How did you power your accessories?

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scrowley said:
I think I went the cheapest way out. Has worked great for the last few years.

-Blue Sea Dual Battery Isolator. Very cost effective
-Home built 2nd battery tray
-Home bulit washer bottle relocation bracket
-Marine 2nd battery
-Blue sea fuse panel in rear quarter cargo space fed with 2 Awg wire
-ANL fuse blocks through out
-ARB fridge, some interior lighting, few 12v outlets, and sub amp on 2nd battery
-Winch on main battery
-OEM alternator
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Mine's almost exactly like this. I don't understand why people mount their fuse panel under the hood then run ALL that damn wire thru the firewall & half of it to the rear.:bang:
There's very few acc. that you'll use off that fuse panel that are in the front or the vehicle or under the hood.
 
LFD2037 said:
Mine's almost exactly like this. I don't understand why people mount their fuse panel under the hood then run ALL that damn wire thru the firewall & half of it to the rear.:bang:
There's very few acc. that you'll use off that fuse panel that are in the front or the vehicle or under the hood.
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The only reason I'm doing it that way is to keep i tout of the cabin. No real mindset there. Most of my accessories were run in to the engine compartment in ancipation of this dual/Aux panel etc.
 
Are there any preferred fuses for the dual upgrade? There's tons of brands.
 
Malleus said:
Take a look at all of your accessories. Get a pen and paper and write down all the current draw specs (xxx amps). Add them up and multiply by the battery voltage; use 14V for safety's sake. The result is the wattage your "system" develops (W = V x I). Round up to the next even wattage panel commercially available.

Frame is ground, always. Remember fuses are supposed to fail so your expensive stuff doesn't.
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Is it not easier to put a multi-meter set to Ohms in between the Positive Battery post and Source of Power and confirm actual Amperage?
 
Hornd said:
Is it not easier to put a multi-meter set to Ohms in between the Positive Battery post and Source of Power and confirm actual Amperage?
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I was talking about main fuse. Not the fuses in the Aux panel. I know what all my things pull. There's just so many option.
 
Instead of a fuse that you have to carry spares for use a circuit breaker. The Blue Sea is Made in USA instead of TCHInuh!

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Malleus said:
OK, but shouldn't the source ground be the alternator circuit then? The battery is supposed to supply starter circuit power, then receive resupply current while the engine is running. Unless I missed something in design class, the battery isn't supposed to supply current to the accessory components (that is, everything except primary ignition circuit current draw).

Please bear with me, I'm a mechanical engineer with only on the job electrical knowledge, but when I did work in vehicle design, we always designed the power circuits with a battery cutout, so that nothing could draw current from it after the ignition circuit became self-sustaining. In addition, the battery itself is connected to the vehicle ground. How does that change the current flow if components are grounded through the body/frame? Unless there's a break somewhere in the body/frame between the battery ground connection and the local component ground, there's a continuous circuit, right?
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I just got done doing a winch install on my truck, i ran 1/0 cable for all the winch connections. I was just going to go with a frame ground, instead of running a ground cable from my battery, to the winch motor. A friend of mine stopped by while i was doing my install, he told me that i really needed to run a ground cable to my winch motor.

The way he explained it to me, and i don't know if this is true or not. He said that if you use the "frame" as your only ground, as you start to draw amps while winching, say up to my winch's max of 400 amps. He said that if you don't have a separate ground cable on your winch's motor, then that means all those 400 amps are going through everything you've got hooked up to your truck's frame. After he explained it like that, i spent the extra $28 bucks for a separate 1/0 ground cable to run from my battery, down to the winch motor. YMMV
 
Rifleman said:
I just got done doing a winch install on my truck, i ran 1/0 cable for all the winch connections. I was just going to go with a frame ground, instead of running a ground cable from my battery, to the winch motor. A friend of mine stopped by while i was doing my install, he told me that i really needed to run a ground cable to my winch motor.

