Show off your aux fuse panels.

I did a test fit of the Pelfrey panel I bought, and the fit is super tight to the front of the brake reservoir. There's that little plastic clip on the front, and it's wedged in tight up against that. I'm sure that can't be good long term.

 

Wow alot of good info here.
What I don't understand is how tapping power from when the ignition is turned supplies enough juice to the whole fuseblock ?
Or would that come from the positive lead that goes directly to the fuse block.
Sorry dumb question I'm sure... lol.

 

This is what relays do. A relay has 2 circuits, a coil side and the high current side. A switch or trigger wire supplies a low current to the electromagnetic coil side in the relay and closes contacts that are capable of passing much higher current than the switch. 5-pin relays can have the trigger close or open contacts depending on which pins are connected on the relay.

 

It’s not even really necessary to use a high current relay to supply a fuse block since you can determine which circuits are always hot and which are ignition hot by supplying always hot or ignition hot power to the switches that activate the relays. All the relays can be fed from an always hot fused source but not will pass current until its switch is closed. If those switches only get power with the ignition on then the relays and the accessories they control will only work with the ignition on.
This eliminates an expensive, high current relay. Some people want this anyway so there’s parts available and explanations on how to do it.

 

Do you have any recommendations on which high amp relay you prefer, or will any run of the mill high amp relay off Amazon suffice?

 

maybe this is a stupid question but in none of these setups do I see any of the individual relays that come with light bar/ditch light/reverse light wiring harnesses? where are you guys putting those? I currently have 3 on a cali raised relay holder thing but hate all the extra wires running straight to battery and there are more in the future to be added so this seems like the way to go but that relay holder looks like it uses the same bolts that a power tray or homemade tray mounts to.

 

Relay box:

$22 True Mods 12V DC Auto Waterproof Fuse 5-Pin Relay Box Block [6 Bosch Style Relay Holder] [6 ATC/ATO Fusible Holder] Universal Relay Block Box for Automotive Vehicles Cars Marine Boat Light Equipment

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MR64XK1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

10 Bosch relays:

$16 True Mods 10 Pack Bosch Style 5-Pin 12V Relay Switch [SPDT] [30/40 Amp] 12 Volt Automotive Relays for Auto Fan Cars

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01KVZ2KEM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I'm working up a removable mount for the top of the engine compartment fuse cover that's right behind the battery. Relays and solar charge controller are going to live there. #1 thing for me is making sure it's still simple to get to the OEM fuses and relays that live in there without having to disconnect a bunch of accessories.

 

No preference since I choose whether an accessory is ignition hot or always hot by where the switch gets power that way I don’t need that additional relay. For accessories like my compressor I just use sealed/skirted 40A Bosch style relays and 40A fuse holders since there are only 2 additional relays on my panel besides the 5 in the Bussman which uses 30A iso 280 micro relays.

I’m using a Bussman RTMR that holds 5 relays and 10 fuses in a footprint smaller than a phone. It’s 80A max rather than the 100 for the blue seas but the blue seas don’t hold relays and are twice as big. Many just bolt their relays to the bottom of their tray.

 

Oooh... that Bussman stuff looks nice. A bit late for me, but maybe v2.0 on power

 

Well, good news is that it passed the conductivity test. Bad news is that I don't have anything that can hit 80A or more. The winch tops out at 76A with no load (it's not mounted).

Worse news is that it is a 187 series, and not a 285 series, which means it doesn't fit in the Pelfrey mount anyway. But for $11, I think I'll just hang onto it.

 

Are you making those power cables yourself or are they available to buy from somewhere? They look excellent.

 

How did you wire the switched positive into the Blue Sea? I figure 24/7 is just off the positive terminal of the battery, but switched seems more mysterious to me.

 

According to another member the panel is 24/7 since I’m coming directly off the battery terminal to the fuse box. In order to make the fuse box power come on with the truck I have to add a high amp relay. I ordered one off of Amazon. Once it gets here I plan to wire it up after my circuit breaker and use an ignition only fuse in the cabin trigger the relay. Here’s a pic of the relay I chose. The battery terminal wires connect to a set of studs and then there’s a ground and an ignition trigger stud. After doing some more research I learned that there aren’t any real usable fuses in the engine bay that I’d be comfortable using that are ignition only. So I plan to use the either the usb fuse or the power outlet fuse or anything that doesn’t turn on when the truck is off inside the cabin fuse box.

 

I made them myself, thanks!

 

Finished wiring my aux fuse panel. Added a 100 amp relay thats triggered by the usb fuse that in the cab of the truck. Now I have 6 constant fuses and 6 that are ignition initiated.

 

Sexy.

Where is the fuse for the USB? That is a smart solution. I likey

 

It’s in the fuse box under the steering wheel in the cab. It’s a 7.5 amp fuse labeled usb. I put an add a fuse in with a 5 amp fuse for the relay and ran the wire through the wire grommet that all my other wires run through to go to the auxiliary fuse box. I prob could’ve used a smaller fuse for the relay but 5 amp seems to work fine.

 

Thank you. Solves my last problem of ignition only circuit. Same relay ordered.

 

What mounting bracket is your fuse block sitting on? I've just decided to stop adding one off connectors to my battery and bought a 12 slot Blue Sea fuse block. Looks like the mounting bracket from OE is sold out everywhere though and I can't seem to find another. Also, where is the circuit breaker from?

Thanks!

 

Nice was just thinking of doing something similar. From the relay do you have the 6 ignitions running off a fuse panel and other relays or how did you set that part up? I was planning on running something in the cab with a main power/ground than an additional triggered block so that I can reduce the tons of wires going back and forth.