Rear Hatch Power and LED

[mwebfj60]

I have been planning this for a while now so while I'm waiting on a water pump knocked it out this weekend. Looking forward to using it when we're camping.

LED is a dimmable RGB/W strip light, 488 Lumens, 6 Watts at full brightness.

 

[mwebfj60]

I decided to put a 6 circuit sub panel in the engine bay to run this stuff and future lighting/accesssory projects.

 

[mwebfj60]

I brought the bundle in the passenger side and used a rear heater switch to control the rear cigarette lighter/USB panel. Then took it across through the instrument bay and followed the stock bundle all the way back.

 

[mwebfj60]

Fishing he bundle up the pillar and into the hatch was an exercise in frustration. I did find out why my rear washer doesn't spray..that fluid line was hard as a rock and disconnected in multiple places.

 

[mwebfj60]

I really didn't want to cut up my access panels. The solution I came up with was the panel from an old stereo receiver.

 

[mwebfj60]

The on/off switch for the LED and the RF controller are mounted to the access panel

 

[mwebfj60]

I thought this was a cool little gadget to keep an eye on the battery. I also picked up a cigarette lighter power adaptor that I will use to plumb in a small solar panel.

 

[TexasBlue]

Nice write up. More than i"ll ever do, but this is definitely one thing to bookmark.

 

[gregnash]

That is very cool...
So I am no electrical genius by any stretch of the phrase, but if I am interpreting your diagram correctly you have the USB/Cig adapter and the Light bar on a shared ground, a 5a fused hot line to the Light bar that is controlled by the switch and then a 15a fused hot line that is constant on to the USB and Cig?

 

[mwebfj60]

That is very cool...
So I am no electrical genius by any stretch of the phrase, but if I am interpreting your diagram correctly you have the USB/Cig adapter and the Light bar on a shared ground, a 5a fused hot line to the Light bar that is controlled by the switch and then a 15a fused hot line that is constant on to the USB and Cig?

The USB and Cig have an on/off in the dash with the rear heater switch. The light has the little on/off button right next to it. The 14ga primary wire will run 30 amps but at the distance, I'm probably not going to run more than 20. I used a 15A fuse for the cig just because I don't anticipate running anything that exceeds 180 watts off of it and I would rather just blow a fuse than heat up a wire.

 

[gregnash]

Ok yeah after looking at your little schematic I did see that secondary (primary) switch that controlled the USB/Cig lighter. So you followed the stock wire bundle down along the inner body seam to the rear drivers door where it goes into the body panel and then fished from there up through the D-Pillar and into the liftgate? Only reason I ask is that I had been wondering what all was included in that wire bundle.

 

[mwebfj60]

.... I had been wondering what all was included in that wire bundle.

That bundle takes all power to the rear...washer motor, rear defrost, tail light, marker light, and license plate light.
Yes, the path you laid out is correct.

 

[mwebfj60]

This worked out great for a wire spool rack. That's a couple of peg board shelf brackets, a 3/8 long extension, and a little phase tape.

 

[Code Red]

Nicely done. Something like this is on my list. Thanks for the write up.

 

[mwebfj60]

Cigarette lighter power plug adaptor, work light power plug adaptor, extension cord, work light, misc adaptor, and solar panel.