ElPolloBlanco
SILVER Star
So I’ve had this thing sitting in my garage for almost 3 years now I think. I can’t even remember when I bought it, but I’m sure I still had my old cruiser then.
Here is a link to the product. I can’t find any photos of it when it shipped, but it was packaged nicely and arrived promptly, even though I took forever to get it in. I ordered the 2”x2.5” kit with push button controls for the winch and the 6 foot and 3 foot power cables.
Now, on to the install. I needed a place to install the panel. I think the plan was with the old cruiser to put it in place of the non-present locker switch. Well that plan went out the window with the old ride because the new ride had lockers. I contacted @bhicks about maybe making a mount for some place in the console area but I couldn’t make up my mind. I also contacted @NLXTACY. He devised a cheap solution and made a plate that could easily be installed over the useless cubby between the useless coin holders. The front is held on with gorilla tape and it has Velcro on the sides. Here’s a photo. Also, I’m sorry for the nastiness of my rig, I’m peeling all the fake wood out cause I hate it.
As you can see, there’s a lot going on behind the switch. The kit ships with 2 separate wiring kits (three if you could the actual power cables). One set is for the winch control the other is for the battery solenoid. It was nice to have the space for all the extra wire.
Here is a photo of the switch plate installed. The kit comes with a templete for cutting the hole needed for the plate. I think I ended up just using a dremel tool. With it in this spot it’s right at my finger tips.
From there the wire bundles are ran along the raise brace in the floor were there was already a wire bundle ran. There are some other things that are done locally like the ground for the switches and a tap into an acc wire. I used the one for the 12v cig lighter in the dash cause I never use that thing anyway. They are then ran out to the engine bay through the existing pass through.
Now here I split up. I had to put a lot of thought into where to place the solenoid and all that other junk. I ran the control for the solenoid along the firewall and down the passenger side, zip tying it to existing things. It’s black and looks like it’s supposed to be there actually.
I ended up mounting the solenoid on the horn mount. I had to drill out some holes in the bracket and create a good ground for the solenoid. It is upside down, it was too tall the right way up. I did run into a “problem” in that it contacts the hood slightly. I’m really not concerned. My hood struts are shot as well so with this here it actually pushes the hood up when I pop it to access the secondary handle. Here’s a shot of the wire from the main battery. I need to upgrade that negative battery terminal. I had some left over wire so it’s just coiled up out of the way in the battery tray.
From there the battery cable runs to the second battery on the passenger side. Pretty simple. From there I ran power and ground to the rear to my crappy attempt at a storage cabinet. It’ll need to be rebuilt. Along the way I added an inline fuse. It’s 200 amp, which may be too high but I can lower it if I need to. Once at the cabinet it enters a junction to be split between my fuse/relay panel, power inverter, and subwoofer. Here are some photos of all of that.
More info about the fuse and relay system if you’re interested. It was pretty easy to make, just have to have the proper tools. The way this works is pretty awesome. The switch in the middle of the the panel operates the solenoid. In the middle position it functions as normal. The batteries are separated and all that. When the truck is on the acc tap switches the solenoid to allow the second battery to charge off the main. When shut off the solenoid disconnects and the batteries disapate seperately. If the main battery dies for what ever reason the switch can be flipped to emergency to crank the truck. It works great. I haven’t actually allowed the main battery to die, but when switched you can hear the solenoid click over.
Now, the panel also controls the winch. I was able to snag an M8000 on craigslist for $300. I know it’s a little small for this rig, but I couldn’t pass on the opportunity. It has the Albright contactor in it. I had lost my paperwork some time ago. I emailed 12voltguy and they sent me a photo of how to wire to the Albright solenoid. I had lost the splice’s that came with the kit so I spliced in my own wires and redid the connectors. It doens’t look like this out of the box. The winch controls work as advertised.
This kit was super simple to install. The customer service at 12voltguy.com was great. I actually broke the winch toggle switch at some point removing and reinstalling it when I gutted the interior. I contacted the site and they sent a new one out, free of charge. I don’t remember how much I paid for the kit, but it’s currently sitting at $210 on the sight. I think they have a 10 or 15 percent off code up right now too.
It’s been a while since I was in the market for a dual battery system, but I remember they can be pricey. I like this one because it incorporates the winch controls into one easy to install, well priced system. If you have any questions let me know, and I’ll try to answer them.
