Fuse Box

I had seen some great fuse panels on this site, but the ones I have seen are all open. I live near the beach and I regularly wash my engine compartment with garden hose or powerwash. (I know this is shocking for some, but my last truck, a Ford lasted 13 years and I always washed the engine compartment, my Taco is an 06 and I have always washed the engine compartment, but I digress).

Anyway, I wanted my fuses mounted high in the engine compartment and in a splash proof housing.

Here is how it turned out.

Not only is it splashproof, but man is it convenient to trip the breaker and flip the panel over to work with the wires and hide them underneath inside the box.

The only downside was I could only fit 2 relays inside the box, so when I get more relays, I will have to attach them to the side of the box or something.

 

were did u get this box, did u make it??

 

The box is an Intermatic timer box for pools, available for about $17 on Amazon. The box is tan, so I painted it black. Gloss spray paint was all I had at the time. I am hoping it will lose its shine some.

The Board is just 1/4 polyethylene sheet that I shaped and drilled holes in. I used 1 3/8" long bolts covered in double shrink wrap to form the legs for the board.

I used some thinner plastic to cover all the bolts that I used to bolt it down, so that it is idiot proof in terms of avoiding short circuits.

It is bolted to the side and with a bracket to the fender, cuz I wanted to avoid any mishaps.

The only thing I still need to do aside from loading it up with accessories, is to paint plasti-dip on the hot wire and bolt coming from the battery underneath into the breaker. That kind of bothers me being exposed. Once that is done I can can flip the breaker and feel pretty safe working in there out on the trail in the dark with a few beers in me.

I am really liking it so far!

 

Nice job! rep sent!

 

Nice work.

 

Very nice!

 

That's super clean. I like it. Am noticing a momentary for the hood- do you have hood lamps installed?

 

Not sure what you are seeing, but no, the only lights I have installed so far are below (see pic). I just finished the bumper, now working on a CBI hidden front receiver like this:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd-gen-tacomas/144184-bjmoose-installs-receiver-winch.html

I just started working on my truck after I got rearended, which prompted the rear bumper install. I figured why not have a winch front and rear while I am at it?

Then I realized I would need a fuse for the lights, another for the solenoid so the winch cables won't always be "live" so I needed an easy way to hook up accessories, so I came up with the fuse box idea based on some of the others I had seen.

The cool thing about this is all the wires exit the botton of the box and you can cram them under the board. Easy to make things look neat. Easy to make changes.

 

I was talking about this. Looks like a momentary switch for the hood- my truck doesn't have one so I thought maybe it was to a lamp rig you had.

 

Oh that is for the factory alarm, sorry. The holes in the side of the fender where the box mounts to is where the clutch fluid reservoir goes for those who have manual trannies, I just learned that recently. The manual transmission folks have a harder time mounting a fuse box near the battery/drivers side where it is most convenient.

 

what about that fuse box u got in the black box??

 

Same one I am using...

Blue Sea ST blade fuse block.

 

Hunter423 asked about this box so I figured I would share with everybody,

It is a Intermatic timer box from Amazon that I painted black. I think it was $17. I used a piece of 1/4 inch polyethylene sheet that I had laying around but you could use acrylic, an old cutting board, whatever plastic sheet you have around, a fuse block and circuit breaker I got from West Marine. I made a metal leg to brace the box against the fender out of an old shelf bracket. It goes straight own to the fender well. I bolted the box to the existing holes in the fender where the clutch master cylinder would go (in a manual transmission). Those holes are not square, so you have to get some pvc or something to use as a bushing to even them out. I had a pair of plastic bushings in my junk drawer that I sanded into the right shape and length, so that the box is flush with the side wall.

Pretty much you just need a drill, sabre saw and some sand paper for the rest. Just lay the fuse block, circuit breaker, and relays out and cut holes where needed. I used some small bolts I had in my junk drawer to make legs and covered them with shrink wrap to avoid shorts. That way the plastic panel sits nicely against the bottom and gives room underneath to hide the wires. Paint some plasti-dip on the hot wires once everything is done.

I am pretty satisfied with this fuse box. It is so easy to make things look neat.

I saw other fuse boxes that were great except it looked like a major hassle to arrange the wires all neatly. This way any time you need to add a circuit, just drill a new hole in the bottom of the box and you are in business.

The only downside I have seen is that it only has room for 2 relay inside the box.

M

 

http://www.tacomaworld.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/137419/size/big/cat/500/ppuser/42063

I put mine in the same place