The way he explained it to me, and i don't know if this is true or not. He said that if you use the "frame" as your only ground, as you start to draw amps while winching, say up to my winch's max of 400 amps. He said that if you don't have a separate ground cable on your winch's motor, then that means all those 400 amps are going through everything you've got hooked up to your truck's frame. After he explained it like that, i spent the extra $28 bucks for a separate 1/0 ground cable to run from my battery, down to the winch motor. YMMV
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This. ^^^ This is exactly what I'm trying to clarify as I prepare to run a dedicated power tap to my rear cargo area. Do I need to run a dedicated ground, or should I just run a positive lead and tap the frame for ground? I don't plan to run a rear winch, but I want to build a system that maximizes future expansion.
 
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midfat said:
This. ^^^ This is exactly what I'm trying to clarify as I prepare to run a dedicated power tap to my rear cargo area. Do I need to run a dedicated ground, or should I just tuna. Single positive lead and tap the frame for ground? I don't plan to run a rear winch, but I want to build a system that maximizes future expansion.
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I have a 3rd battery in the rear (two as standard at front) which powers an air compressor (45A draw) and a 5000W inverter currently, plus rear worklights, and a fuseblock in the righthand rear sidepanel

I have one big fat lead from the Voltage sensitive relay in the engine compartment, to a 1000A isolator in the centre console, to the battery / invertor by the left rear wheel arch, then the negative straight to the 3rd row seat mounting rail bolt.

it works fine, although it does show a 0.3V drop difference between front and rear systems, it's still putting 13.8V charge across the rear battery. I dont think that would change much if I ran a dedicated return.
 
WHAT HAVE YOU GOT ?..................PART I
Since I'm grounded this weekend.......there you go, hope that helps some good TLC folks out there.
I hope I'm not crucified for being so rudimentary, in our 3rd world we do not have all the toy stores you guys have, one has to do with whatever resources/hardware available.

I have made my own system over they years, it has it's pros & cons but works for me. It is a fixed system where most of the off-road hardware stays in the car, I tried to keep matters simple & separate. Having the load (off-road stuff) in the back helps a lot with smoothing out the rear OME 864 springs during my DDing.

1. Solar Powered Fridge :
A converted 100 lit Coleman Cooler operating with a Isotherm ASU 3201 +holding plate. It has a 12/24V DC compressor that can be mounted separately from it's holding plate. The compressor is mounted in the rear DS, the PV battery in the rear PS and the cooler in-between, power is supplied via the PV battery and/or the car's main battery via a simple 3 way switch. When I'm driving I power the fridge from the car battery and when I stop I manually switch to the PV battery. The solar panel is mounted flat on the roof-rack, it's wires routed carefully under the frame of the rack and entering the vehicle from above the DS barn door. The cables from the main battery are routed carefully with appropriate cables from the engine bay along the chassis and entering the vehicle from below the DS barn door. This way no holes were drilled in the body at all.
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Compressor and Acc's. Compressor is mounted using existing bolts for the removed rear seats and no extra holes were drilled and a spare water pump tucked safely under compressor :)
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Close Up of Compressor + ASU + Solar Controller.
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3 Way Switch, power to fridge set-up.
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2. Music :
A power amp under the DS seat, actually tie strapped to the springs of the DS seat, no drilling. Soucre is an old & cherished wheel iPod, out-put via two flush mounted 2-way Sony speakers on a 4" PVC pipe stuffed with a noise damper for bass. Power for amp from car battery directly, no need for igntion to be on to listen to music, just have to be careful not to drain batter, usually get about 4-5 hours of music with no fear.
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END PART 1.
 
WHAT HAVE YOU GOT ?..................PART II

2. Music, contd.:
iPod free on center console.......and no that dried plant it is not what you think it is ;), just a dried wild desert mint, gives a nice flavor to tea and plenty in some desert area's when in season. Cable for amp/iPod coming from under DS seat and extendable to ouside vehicle, it's resting place while camping is on running board.
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3. Compressor :
ARB Compressor & hose mounted under the PS Seat, some drilling required, power from main car battery via ignition switch, motor has to be running to use it. Hose reaches all around vehicle from it's location. Wiring under carpet, 40 amp fuse near stick shifter and under carpet in a sealed housing for safety issues.
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All wiring to engine bay via OEM rubber grommet, no drilling still.
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4. Lightforce Head-Lights:
Their hard-ware mounted in engine bay under AC sight glass, easy to access.
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5. Compressor & Lightforce Switches :
No drilling required just some minor filing to mounting holes.
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WHAT HAVE YOU GOT ?..................PART III
6. GPS Mount & Outlet plug for the Yeoman Chart Plotter:
Mount for a Garmin GPS 75, also a small Garmin Gecko piggy-backs on it and that round MIL spec switch below between the sub-tank switch and the rear AC switch, provides both data transfer & power to/from chart plotter to GPS......and yes, I still use paper charts for navigation 1:250,000, nothing beats them in my opinion, but that's another argument/thread. No drilling required for either :D
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7.Engine Bay :
Simple wiring to battery terminals only. I've had this set-up for the last 20+ years and not a single snitch so far.
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END OF EVERYTHING :)
 