Here is a link to the product. I can’t find any photos of it when it shipped, but it was packaged nicely and arrived promptly, even though I took forever to get it in. I ordered the 2”x2.5” kit with push button controls for the winch and the 6 foot and 3 foot power cables.
Now, on to the install. I needed a place to install the panel. I think the plan was with the old cruiser to put it in place of the non-present locker switch. Well that plan went out the window with the old ride because the new ride had lockers. I contacted @bhicks about maybe making a mount for some place in the console area but I couldn’t make up my mind. I also contacted @NLXTACY. He devised a cheap solution and made a plate that could easily be installed over the useless cubby between the useless coin holders. The front is held on with gorilla tape and it has Velcro on the sides. Here’s a photo. Also, I’m sorry for the nastiness of my rig, I’m peeling all the fake wood out cause I hate it.
As you can see, there’s a lot going on behind the switch. The kit ships with 2 separate wiring kits (three if you could the actual power cables). One set is for the winch control the other is for the battery solenoid. It was nice to have the space for all the extra wire.
Here is a photo of the switch plate installed. The kit comes with a templete for cutting the hole needed for the plate. I think I ended up just using a dremel tool. With it in this spot it’s right at my finger tips.
From there the wire bundles are ran along the raise brace in the floor were there was already a wire bundle ran. There are some other things that are done locally like the ground for the switches and a tap into an acc wire. I used the one for the 12v cig lighter in the dash cause I never use that thing anyway. They are then ran out to the engine bay through the existing pass through.
Now here I split up. I had to put a lot of thought into where to place the solenoid and all that other junk. I ran the control for the solenoid along the firewall and down the passenger side, zip tying it to existing things. It’s black and looks like it’s supposed to be there actually.
I ended up mounting the solenoid on the horn mount. I had to drill out some holes in the bracket and create a good ground for the solenoid. It is upside down, it was too tall the right way up. I did run into a “problem” in that it contacts the hood slightly. I’m really not concerned. My hood struts are shot as well so with this here it actually pushes the hood up when I pop it to access the secondary handle. Here’s a shot of the wire from the main battery. I need to upgrade that negative battery terminal. I had some left over wire so it’s just coiled up out of the way in the battery tray.
From there the battery cable runs to the second battery on the passenger side. Pretty simple. From there I ran power and ground to the rear to my crappy attempt at a storage cabinet. It’ll need to be rebuilt. Along the way I added an inline fuse. It’s 200 amp, which may be too high but I can lower it if I need to. Once at the cabinet it enters a junction to be split between my fuse/relay panel, power inverter, and subwoofer. Here are some photos of all of that.
More info about the fuse and relay system if you’re interested. It was pretty easy to make, just have to have the proper tools. The way this works is pretty awesome. The switch in the middle of the the panel operates the solenoid. In the middle position it functions as normal. The batteries are separated and all that. When the truck is on the acc tap switches the solenoid to allow the second battery to charge off the main. When shut off the solenoid disconnects and the batteries disapate seperately. If the main battery dies for what ever reason the switch can be flipped to emergency to crank the truck. It works great. I haven’t actually allowed the main battery to die, but when switched you can hear the solenoid click over.
Now, the panel also controls the winch. I was able to snag an M8000 on craigslist for $300. I know it’s a little small for this rig, but I couldn’t pass on the opportunity. It has the Albright contactor in it. I had lost my paperwork some time ago. I emailed 12voltguy and they sent me a photo of how to wire to the Albright solenoid. I had lost the splice’s that came with the kit so I spliced in my own wires and redid the connectors. It doens’t look like this out of the box. The winch controls work as advertised.
This kit was super simple to install. The customer service at 12voltguy.com was great. I actually broke the winch toggle switch at some point removing and reinstalling it when I gutted the interior. I contacted the site and they sent a new one out, free of charge. I don’t remember how much I paid for the kit, but it’s currently sitting at $210 on the sight. I think they have a 10 or 15 percent off code up right now too.
It’s been a while since I was in the market for a dual battery system, but I remember they can be pricey. I like this one because it incorporates the winch controls into one easy to install, well priced system. If you have any questions let me know, and I’ll try to answer them.
Last edited:
