Show off your aux fuse panels.

Power to the Blue Seas panel goes through a high amp breaker or fuse(match the cable to this current, 100A max). Each relay gets power from a Blue Seas fuse and the switches that activate them are supplied with power from a fuse tap on the interior panel. Relay activation current is typically low(~100mA) so amp draw for 10 switches is still only ~1A. Led power/ground come from the dash light circuit(green+,green/white-) so they come on with headlights and dim with stock switches. This is independent of switch operation, if you don’t want to bother with illumination the switches will still work.

 

Power to the Blue Seas panel goes through a high amp breaker or fuse(match the cable to this current, 100A max). Each relay gets power from a Blue Seas fuse and the switches that activate them are supplied with power from a fuse tap on the interior panel. Relay activation current is typically low(~100mA) so amp draw for 10 switches is still only ~1A. Led power/ground come from the dash light circuit(green+,green/white-) so they come on with headlights and dim with stock switches. This is independent of switch operation, if you don’t want to bother with illumination the switches will still work.

 

I skimmed a bunch of pages but didn't specifically find if the AOB push buttons switches dim with the dash lights when wired to the dash lights. Anybody know? Thanks.

 

They should. If it’s a 4-wire switch 2 of the wires are switch power in and switch power out. The other two are led+/-. To have them work like stock (on with headlights + dimming) you need to use dash lights+ and dimmer-(green and green/white). Other 12v + will work but will be on when that supply is hot. Chassis ground will work but not have dimming.

 

Just wondering if anyone on here has hood struts with their fuse panels. Do they interfer with the struts?
I want to DYI my hood struts but just curious.



This is my fuse panel setup:


I have a feeling the struts would touch my positive bus bar. Thoughts?!

 

mine fits fine.

 

Awesome to hear!
I'm having trouble finding a DYI thread on hood struts. Any idea what length your struts are? I have found the brackets on Amazon and lots of diferent length of struts. The websites that sell the hood strut kits don't seem to say the length of the struts themselves.

 

Paranoid dude is _phenomenal_. Great San Diegan!

 

Thanks!! I modded the Bussmann box instructions online to put the two bars right on the bottom of the box like this. Was a bit unsure this was OK, but thought it makes sense. Good to see it has been done by someone more competent than myself.

 

OK, so I have workshopped this a bit on my thread and it's time to get more thoughts. At first I will have the winch and the bumper bar. The rest is the anticipated mods I can think over the next few years.


One thing to know about me is that I want to do this slick, like it came from the factory. Stock looking switches, no wires everywhere, etc. Looking for suggestions on achieving that from pretty much every angle. I don't think I'm going SPOD or Switch Pro due to cost. I have a manual, but no clutch reservoir. No idea where I would mount the quick disconnects for the winch or air compressor, I assume I want those as close to the battery as possible. I understand they aren't necessary, but it's good insurance for my mind.

The other question is that I assume I should pull positive and negative LED from inside the cab (and I do have a harness made up for the bed light switch). The relay wire has to go there, so one for each switch through the firewall. Should I pick up the 12v keyed (or un-keyed) from inside the cab or one back towards the battery?

 

Best thread ever.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-build-and-install-a-bussmann-rtmr-fuse-relay-block.399454/
Camera doesn’t need relay for power but they sometimes do to interrupt the rear camera feed. Those relays mount behind the head unit(one for switching camera feed and one to interrupt reverse wire signal from ecu).
There are breakers with high enough amp ratings for compressors to act as service interrupt and also protect cabling.
Led dash lights circuit is hot w/headlights on with a variable ground rather than chassis ground. The wires are green+, and green/white variable ground.
You can use fuse taps off of the interior fuse panel to access always hot or ignition hot power. The door lock fuse is always hot or you can pull an extra wire through the firewall from your aux panel. Other fuses are available for ignition hot, I personally recommend tapping one of the low amp circuits but switch power is definitely low current for relay activation so it’s not a huge deal. I make both available at each bank of switches.
If you ground accessories to the chassis be sure to upgrade the chassis ground cable to the battery. The stock + clamp has room for an extra cable but the ground clamp doesn’t so it’s common to swap out the neg clamp(pos too for some). This makes it much easier to upgrade that cable or connect a separate ground buss(es).

 

Oh, wow. I've got a lot of reading ahead of me.

The camera is something I will need to experiment with, because my aftermarket unit has a video in and may be controllable via the head unit itself. I might just have to buy one and experiment. The harness for the bed light has LED +/-, so I think the dimming is taken care of. So all switches can be keyed off one fuse, since (at least I think) all the power is doing there is telling the relay to switch over to the battery, right?

I'm looking at this example for a switch, and I think what I have on this harness are wires 3 and 4, so that would mean 1 to power, and 2 to the relay.

https://www.ch4x4.com/product/ch4x4-toyota-push-switch-tacoma-3rd-gen-scoop-light-symbol-2/

 

I greatly appreciate this thread. Everybody who has posted photos of their setup, and those providing knowledge of wiring etc; THANK YOU!!!

I have been taking my time building my setup and doing my best to keep the wire nice and clean coming off the fuse block. I still have a little ways to go and determine how I'll integrate my relays but so far so good.

 

Looking good. Keep us posted on the relay integration!

 

Been reading through this thread for 3 years now and finally got around to mocking something up. Next step paint, grommets, wiring and install.

i do have a question though since most of my “reading” was looking at diagrams and pictures for ideas. I’m familiar with wiring, but have never used this type of set up. Anyway, here it goes. Can I take my power wire from my switch back to a fused buss bar dedicated for my power source? This could be the extra bar I see on some of the trays, but wasn’t sure. I plan to take two wires in, one from the relay and one for power and terminate ground in the truck.

 

Just put this together today. Waiting on stuff to come in, just made this in preparation for the upcoming installs.

 

You don’t need heavy gage wire to ground the coil side of the relays, the signal from the switch to the relay and from relay to ground is small. All 6 together would be less than 1A.

 

The ground wires aren't large, just 14ga wire with heat resistant insulation. I haven't run any switch wires yet since there are no switches or auxiliary devices on the truck as of now.

 

Anyone have something like this for the relays? I have water proof relays already bought but this might be a tidy solution to keep them covered

 

Check here: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...-3rd-gen-today.399305/page-9433#post-24970899

@RallySOP