The Rare Element, very nice write up on your truck, i love your home make PVC speakers. I do have to say, I'm kind of surprised to see that your truck a has a petrol engine. I though the preferred fuel for most 80's used in the Middle East was diesel. Since your running petrol, is it more difficult for you to find that fuel when you go overland?
 
Thanks Rifleman, I did those speakers in one of those creative afternoons and love them too. For ages diesel passenger vehicles were not allowed in Egypt, you only find diesel hauling trucks and similar vehicles, only lately was it allowed for passenger cars. Diesel quality here is very bad and all my buddies with diesel engines are having a hard-time with it. Petrol is readily available, installing the 160 lit Long-Ranger tank instead of the 40 lit sub-tank plus my 90 lit tank provide autonomy for a bit more than 1000 Km overland, extra fuel cans can be carried on the roof rack if need. On very long trips we usually bury fuel in the desert or have a truck dedicated to carry fuel.
 
TheRareElement said:
Thanks Rifleman, I did those speakers in one of those creative afternoons and love them too. For ages diesel passenger vehicles were not allowed in Egypt, you only find diesel hauling trucks and similar vehicles, only lately was it allowed for passenger cars. Diesel quality here is very bad and all my buddies with diesel engines are having a hard-time with it. Petrol is readily available, installing the 160 lit Long-Ranger tank instead of the 40 lit sub-tank plus my 90 lit tank provide autonomy for a bit more than 1000 Km overland, extra fuel cans can be carried on the roof rack if need. On very long trips we usually bury fuel in the desert or have a truck dedicated to carry fuel.
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Love the creative way you have made your 80 your own.

Did you fab up the washer bottle relocation bracket or was it stock?
 
Kamster said:
Love the creative way you have made your 80 your own.

Did you fab up the washer bottle relocation bracket or was it stock?
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Tkx :).........It's like having wings man, have to keep them in shape. Can't buy a new rig now, will cost me an arm & a leg and I hate being under the mercy of a puters & dealers if i ever buy anything new these days. Nothing beats carbs, gears, manual transmission, fuses, fixable things that is. I even once fixed my retired 1980 CJ7 with my girlfriends hair-pin 1500 Km's from civilization ! Washer bottle bracket fabed in-house, 2 mm aluminum sheet and no drilling required ;)
 
Marine7 said:
Good deal! I was going to go into mechanical engineering, but decided to "see the world courtesy of Uncle Sam". My wife is a electrical engineer, graduated from Perdue, but I don't let her near my vehicles, she's good on a computer, but when "face to face" with it she scares me! Lol
Anyways, if your theory is right, then why does pretty much everyone I have ever seen in my 30+ years of wheelin mount the winch wiring directly to battery? It's to cut down on any "weak" link.... I.e.... grounding to frame.
I know the right answer to my question, I was just hoping someone had done theirs the "easier and cheaper" way, so I could see their results.
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Any follow up, great conversation..... ground to battery or frame?
 
400A is too much current for OEM wire that connecting body with BATT-. It is about only 16 square mm cable and it is for M6 bolt only.
You may connect winch to frame with bolt and then frame to BATT- as I did for my rear winch. I use 50 square mm cable.

Connect front winch to body is very bad idea.
Front part of body is not welded, it is bolted on. Bolts that connects parts of body lay on primer and paint. So they do not have good electric conductivity. That may bring to Voltage drop(leakage) and mulfunction of winch at high load cause of low voltage. Also It increase corrosion.
 
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