Bed cubby power panel progress

Great tips!! Thanks so much! would you swap the 16gauge blue sea for 10guage in your opinion? or go a different size?

 

Great tips!! Thanks so much! would you swap the 16gauge blue sea for 10guage in your opinion? or go a different size?

 

If they are using 16 gauge wire, I would upgrade. Technically, some wiring that is 16 AWG is truly rated for 15 Amps due to the fact it has high temperature insulation (105C). However, it is still a little cheesy, in my mind, because they are basically saying “this wire will get friggin hot at 15 Amps, but the insulation won’t melt, so we’re all good.....right?”. I prefer cooler running wires.

When putting in a fridge outlet, that you know you are going to be drawing a lot of current from at times, I would stick to the old ways of rating cable, that ensure no overheating of wires:

16 AWG = 10 Amps
14 AWG = 15 Amps
12 AWG = 20 Amps
10 AWG = 30 Amps

AWG = American Wire Guage.

 

This chart is great thank you!! very helpful. Thank again for all the input.

 

You are welcome. Also keep in mind voltage drop. If you are running wiring a long distance (say from the front of your truck to the back) you want to go up a gauge (one size larger) so the voltage at the device is still at 12V or higher when the device is drawing current.

In short runs, say 8 feet or less, voltage drop is negligible and the chart in my previous post will serve you well. Past that distance, it’s a good idea to go up a size, which is sounds like you are already doing with 10 gauge on a 15A outlet.

 

Yeah I am running both to the bed of the truck probably around the cubby areas on the passenger side. My other cubby already has the ARB twin compressor...lol

 

Makes me sad my 2019 doesn’t have a driver side cubby.

 

In case anyone’s wondering what I did this for, other than adding a handy 12V socket in the bed and some USBs. The fuse panel also feeds three lighting circuits:

Canopy Rack (shell rack / cap rack) area lighting is now up and running.


As are rear facing lights.


I’ll be doing a separate post about the rack lighting when I have time.

 

Thats awesome!

 

I liked your cubby idea but I have a bed area and storage underneath. What worked for me, I had a Pelican case lying around. I purchased a 5 gang with accessory, dual USB , voltmeter and socket. I cut out the size for the panel and mounted it to the side rails. I ran a 4 wire 12 awg encased loom from the back to my battery. Put a fuse at the battery and the panel already has fuses for each accessory. I can access it by just opening the case. It works for me.

 

one last question should i put an in line fuse at the switch? and at the battery? or on every outlet Would you run a 10amp fuse in that spot also.

I may have to use 14guage at the connections with the outlets (3)to put two of them in a 10guage female spade.

 

You do not want lengths of unprotected wire. If a wire chafes through and gets shorted out, you want the fuse as close to the battery as practical

I put a 60 amp breaker and ran a 6 gauge wire to the fuse panel in my bed cubby. If you are not doing similar, you want the fuses as close as you can get them to your battery, or you run risk of a vehicle fire due to a damaged wire.

 

Just installed in the passenger bed cubby. When using the voltmeter what should I be looking for? What range? I have a dual battery set up and this outlet is ran off the second odyssey battery

 

Awesome Man!

 

Thanks for all the help!!!!

 

The results look killer! Well done.

 

It’s really cool how you have all your possible power sources on the passenger side. 12VDC, USB, 120VAC.

If I didn’t have to mount the fuse panel and relays in the bigger cubby, I would have done the same.

 

Thanks!!! I also wired a dedicated outlet for a future ARB Fridge. I mounted that just above the bed stiffness on the on the same side. I am still cleaning up and have some water sealing to do around both outlets/boxes but I ran out of time. Lol

 

How did you do the ground wire? Straight to the battery? How did you route the wires? I got the same set up and trying to figure this all out as well