Accessory best practices (1 Viewer)

[Kschep]

Im re-wiring my '76 and while I have multiple (3) accessories to wire in. The accessories being: ARB air lockers, aftermarket tachometer, and a dual gas tank. I am curious about best practices for wiring in multiple accessories and how others have gone about it successfully. All three accessories need to tie into the ignition wire (I believe) and im curious about that and possible negative outcomes or if that's normal. If that is normal and I do simply splice them into that wire, should I just do it where its most convenient and then splice all three in at once or should I splice them in in the area closest to where the wire runs and have separate splices?

 

[DougAustinTx]

Best practice would be to install two buss bars (the one that carries multiple attachment points with constant 12 volts would be on the firewall.) The one with switched 12 volts would be best inside the cab near the fuse box. Both buss bars should be supplied with heavy gauge (12 or 14 gauge) from the most direct source of current, and be fused or have a circuit breaker inline rated to the maximum expected load for all devices attached to it. Then, each device coming off the buss should have its own protective fuse inline... ( or get a buss bar with integral fusing on each wire attachment point.) "Best Practice" is seldom followed or found on these vehicles. Usually someone hacks into the wiring or jams a wire under an existing fuse.

 

[vfrer]

I installed one of these with my dual battery setup... very nice. Switched and constant hot source.

ST Blade Split Bus Fuse Block - Blue Sea Systems

Compact ATO® / ATC® fuse block consolidates branch circuits and eliminates the tangle of in-line fuses for electronics and other appliances.

www.bluesea.com

 

[1911]

Auxiliary fuse block is what I did, similar to what @vfrer used. Relay-operated switched and constant sources available from the fuse block. Here is a photo of mine:

aux fuse block

• 1911
• May 28, 2018

 

[4Cruisers]

I'm installing a fuse block from an '81 Toyota pickup I parted out at our local landfill over 20 years ago, back when you could still scavenge. It's going in my '71 FJ40 with a Celica clock, carb cooling fan, and a few other additions. BTW, the best part-out at the landfill was a '69 FJ55 - I grabbed the F engine, transmission/transfer case, axles, wheels, dash wiring harness, and a few interior parts.

 

[Kschep]

so splicing them in is no bueno in most cases when your playing with multiple accessories? that's exactly hat my PO did and everything went haywire because of it..

 

[Skreddy]

By looking at all of my previous cruisers, I thought you were supposed to use house wire nuts and speaker wire for everything non-stock. Helps future owners know there was a PO.

Just kidding. As stated, bus bars and fuse protection or different/accessory fuse panel.

 

[ducktapeguy]

I usually find a fuse/relay box from a newer model vehicle and run all accessory wiring from that. I have a hard enough time deciphering OEM wiring diagrams to try and mess with it, so I try and leave the stock wiring intact as much as possible. This one was from a 90's 4runner I think. I had to rewire it slightly because this one was negative switched, and wired it directly to the alternator because my aux lights were pulling too much power through the stock ammeter.

I've also installed fuse boxes from a mid 90's jeep in another vehicle and the nice thing about that one was a single 8ga wire from the battery powered up the entire box and all the circuits so installation was much easier.

The modern cars have more circuits, some of the newer vehicles can have 50-100 circuits which is overkill for an FJ40. I've found mid 90's vehicles to be about the right size for an older vehicle.

 

[Kschep]

I just went out and grabbed this - think it’ll be sufficient