- Thread starter
- #81
Well, the connectors are on the way...
...
...
...from Japan.
...
...
...from Japan.
Trailers and controllers and wirings and stuffs...
- Thread starter Sundowner
- Start date
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Here are the male/female terminals I gave to @AirheadNut to make the harness work for him. Again they came from Corsa.
- Thread starter
- #84
Responses and updates tomorrow; it's a bit past my bedtime...but there's a small green light that seems to have illuminated itself, and for that fact I am very thankful.
Pictured: And there was much rejoicing.
Spoiler alert: the Victron converter is working...but I think I'm going to need to address my battery situation, up front. Making up some new cable ends - or new cables entirely - will be on the agenda, but it's also looking like time for a new pair of batteries. Suggestions on a decent AGM that'll handle starting and light-duty house battery chores? Do I have to give all of my monies to The Big O?
Pictured: And there was much rejoicing.
Spoiler alert: the Victron converter is working...but I think I'm going to need to address my battery situation, up front. Making up some new cable ends - or new cables entirely - will be on the agenda, but it's also looking like time for a new pair of batteries. Suggestions on a decent AGM that'll handle starting and light-duty house battery chores? Do I have to give all of my monies to The Big O?
- Thread starter
- #85
Okay, first things first:
Yep, that looks like the correct one. I didn't see those when I browsed 6-pin connectors on their site, and that oversight is on me. I found 106 others, but somehow missed that one...but Eastern Beaver has some on the way to me, and they'll hopefully be here on Monday. I'm going to get ready for that by doing some wire-shopping and harness-cutting; I'll basically use the one that I bought as a template for lengths and orientations, and then harvest any needed parts from it once the connectors get here. Incidentally, that connector works on wire from 16- all the way down to 22-gauge; that's pretty broad...so I'm glad that I bought some extras. I'll use one or two of them to make the harness modular, so everything can come back out in pieces if need be.
I also splurged and finally got myself a decent crimper for these smaller bits. I have three or four crimpers that I've either found or inherited over the years, but I don't really like any of them...so hopefully this will do better.
Pictured: It certainly feels crimpier than the others.
Okay, on to the updates...and the tl;dr is that the converter is installed and working. The bracket is in its final place, the power wires are run to the relay block, and all of the wires that can be loomed and/or tied at this point in time have been thoroughly subjected to those treatments.
Pictured: WAY too much Binky.
I actually took that one before the last of the wiring went into place; it was getting cluttered in there with the addition of the final ground...but it all fits with just enough extra wire-room to allow the bracket to tilt outwards for access to the things. Speaking of wiring: I decided to loom the entire primary hot lead.
Pictured: So THAT'S where I left my 9.8 alpine rope...
There's a firewall grommet up high on the passenger side, behind the glove box, with an unused section that was never cut for whatever wire wasn't run through it...so I used that. It's directly behind the batteries, it's protected, etc, etc; in other words, it's an ideal location...and it drops the wire right behind the passenger-side kick panel. I routed the wire behind the other stuff...
Pictured: This was fun...
...and then just sent it to the back, which we've already seen. The finished product is actually pretty underwhelming; it's just a wire that's cable-tied to some metal. The only visible piece is right here:
Not Pictured: 11'-4" of 6AWG
I should be really sneaky and steal a piece of early 90's OEM Toyota loom from the graveyard and snap it around the braid...but that's a bit of window-dressing for later. And honestly, it's just me being pedantic...but whatevs.
So... that's where we are. Today I'm cleaning the garage, waiting on connectors, ordering wire as aforementioned, and trying to figure out a battery solution. The current batteries are several years old, and one of them has a slight bulge in the case; I'd rather stop that problem before it gets any worse. I know Odyssey makes a high-CCA and high-capacity AGM group 27 that won't get killed by deep discharging, but I'm not really finding many more that offer the same specs. I can't find many AGM starting batteries at all, to be honest. So, this might be a fun side-quest...
