Underhood electrical enclosure (1 Viewer)

[woytovich]

This is a work in progress. The goal is to organize the maze of harnesses and cleaning up the spaghetti that is under my hood: ARB compressor, winch controller, fog light harness, aux headlight harness, Hella horns harness, taps for the in-cab aux fusebox, ham radio, stereo etc etc. There is a LOT of work to do yet. I want to eliminate all of the harness inline fuses in favor of drawing power from the BlueSea box. I want to rebuild the stand-alone harnesses to move the relays into an organized row in the enclosure...

So... I bought a seemingly large electrical enclosure intended for use in a building.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AAU5D6Q/?tag=ihco-20

I don't intend for it to be waterproof, I just wanted a place to organize the chaos that would keep things cleaner and a bit protected from stray tools etc while working under the hood.

Here is is, remember, it is a work in progress:

 

[woytovich]

So what you see is a tap from the battery + running to the first post of the 500a winch fuse holder. From there there is a 150a fuse feeding (for now) only the BlueSea fuse box. This will change as I want to run a high amp line to the rear of the truck, it will likely come off of this 150a fuse and the BluSea will switch to another distribution post... maybe.

In the clear plastic enclosed section off to one side is a ground bus with a tap back to the battery -

I screwed a piece of one of those plastic cutting boards to the bottom of the enclosure and the components are screwed to that. it provides a nice, non-conductive, thick, soft-ish material for the self-tapping screws to go into without any difficulty.

The relays still need a lot of clean up...

 

[GLTHFJ60]

 

[klinetime574]

That's some serious wiring going on. I like the enclosure. Where is it mounted in the engine bay?

I had a lot of fun installing my Blue Sea Fuse Block. Good products.

I'll look forward to seeing your progress

 

[woytovich]

It is right next to the battery, mounted to a bracket on top of the wheelwell. I relocated the coil/igniter to the firewall because next to the enclosure is my Warn solenoid box and my ARB compressor! My AC lines run under the box...

 

[woytovich]

You can just see the corner of the box in the bottom of this picture:

 

[klinetime574]

Sounds like where I have my fuse block. Although under your hood sounds much busier than mine. All for the finished product though. It's gonna be worth the work

EDIT- just saw the pic. That's essentially where mine is. I made a little bracket/ platform, but haven't finished it 100%. It works though

 

[woytovich]

That's essentially where mine is. I made a little bracket/ platform, but haven't finished it 100%. It works though

Found it:

 

[klinetime574]

Yep. That's mine alright. Didn't have a picture on hand. I'm on my phone like 80% of my Mud posts now.

 

[60Works]

It's looking good Woytovich. Stuffing all the wires into one box makes troubleshooting problems easier and really improves the look of the engine bay. I tried using a plastic box on Frankie at first but ended up with heavy gauge metal in the end. Mostly that was because of finding a size that worked. It needs to be large yet shallow. Please let us know how the plastic holds up to the heat.

I like quality and look of the Blue Sea fuse panels as well but they are very large. I've been looking at the fuse/relay combos like sPOD or the ones slcfj62 sells for my next project. Anything to make it smaller. Using a cutting board to mount the components is very clever. I'll be borrowing that idea for sure.

When I built Frankie's system, I sized the main fuses based on the advice of Mike at Hellroaring Technologies. He suggested 150A fuses for each of the main battery feeds, both of which can run to the starter via a 2ga wire. And a 250A fuse where both batteries combine to power a winch. He exlained to me that the slow blow fuses need to be chosen significantly lower that the amperage you expect to carry. With a 500A fuse you are probably not protecting the winch circuit adequately. I've been starting Frankie through a 150A fuse for a year now with no issues. Using a smaller fuse has a worst case scenario of having to change the fuse.

 

[norsk]

GREAT INFO

At this point of "putting" things back together on my rig, I am looking at doing a clean electrical layout and am looking for great ideas. This is one of them.
Do you have links or sources for the various parts? That would be helpful.

My build in my sig

dougbert

 

[woytovich]

Good service and prices for fuses and holders here:

http://www.donrowe.com/inverter-accessories-s/1513.htm

 

[norsk]

Good service and prices for fuses and holders here:

http://www.donrowe.com/inverter-accessories-s/1513.htm

wonderful! So that white fuse is the 500amp one?

Since I don't (yet) have a winch, I also would like to plan my foundation for one in the future. I don't know how a dual battery layout goes for such a winch, but from your comments, you have two "draws", one from each battery and this box being one draw from the primary one. Is that correct?

UPDATE: Their shipping is $20 UPS - a bit steep, like SOR - for a few parts totally $37 and shipping of $20 -mmmmmm - then maybe this is the CHEAPER of other sources. STill wow

dougbert

 

[woytovich]

Yes, the white one is 500a

I have only 1 battery so far... planning a second SOMEDAY.

Yes, I paid a lot for shipping but I bought a couple of holders and a number of fuses (one to use and a spare or 2 of each). Prices were still better than other sources I found at the time.

 

[woytovich]

...slow blow fuses need to be chosen significantly lower that the amperage you expect to carry. With a 500A fuse you are probably not protecting the winch circuit adequately. ....

I need to look into this some I guess... I'm PRIMARILY worried about a catastrophic dead short of the winch power wires... but the idea is safety so I might need to make an adjustment...

 

[norsk]

Yes, the white one is 500a

I have only 1 battery so far... planning a second SOMEDAY.

Yes, I paid a lot for shipping but I bought a couple of holders and a number of fuses (one to use and a spare or 2 of each). Prices were still better than other sources I found at the time.

I see that now - so the idea is to buy several parts to share the shipping up front - good idea.
Definitely a better source for parts, wish they used USPS as well.

Where did you get the fuse holder for the 500 amp? Not seen at that store.

 

[woytovich]

http://www.donrowe.com/ANLBF500-500A-ANL-Fuse-Kit-p/anlbf500.htm

 

[norsk]

okay got some parts, and would like a picture of your bracket for the box and how you hooked it to the fender.
A picture a bit higher up to see placement of the box compared to battery and fender would be wonderful?
You have a system worth copying and I want to copy it

thanks

dougbert

 

[Output Shaft]

Re: Fusing a Winch

Warn has never recommended wiring a fuse to the winch power cable.
That is not to say that it would be detrimental to do so... but just that the owner's manuals never show a fuse wired to the power cable.
That being the case, the conclusion could be drawn that a winch fuse is a solution looking for a problem.

++

& just want to say that this this thread has been inspirational for me... to get my wiring cleaned up to. Thanks Much!

 

[micruz60]

Great and creative project woyotatoyovich!