How would you wire this up? (1 Viewer)

[wsudu]

Hi everyone, I have read and read and I need some advice. I have an 06 LX 470 and have a single battery although I did upgrade it to an AGM 31M (eventually I will get a second battery). I bought the blue sea fuse box, in-line fuse, and plan on running several different accessories inside and a few lights outside. The inside accessories are several different USB sockets, radar detector, CB, ham, small inverter, and a dash cam. Four of these things are going to be in the center console. Would you home run all of those to the fuse box, or split them some how in the console, if so, how would you do it? It seems most people have put their fuse box in the engine bay, would you still do that or is there a place where it sits well inside? Or would you do two fuse boxes? Thanks, #overthinking

 

[jLB]

If you decide to make a single run to your fuse box, inside the cabin, make sure the "run" is fused near the battery.

When I competed in car stereo competitions, I watched a number of people try to burn their car to the ground, by running a power lead from one end of the car to the other, with the only fuse as far from the battery as possible.

 

[Njck22]

I would keep all accessory wiring sperate from the stock wiring. that was if your stuff messes up, you can always get home. Do a short (6 inches preferable max) run from your positive post to a fuse holder, sized for the sum of all your accessories, then to your fuse box. You could fuse each individual accessories' power at this box and then run to the center console, or do a single run to your center console using say a 25 amp fuse and set up a fused distribution box there.

 

[Skidoo]

Ham and CB need their own power wires to battery. So a fuse box near battery with CB, Ham, and accessories run from it.

 

[wsudu]

Thanks, I think where I'm over thinking this is where you have 3 added outlets to the back of the center console for the kids. Run inline fuses, split them, or just run them all back to the fuse box?

Ham and CB need their own power wires to battery. So a fuse box near battery with CB, Ham, and accessories run from it.

 

[Skidoo]

Thanks, I think where I'm over thinking this is where you have 3 added outlets to the back of the center console for the kids. Run inline fuses, split them, or just run them all back to the fuse box?

Wire them together and to fuse box.

 

[C6H12O6]

Yep. Run one large-enough wire to the fuse box, a similarly sized ground for the fuse box, and then smaller, shorter wires to the accessories. As said, everything wired to the battery needs a fuse close to the battery.

I've never heard a great reason not to run the HAM/CB wires into an accessory fusebox. I get the logic of not tapping into an existing 12V source in the vehicle's wiring, but if you run a large power wire straight to the battery for your new fuse box and wire the comms devices to their own fused circuit in the box, you should be fine. That said, I did run a separate, dedicated wire to the battery for my HAM radio.

Later, when I added the Blue Sea box for some other upgrades, I ran another big power wire to the box and then fused separate circuits for a small subwoofer amp and ARB fridge. If I was doing it all together, I probably would have just run the HAM through the Blue Sea box, too.

 

[wsudu]

Thank You, two more questions, where are your radios mounted and where is your aux fuse box?

Yep. Run one large-enough wire to the fuse box, a similarly sized ground for the fuse box, and then smaller, shorter wires to the accessories. As said, everything wired to the battery needs a fuse close to the battery.

I've never heard a great reason not to run the HAM/CB wires into an accessory fusebox. I get the logic of not tapping into an existing 12V source in the vehicle's wiring, but if you run a large power wire straight to the battery for your new fuse box and wire the comms devices to their own fused circuit in the box, you should be fine. That said, I did run a separate, dedicated wire to the battery for my HAM radio.

Later, when I added the Blue Sea box for some other upgrades, I ran another big power wire to the box and then fused separate circuits for a small subwoofer amp and ARB fridge. If I was doing it all together, I probably would have just run the HAM through the Blue Sea box, too.

 

[C6H12O6]

I only have the one HAM radio. When I'm forced to use a CB, I've got some ancient cigarette-lighter handheld. The HAM radio main body is in the spot formerly filled by the weaksauce subwoofer in the DS panel under the back side window. Great airflow next to the sub vent, lots of good spots for mounting brackets, short run for the rear antenna wire. I have the detachable faceplate mounted up front in the sunglass holder spot.

My fusebox is mounted to the front of my cargo box (no drawers) on the PS, right behind the second row seat. I custom-built the modular cargo box with a spot for the sub, amp, and a slide-out for the fridge, all on the PS.

 

[C6H12O6]

Here is a thread with a pic of where I have the HAM radio mounted. Nothing fancy, but it works great.

This thread has some good pics of how I mounted the radio and faceplate.

Looking back through these, I really can't remember if I kept the wiring to the HAM separate when I rewired everything for the sub and fridge install. I might have just run it all through the Blue Sea box. I'll have to look at lunch.

 

[geanes]

Oh man! All my lights and fridge are wired up to the battery directly with inline fuses within the first 12 inches of the battery. Kinda starting to get a little worried now.

 

[C6H12O6]

Oh man! All my lights and fridge are wired up to the battery directly with inline fuses within the first 12 inches of the battery. Kinda starting to get a little worried now.

Why are you worried? That sounds great. The fuse block just adds another layer of fused protection and eliminates the need to run as many wires to the battery. As long as your wires are large enough to power the load without too much of a voltage drop from the length you ran, you should be solid.

