2nd Gen Wiring Overhaul - A slow descent into madness

Pretty sure it's just a plug for a manufacturing process manipulation hole, IIRC I ran my sub power wire through there with a grommet and significant FIPG 103.

 

That plug pulled out with a pair of pliers, and I was able to carefully cut the core of it out with a scalpel, preserving the exterior:




I slit the fiber liner behind the hole, and used the modified plug and some RTV to run the cable. It dropped right down into the pax footwell:

 

My winch is a Warn EVO 10-S.

The EVO line of winches uses neither the 3 or 5-pin winch standard. Instead, it has 4 pins.

The wireless remote feature on the EVO series is handled by a wireless receiver which at first glance piggybacks onto the standard control scheme. The four pins from the remote cable, as well as a separate antenna, disappear into the receiver black box, which then connects to the contactors.

I expected that one of the four pins would be +12v (red, bonded to 'hot' inside the winch with a Y junction leading from the hot line from the battery and leading up the remote wire and into the wireless receiver), one ground (the black one, bonded to ground the same as the +12v), and the other two, white and green would be signal wires to send +12v to the standard Albright contactor (yellow and blue from the receiver unit to the contactor).

Instead, I got a really confusing set of voltages among those wires when I checked them with a meter (the white and green both came up to +6v simultaneously whether hitting the IN or OUT button). Jumping any combination of the bare wires together did nothing, except jumping red/black which produced sparks and the smell of danger .

I contacted Warn, who had no pinout data available (strange) and the CSR mentioned that the remotes were "special" but didn't know anything more than that. A lot of head and ass scratching and failed research later, I broke out a pocket scope to go with the meter and dissected the guts.

It turns out the EVO series remotes appear to operate digitally over the two signal wires, sending signals to the wireless receiver to close the contacts. Even dumber, if you cut ONLY the green wire, the remote still works fine in wired mode. I suspect that the cut ends of the green wire were essentially acting like antennae so the digital signal was still making it to the receiver box. Why did they go with four wires? The more I think about it, the more I think deliberate compatibility choices, whether for "safety" or because they make less on the EVO winches and want to make up the loss selling the new accessory line. There's also probably some nickel pinching going on with reducing the complexity of the remote and receiver wiring.

Anyway, after some screwing around, I determined that if you cut the green and white wires off of the wireless receiver and Y them into the yellow and blue leads leading from the receiver to the contactor, you can operate the winch the same as you would a standard 3-wire setup (from the in-cab controls), except you get a bonus ground that runs into the cab along with the other 3 wires. I'll be using it as the ground for the indicator LED for the control panel arming switch on the in-cab control panel.

Happily, the wireless function of the factory remote is preserved, so you can still winch from outside the truck if you need to. Some guys have had them for years on the factory batteries, which in the newest versions of this winch apparently use 3xAAAs, where they previously used some industrial cell that was difficult to source. We'll see if it holds up living in the truck or if the winter eats it.

 

Control panel finished. Just need to get the housing made and snake the cable through the dash and behind the head unit:

 

OK. There is still some fitment tweaking, end caps for the housing to make, and switches in the mail, but I have basic install done:



From my line of sight everything sits below the hood - in other words, I don't lose any visibility even though it looks hella tall on the dash in this pic.

The wiring runs up through some slots I made in both the faceplate of my Joying head unit, and the interior plastic mounting plate for it. This pic also shows the screw tabs I made and attached to the head unit with VHB tape - the rear edge of the housing, once final fit is done to the curve of the dash, will get a line of VHB tape as well:



The wiring was done with 3/16" quick discos. I didn't have any insulated terminals so I zipped on some un-shrunk heatshrink:



The parts in the mail are SPST toggles with amber LEDs on the tips - they will be used for light bar, VHF, and scene lights (eventually).

 

Bought your Big 3 kit and finally got around to installing it on my 2015. I noticed the addition of heat shield around some of the wiring so I'd like to go with that. I can find it on Amazon but I have no idea on what width to get.

Anybody replace theirs or got any ideas?

ETA:
So I took a piece of zip tie and wrapped it around. The smaller single wire is 3" around and the two together is 5". Brain Fart My new cables will be thicker. I'm still trying to figure out what size to get.

 

When I upgraded to 1/0 wiring I think I got the 3/4inch stuff, was a little loose on the wire but just tapped the ends and called it good. Idk what gauge you're running there

 

I used this stuff:

HiwowSport Opening Shape Silver Thermo-Flex Wire-Hose Insulation Cool-Tube Heat Shield 3FT Fit Any Diameter Black Color

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07MV914SG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

I know some of this thread is old, but what is the reasoning behind keeping OEM orientation and running the upgraded alternator cable to the fuse box?

