Underhood electrical enclosure

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woytovich

woytovich

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I am looking for something to mount under my hood to contain some electrical components: fuse box, relays, distribution post etc. I would like something sturdy, plastic and waterproof or at least somewhat water proof and approximately 11Lx9Wx4H

I was looking at electrical enclosures like these:

http://www.allenclosures.com/Enclosures/Plastic-Waterproof-Enclosure.htm

Can anyone make any suggestions? These "real" electrical enclosures can be $$$ from the electrical supply houses.

Thanks,
mark
 
Not sure why you would need to water proof relays, fuses and distribution posts etc. You still need to run the wires in/out so unless you plan on a bunch of water tight grommets as well, it seems like a moot point.

I've had the above listed items under the hood of both my 4wds and certainly my patrol in oz has seen heaps of water and mud flung everywhere under the engine area and never had issues. Hose it off after a trip and good to go.

Consider also that if you put electrical stuff in a box, it better be 100% water tight since if it's only 99% water tight you'll trap water/moisture in there that will do more damage over time than if you just got those objects you listed wet and then they air dried due to engine bay heat.

cheers,
george.
 
It isn't a bad idea to have them covered. I've got two Y60s and I know Nissan puts all the relays as high as possible (up on the RHS fender top behind the RHS battery. They are well shielded from spray. I just went down to the hardware and found a nice 4"x4" plastic electrical box. Drill holes for gromits and a ho9le for a drain and you are good to go. Get a bit of Velcro and it makes attaching and detaching the relays a breeze while keeping things organzied in the box. I mounted the boxes on mine ((both RH drives) on the firewall beside the brake booster.
 
I used a plastic enclosure from Allied Electronics to put my trailer light converter relay circuit in. Those live under the trucks near the rear bumpers. I did use a water-tight strain relief to pass the wires thru the enclosure's side.
For the engine bay I'd be much less likely to be concerned about it, but water crossings aren't common on this coastal desert.
 
ntsqd said:
I used a plastic enclosure from Allied Electronics to put my trailer light converter relay circuit in. Those live under the trucks near the rear bumpers. I did use a water-tight strain relief to pass the wires thru the enclosure's side.
For the engine bay I'd be much less likely to be concerned about it, but water crossings aren't common on this coastal desert.
Click to expand...

Like this one but I wasn't wanting to spend that much (cheap? Yup!)

http://www.alliedelec.com/search/productdetail.aspx?SKU=70074413
 
if you are dead set on using an fully enclosed enclosure and are more worried about cost than looks, why not just by an appropriate sized tupperwear container and cut it up as needed? Another option is to visit your local junkyard and just start looking under the hoods of cars to see if you can re-purpose something you find.

I will add that none of your factory engine bay electronics are anywhere near waterproof, so I don't know if a waterproof enclosure is necessary.

If I had something I wanted to wire up and was that concerned about it getting wet, I would house it in the cab of the truck and just run wires into the engine bay.
 
When we need waterproof on some shoots, we use Pelican cases with either bulkhead connectors or Weyco fittings. There has never been an issue. And there are hundreds of different sizes of cases.
 
Why must you overcomplicate this?
Use plexi for a mounting surface. It's easy to work with and extremely durable. Add 4 standoffs of the appropriate height and put another piece of plexi on top to prevent accidental shorting of studs and so forth.
Done.
You don't need an enclosure for this project. As mentioned before, no other electronics under the hood have enclosures.

If you're concerned about dust and splashes, then you're not using the proper parts.
If you're concerned about submersion, then I suspect you'll have 1 or 2 other things to worry about than your auxiliary lighting.
 
Im not... I was just looking for a simple box instead of having to mess with a couple of sheets of plex or whatever. The Craftsman box I have will work great.
 
allied is about the largest selection of various types of enclosures and with the best pricing for them....these things are NOT cheap.....it has been started that you don't really need water proof unless you have some sort of un-encased electronics...12 volts isn't really prone to problems with water- it is a bad conductor, and 12 VDC hasn't got the oomph. might try radioshack before giving up....in my opinion, heat and dust are the primary issues. how's about just wire everthing up and put it in a mold and fill with epoxy? sometimes I think about wiring the rig with nema type devices, DIN rail and terminal strips, all #14 red except for power circuits with 6 digit IO numbers on every end.......then I wake up:flipoff2:
 
If you still are set on a completely waterproof container, WalMart has some that are similar to the Pelicans but much cheaper (under $10), and they have several sizes.
Drill some holes in the sides, and use grommets or silicone.

Many people use them as geocaches around here, so they are out in the weather for years at a time, and I've never seen one that leaked, unless broken or not closed properly.
 
Go to the electrical section of Home Depot or Lowes ask for a Square D NEMA junction box.

They are cheaper than the NEMA boxes from Bud, Hammond, etc.


But I agree with George forget the box just use some dielectric grease on the plugs and forget about it. I've had the fuse box in my FJ40 completely submerged during river crossings with no issues.
 
1. I want to organize this stuff: aux fuse box (for front end lights, horns etc), single hi-amp fuses for winch and inverter, hi-amp fuse box for Ham radio/ARB compressor/to feed the Aux fuse box, hi-amp power distribution post, ground block.

2. I want to keep this stuff cleaner than it will be if left out exposed in the engine compartment.

3. I want to keep it right next to the battery.

ANY box will help, a sealed box would be best...
 
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