 

[geanes]

Why are you worried? That sounds great. The fuse block just adds another layer of fused protection and eliminates the need to run as many wires to the battery. As long as your wires are large enough to power the load without too much of a voltage drop from the length you ran, you should be solid.

Thank goodness. I'm not an electrician by any means. My list of fears is topped by electricity followed by sharks, clowns and quicksand I make sure that I run the larger wires than necessary (typically 14 gauge), solder all spliced connections with at least 1" of connection and double heat wrap them for water proofing. I use mil-spec terminals on the battery and my positive looks like a bird nest with about 7 wires coming off the aux. I do run the grounds back to the - terminal on the battery. Probably better to ground elsewhere? I do plan on getting an SPOD at some point so I can have the added layer of protection and reduce the wires that are connected to the + terminal.

 

[half k cruiser]

@wsudu on my 80 series I ran #4 wire from the secondary battery up under the seat and into the center console to a blue sea 6 slot fuse box. It has constant power and that's what I run my 2m, inverter, and anything else I might want on in camp. There is about a 6 inch run of cable coming from the positive side of the battery before going into a circuit breaker. If you wanted to set yourself up for a dual battery later on down the road, you could run your wiring the long way around the engine bay, from the primary battery over to the PS and back into the cab. That way if you get another battery in the future all you have to do is trim your wire over at the PS and install new connections. If you figured it up you would probably be out less than 5' of wire going the long way around.

 

[TXLX100]

I would put the fuse box in the cab if possible, when multiple accessories in the cab are used. Just my personal preference, I don't like running tons of wires through the firewall.

 

[wsudu]

I agree, on a 100, I struggle with where though. There isn't near as much room as in my old 80 for things like this but I am also not the most creative person.

I would put the fuse box in the cab if possible, when multiple accessories in the cab are used. Just my personal preference, I don't like running tons of wires through the firewall.

 

[TXLX100]

I agree, on a 100, I struggle with where though. There isn't near as much room as in my old 80 for things like this but I am also not the most creative person.

Unfortunately I think the only good spot to have a fuse block cleanly installed inside is the passenger rear. Lots of room under the hood to mount, but then have to go through the firewall with wiring for every item.... or run 1 power & ground inside and then split it for the aceesories.

 

[C6H12O6]

I run the larger wires than necessary (typically 14 gauge), solder all spliced connections with at least 1" of connection and double heat wrap them for water proofing. I use mil-spec terminals on the battery and my positive looks like a bird nest with about 7 wires coming off the aux. I do run the grounds back to the - terminal on the battery. Probably better to ground elsewhere?

Depending on what kind of current draw you're talking about and the length of wire, 14-ga. is probably nowhere near large enough. The resistance of the wire over runs longer than just a few feet can be significant and can cause some pretty serious heat if you're pulling too much current through too small of a wire. Much better to run one really big wire to the aux. fuse panel back in the cab, then the smaller 14-16 ga. wire to the accessories. You also eliminate the likelihood of one of those wires getting pinched/broken/shorted along the long run. One big wire through a good grommet in the firewall makes it so much easier. It also cleans things up at the battery, which helps eliminate corrosion.

As far as grounding goes, grounding back to the battery isn't necessary, or even recommended. Just use the same size ground wire as your largest power wire, and find a good, clean ground spot near the aux. fuse panel.

 

[C6H12O6]

I agree, on a 100, I struggle with where though. There isn't near as much room as in my old 80 for things like this but I am also not the most creative person.

I agree. Not much room inside those back panels on the 100. I removed the crappy factory sub and gained a bunch inside the DS panel, but the PS is mostly a no-go. I ended up mounting my fuse panel on the front of my cargo box. With the second row seats in their normal position, or even with the seat top folded down, it's totally out of the way, in a pretty convenient spot to check fuses if something blows, and it's about smack in the middle of the truck so you can run accessories on both sides of the truck under the split in the carpet.

 

[geanes]

Depending on what kind of current draw you're talking about and the length of wire, 14-ga. is probably nowhere near large enough. The resistance of the wire over runs longer than just a few feet can be significant and can cause some pretty serious heat if you're pulling too much current through too small of a wire. Much better to run one really big wire to the aux. fuse panel back in the cab, then the smaller 14-16 ga. wire to the accessories. You also eliminate the likelihood of one of those wires getting pinched/broken/shorted along the long run. One big wire through a good grommet in the firewall makes it so much easier. It also cleans things up at the battery, which helps eliminate corrosion.

As far as grounding goes, grounding back to the battery isn't necessary, or even recommended. Just use the same size ground wire as your largest power wire, and find a good, clean ground spot near the aux. fuse panel.

Thanks! I'm learning as I go I'm running the fridge using the ARB wiring kit which has a 20' 10 gauge wire. I feel that is plenty for that one. My other aux components are just LED lights. I have 4 Auxbeam 4 LED cubes spliced together to a 12 gauge wire (+/-) running to the + terminal. My 3 other Auxbeam lights are spliced as well to 12 gauge wire (+/-) to the battery. My 2 BIG LED lights on the bumper run direct to the battery via 14 gauge wiring and the LED lightbar runs direct using 14 gauge as well. I try to go as big as possible for the main runs. The only parts that run 16 gauge or smaller are just the final few inches to the light itself. Hopefully none of that sounds dangerous