I know elsewhere the usual ritual at least in context of also doing an alternator upgrade is connect the new larger awg alternator cable to the battery positive with appropriate fuse on said alt cable, then run an upgraded cable from battery terminal positive to the fuse box at the original alt stud, preserving the purpose of the alt fuse in the box and providing power. That short black cable from the fuse box then is no longer needed, as it’s original purpose was to provide juice from the alternator to charge the battery. And you’d still retain your OEM 120 or 140 amp fusing at the fuse box or whatever the number is.

To me this makes more sense in regards to keeping your juice at the battery terminal to run a line for an aux panel or something rather than sending said upgraded alternator wire to the fuse box only to have wire come back out to the battery for auxiliary supply.

I only ask as I just completed an alternator upgrade on my GX with near identical fuse box setup. Also in following what user Bodenzord has done for his upgrades.

 

Thanks. Originally I was looking at this:

$19 Heat Shroud Sleeve Aluminized Sleeving Express Aluminized Hose and Silver Hose Wire Protection Barrier with Hook and Loop Closure, 3/4" I.D.x 10FT- 1" I.D.x 10FT

https://www.amazon.com/Aluminized-S...019-930a-71f55328e0ae&pd_rd_i=B08CRSJP9W&th=1

Then I found the sleeve stuff:

$15 Heat Fiberglass Shield Sleeve Adjustable Hose Heat Spark Plug Wire High Temp Black Colour 16FT-20MM(3/4") for Car Wire Loom Protection

https://www.amazon.com/Fiberglass-S...019-930a-71f55328e0ae&pd_rd_i=B07RFR8NTD&th=1

I think I'm going with the sleeve insulation and individually sleeve the cables and use stainless steel zip ties to bundle them together.

 

In this case, there is not an alt upgrade, and the factory wiring path is thus preserved. If you did run a bigger alt, you would need to appropriately fuse the additional runs of course, and address questions of voltage sensing if applicable.

The major (for my purposes) purpose of this upgrade is a marginal decrease in path resistance and also importantly to replace the factory stamped terminals, which collect corrosion like Pokemon cards and run it up the exposed wire ends, as well as adding slack in the lines for ease of maintenance or routing with other aftermarket mods.

The ordnance terminals also make it considerably simpler to e.g. run a winch, a second battery, or additional circuits from the battery side of the 12v system.

I used that first product to bundle my winch lines. Nice product. The velcro is pretty good and the fabric hasn't flaked and peeled like some similar products do.

 

Love the use of the Anderson connector! I use them all the time and they are prefect for this kind of application. I even have a custom set of jumper cables that are made where they plug in above the bumper. That way I don't even have to lift my hood to jump someone off!

 

Yeah in retrospect for stock alt and terminal upgrade too that makes sense.

 

Got mine in.

Couple of things were different on my 2015.

Under the fusebox is a small bundle of wires zip tied to the box. I had to cut that tie for slack so I could gut/lift (after much cursing, wailing and gnashing of teeth) the fuses up to get access to the bolt.

The bolt for the Fuse Box +, was it short! I'm guessing 5-6mm. With the new lug it wasn't long enough to catch the threads anymore. I replaced it with a longer one. I was concerned about using the longer bolt as I didn't want to short anything so I hand threaded it all the way in without the lug in place. Didn't feel like I hit anything so I pulled it out and figured the thickness of the lug would ensure a safe gap. YMMV.

The cable from the alternator to the fuse box. IIRC you filed that a little with a round file. I had to do that and I also filed a little plastic off the fuse box so the 90º bent lug would fit. I think the crimp itself was a factor there.

So when I finished and turned the key it didn't blow up so I think I did it right.

 

Did you get one of the earlier kits with a potentially wrong-crimped lug? I thought I got pre-emptive replacements out to everyone that might have been affected, but maybe I missed you. If you want to look at this post right here to check, I'm happy to get you a replacement even though it sounds like you made it work.

Edit: Actually on reviewing my notes the crimp direction on the bent lug shouldn't matter. It could be that my truck and my stunt fusebox are on a different end of manufacturing tolerances than your truck. The offer, however, stands.

 

Not that one, you sent me a corrected battery to fuse box cable. This is the fuse box to alt cable. Modded the box, fits fine now. Just informational for you or anyone making their own cables.

 

Found this thread while considering relocating my battery. Seems like I might as well while I'm running new wiring.

Since OP is no longer making kits, I did find this one:
https://www.jeepcables.com/collecti...te-kit-gen-2-2005-2015?variant=40272261316668

Thoughts on it?

 

Depends on where you are relocating your battery. The wires in the kit are for stock location.

 

I figured that, so I could run bus bars at the factory location:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/battery-relocation.571858/#post-21211192

 

That works too. Thats essentially how my bed mounted batteries are setup. Depending on where you want to put your batteries I’d run the battery ground to the nearest frame ground. And depending on how remote your batteries are, ensure your starter cable is large enough for the starter draw.

Price wise the kit is not far from what you’d spend for terminals, cable, lugs and a cheapo crimp tool. The only other thing I like to do is jacket my cables in loom which is additional cost.