Ken the electrical guy Q n A

Very nice. I love using terminal blocks on the race car panels. Makes it easier if you need to fix something in between rounds. where do you run at?

 

the amount of metal work done on this car is crazy. Luckily I just have to worry about electrical, plumbing, and interfacing. I do fabricate small items but I’m in no way shape or form a metal worker lol. Luckily I have a bad ass fabricator with me on the project

 

Plug and play bulkhead connector for the Vic. Every thing in the car will have a connector for easy removal and testing. It’s really fun to get to build your dream electrical set up. I’ll try to post more pics as I go along

 

How much did that circular connector run? Those always seem super spendy

 

Those are nice. I follow a guy on instagram that wires racecars and he uses those. I don't have enough sensors to fill all those pins..lol.
Zim

 

about 200 after tax for two

you can get a few different configurations. I used mavenspeed.com if you wana check them out.
There a nice little unit. Mating and removal is very clean and simple. Nice finish and if you have the correct tools building them is simple.

 

I wire race cars too and for me it’s about being able to handle the vibration, being able to quickly and efficiently diagnose problems in between rounds, and dependability.

What’s his name I’ll check him out

 

@Kens04Taco I'm getting ready to pre-wire my switch panel and have one more question. What is the appropriate gauge wire to use to daisy chain the switches, ground wire and wires tapped for illumination.

 

Howdy @Kens04Taco ,

I will by making my (first ever!) modification to my 2012 4wd Tacoma this spring and need advice. I plan to install a dual battery system with a smart isolator. I will run light camp electronics off the auxiliary battery and reserve the main only for engine starting.

I would like to make use of the electrical plug in the bed by rewiring that plug to draw power from the auxiliary battery and to always provide power. Have you done this or know of an example of this modification?

The plug is in a convenient location for my camper shell design but the requirement of the engine to be running to use that plug obviously does not work in my use-case.

Thanks for any advice and for your recommendations for an isolator.

Best from Texas.

 

If it’s only illumination and ground for illumination you can use 18-20 gauge

 

Hey buddy, congrats on your first mod! You picked a great one for your first.

I’m assuming you have 110 volt AC plug which looks like your standard house plug in your bed. The truck has an inverter installed from the factory which converts your 12-14volt DC voltage 110 AC voltage.
The mod itself isn’t too difficult but what will be a pain is sourcing the 12volt leads (positive and negative) going into the inverter. If there is a dedicated fuse (there should be) you can remove the fuse and with the battery disconnected cut the wires to extended them. If possible.... relocating the inverter closer to the rear would be best. Even better would be buying an additional inverter and leaving your factory wiring alone. I don’t mean to discourage you from the mod. However as a guy who’s done a lot of this stuff. In the long run getting an additional unit for the house set up would be my rec.

I personally like Blue Sea ml-ACR 7622 which is going on my tacoma in the next month or so. I recently had an accident so it’s set me back.

red arc seems to be popular with a dedicated solar set up built into it. However they are pricey.

there’s always the ol 3 position switch but it’s human error prone.

So I vote blue sea but that could change depending on how you use the truck and your set up.

I’m an electrician so I’m always harping about quantity products.

if you have more questions please feel free to comment more I’m here to help any way I can


-Kenny

 

Thank you. What about the 'switch' wires? (bottom left of the switch).

 

Are they just turning on relays ?

 

Yes, all trigger wires will be going to relays for lights and lockers.

ETA- what about the switched power?

 

If you’re talking about the switched power that flows through 30 and 87 then that will depend on the load.

if we are talking about the coil inside the relay which is 85-86 positions then then you can use a very small wire. I use Ethernet cable to trigger my relays because you get 8 conductors in a single wire. The draw on relay coil is like 0.005 amps

 

It' been so long since I've wiring something up to my switch panel. It's like the one in the below picture. I hope I can still wiring things like I originally planned....damnit I hate this stuff as I’m always second guessing myself.

ETA- looking at the switch panel diagram again.....I think I need to have the switched wires go to the accessory tab on the back of the switches (rear lights, right lights, left lights) since they are already powered and grounded on the engine side. The switched power in the back of the switches is just from the fuse block inside the cab?

 

the kit you linked has two looms coming out of it. The way that kit is set up is to have the switches work without the truck being on or with the key in the on position

the loom that’s defined with blue text with the small 18-20 gauge wires
Red= constant 12v for input of all switches and input of led For the switch on indication

black is common ground for leds inside switch

Brown gray yellow green white are the output triggers to each respective relay. So 12volt applied to the small yellow wire will energize the relay with the larger yellow wire connected to it.

the larger loom defined by the purple text is output wires. These wires have nothing to do with the switches. They will go from relay to each accessories that you have decided match with the color




Going back to the small loom that’s defined by blue text.

The red wire will be to be distributed to two position on each switch. You can do this by simply jumping from position to position on the back of the switches or any way you like really.

the small black wire will be similar and should go to the led negative/ground position on the back of the switches

 

Thanks for your response, @Kens04Taco. I mocked up this schematic to be sure I am understanding what you recommend. Does this look right?

 

it’s very nice diagram

there’s some wires missing

12v ground from each respective battery to the inverter

also coming out of the inverter will be three wires just like a house or it may be two wires without the dedicated ground. If the inverter has a plug with three holes then there’s three wires. Hot-neutral-ground. If your inverter comes with two output wires or only two position sockets then you only need two wires. You technically don’t need the ground wire. In house wire this is the exposed copper solid wire. AC products don’t need the ground wire technically to work. That’s why people pull out or cut the ground terminal off the 3 position plugs and it still works.


So in summary

we’re missing 12v grounds from battery to inverters and there will be 2/3 wires going from inverter to socket.

I would highly recommend upgrading your grounding system when you do this mod. It is the most common mistake when upgrading an electrical system in a vehicle. You should have larger ground cables installed from battery to frame and from the same point on the frame to the block.

in the rear you should go from battery to the frame and to the bed if your going to ground accessories to the bed. Anywhere you are putting a ground point you need to remove any paint or dirt that will get in between the lug and the metal. You need bare metal on metal contact. Sand paper works well, because you can exposed a small diameter of bare metal. Just enough so the lug gets metal to metal contact.

 

Also if you buy the blue sea automatic charging relay 7622, the wiring will be a little different if you want to use the remote over ride switch. If not...what you have is perfect.

also obviously we will need to include fuses. I’d recommend getting circuit breakers for the fuses. They are Bitchen for maintenance and testing