Yep, that looks like the correct one. I didn't see those when I browsed 6-pin connectors on their site, and that oversight is on me. I found 106 others, but somehow missed that one...but Eastern Beaver has some on the way to me, and they'll hopefully be here on Monday. I'm going to get ready for that by doing some wire-shopping and harness-cutting; I'll basically use the one that I bought as a template for lengths and orientations, and then harvest any needed parts from it once the connectors get here. Incidentally, that connector works on wire from 16- all the way down to 22-gauge; that's pretty broad...so I'm glad that I bought some extras. I'll use one or two of them to make the harness modular, so everything can come back out in pieces if need be.
I also splurged and finally got myself a decent crimper for these smaller bits. I have three or four crimpers that I've either found or inherited over the years, but I don't really like any of them...so hopefully this will do better.
Pictured: It certainly feels crimpier than the others.
Okay, on to the updates...and the tl;dr is that the converter is installed and working. The bracket is in its final place, the power wires are run to the relay block, and all of the wires that can be loomed and/or tied at this point in time have been thoroughly subjected to those treatments.
Pictured: WAY too much Binky.
I actually took that one before the last of the wiring went into place; it was getting cluttered in there with the addition of the final ground...but it all fits with just enough extra wire-room to allow the bracket to tilt outwards for access to the things. Speaking of wiring: I decided to loom the entire primary hot lead.
Pictured: So THAT'S where I left my 9.8 alpine rope...
There's a firewall grommet up high on the passenger side, behind the glove box, with an unused section that was never cut for whatever wire wasn't run through it...so I used that. It's directly behind the batteries, it's protected, etc, etc; in other words, it's an ideal location...and it drops the wire right behind the passenger-side kick panel. I routed the wire behind the other stuff...
Pictured: This was fun...
...and then just sent it to the back, which we've already seen. The finished product is actually pretty underwhelming; it's just a wire that's cable-tied to some metal. The only visible piece is right here:
Not Pictured: 11'-4" of 6AWG
I should be really sneaky and steal a piece of early 90's OEM Toyota loom from the graveyard and snap it around the braid...but that's a bit of window-dressing for later. And honestly, it's just me being pedantic...but whatevs.
So... that's where we are. Today I'm cleaning the garage, waiting on connectors, ordering wire as aforementioned, and trying to figure out a battery solution. The current batteries are several years old, and one of them has a slight bulge in the case; I'd rather stop that problem before it gets any worse. I know Odyssey makes a high-CCA and high-capacity AGM group 27 that won't get killed by deep discharging, but I'm not really finding many more that offer the same specs. I can't find many AGM starting batteries at all, to be honest. So, this might be a fun side-quest...
Last edited:
Clean work.
Take a look at the X2Power AGM batteries from BatteriesPlus. Bonus that there are like 2934129120 BP stores around the US if you ever need warranty support.
Take a look at the X2Power AGM batteries from BatteriesPlus. Bonus that there are like 2934129120 BP stores around the US if you ever need warranty support.
- Thread starter
- #87
Thank you.
I've been looking at that exact one. I find the specs to be curiously similar to the Odyssey offering. Very curiously similar...right down to the identical case.
- Thread starter
- #88
So, as best I can tell, the SLI27AGMDP from Batteries Plus is a carbon copy of the Odyssey ODX-27AGM; dimensions, weight, capacity, amperage, reserve, terminals and case are all effectively identical...if not exactly the same. I would wager that EnerSys makes both of them. I found some decade-old posts on a few forums that categorically state this to be the case, but without a manufacturer link it's still hearsay. The only meaningful difference that I can find is that the X2 is more widely distributed, and slightly cheaper; I picked up two of them for $399 each, plus some tax. Definitely not an amount that I really wanted to spend, but after having been left stranded before, I'm a bit gun-shy. I should be able to pick them up tomorrow.
In other news: I found some wire for the trailer harness. I started thinking about it, and I realized that having a total of ten wires in six different patterns within the actual taillight harness was a bit confusing to me, so I found some stuff that approximates the factory wire color/pattern coding. I needed to get some 18 or 20AWG for that portion of things anyway, and it turned out to be about the same price to get this stuff as it would have been to get an entire roll of either, in black...and this is much easier to visually understand. So, hopefully that will be here Monday, along with the connectors.
