and SUV owners adding multiple light circuits who want a clean, almost-factory interior look
- UTV/ATV riders who need one interior panel instead of a row of random toggles
- DIYers comfortable with basic 12V wiring but not interested in building their own relay/fuse box from scratch
- You want app control, advanced dimming, or programmable logic (Switch-Pros or sPOD land)
- You’re building a mission-critical rig where relay-free, solid-state control is worth the substantial price premium
- You only need one or two accessories—at that point, a simple fused toggle or two is cheaper and easier