Things left to do aside from that...well, not much, really. The biggest current omission is a fusible link on the front end of the 24V lead; I honestly didn't think about needing one of those, until now. Hopefully I can find a terminal-mount that'll work.
In other news: I found some wire for the trailer harness. I started thinking about it, and I realized that having a total of ten wires in six different patterns within the actual taillight harness was a bit confusing to me, so I found some stuff that approximates the factory wire color/pattern coding. I needed to get some 18 or 20AWG for that portion of things anyway, and it turned out to be about the same price to get this stuff as it would have been to get an entire roll of either, in black...and this is much easier to visually understand. So, hopefully that will be here Monday, along with the connectors.
Things left to do aside from that...well, not much, really. The biggest current omission is a fusible link on the front end of the 24V lead; I honestly didn't think about needing one of those, until now. Hopefully I can find a terminal-mount that'll work.
jblueridge
SILVER Star
I have those same crimpers.
They work well even though I sort of eyeball which notches to use.
They work well even though I sort of eyeball which notches to use.
jblueridge
SILVER Star
I put a 24V boat trolling motor circuit breaker at the front end of mine.
- Thread starter
- #91
Now that's not a bad idea...
jblueridge
SILVER Star
It has exposed machine screws for ring connectors. I drilled some holes in a chunk of plastic to go over those posts then wrapped all with electrical tape.
jblueridge
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #94
That would work, as would a terminal fuse. I don't have a good mounting stud solution, but I can probably find a way to work around that. I have some clamp-to-stud terminals that I can use, but they're going to hold the fuse/breaker at least 1/2" off the surface of the battery...and that's not quite ideal.
jblueridge
SILVER Star
I have my cb just hanging off the battery connection.
A zip tie provides some strain relief.
The length of wire is less than 12 inch since the line goes through the firewall the same way yours does.
A zip tie provides some strain relief.
The length of wire is less than 12 inch since the line goes through the firewall the same way yours does.
- Thread starter
- #96
Solid point...solid point. I have this fear that unless things are neat and tight, something is going to break. It would have been very simple to do whatever I liked if I had gotten a dual-post battery, but the 27M was literally a hundred dollars more than the 27. I wish I had my torch setup at the new place; I could braze something together pretty quickly. Hmmm.
JDM Journeys
Moderator
Dude this is good stuff. The content, the pics. But especially the commentary. My kind of self-deprecating humour, although I think you are *way* better at this stuff than you give yourself credit for.
In other words... I have nothing actually useful to add, so ... thanks and keep it going!
In other words... I have nothing actually useful to add, so ... thanks and keep it going!
- Thread starter
- #98
I'm glad that you're enjoying it; I'm trying to keep things light and informative and entertaining, even though the abyss of PTSD - Project Timeline/Scope Disorder; don't confuse it with that other condition - has long since grown disinterested in staring back into me. And thank you for the compliment; I really do just take my time and muddle through it, though.
Encouragement is always useful.
Edit: almost forgot to mention that I ordered a circuit breaker...a 50A Shortstop, to be exact. I have some extra 6AWG and some #10-sized lugs for it just laying around, so it's actually pretty simple to make a short lead and just mount the breaker off to the side of the battery. There's quite a bit of sheetmetal in there, so I should have plenty of room...and that keeps me from having to build anything else in that area, except the connector cable.
- Thread starter
- #99
So this is funny: there's not a single SLI27AGMDP in stock within about a hundred miles of me. The orders were accepted and my credit card got billed, but there aren't any batteries available for fulfillment. They have some 27R and M units, but not the standard 27...so now I get to either wait a week or three to get the SLI27AGMDPs that I ordered, or figure out something else that will work. Honestly, the marine unit looks good... I just didn't want to pay another $70 each for them. And the reversed terminal models may not fit my cable lengths. Time to go measure... 
- Thread starter
- #100
Well, let's see if this option works...
Pictured: Plan B.
Pictured: Plan B.
