Ken the electrical guy Q n A

Hey everyone I’m going to go live on my IG account from 8-9 if anyone wants to come hang out and shoot the shit or ask questions what ever.

 

? Adding a canopy to the truck. Will it matter if you connect a larger gage wire to a smaller gage wire? 12 gage wire to 18 gage.

 

For what purpose are you changing the gauge of wire?

 

Have a plug that is 12 gage. Tapping into truck wiring. So I can make the third brake light disconnect easily.
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can you go into more detail. As a general rule of thumb you really don’t want to have mix matched wires In a circuit unless it’s designed that way like the common branch of a injector or coil harness. What is on the circuit with the 18 gauge wire now? What is the draw? What are you trying to add. I know you said a canopy but what electrically are u adding

 

Not adding any more power. Adding just a canopy brake light. Smaller gage wire are factory wire to brakes.
Or do you have a male/female plug you can recommend? Mounting plug to inside of bed wall.

 

If you can post some pictures I might be able to help give an opinion on how I’d do it. That being said technically if you aren’t adding any extra load to the circuit you can extended your break light cable with a larger gauge cable. From 18 to 12

 

I am building a pigtail/harness to run 12v power to the bed. I have foil/fiberglass heat reflective sleeving for areas where high heat is a problem. I will also be using PET expandable braiding and split loom in "normal temp" areas. my question is, do i run any loom or braiding under the foil wrap or just the wires?

 

Well if you run the PET loom under the heat wrap it will help the overall diameter of the harness stay more consistent and continuous in shape. However it’s not required and if you want to you can just run the foil. Where are you coming close to heat sources at? There isn’t another way to route to avoid the high heat areas?

 

near the cat, exhaust piping, and muffler, there is already factory wiring run along the frame, (same cable run that is followed when installing the factory tailgate lock actuator for 2019), that I am following and there is as much space as possible between the wire and components. If I were to re-route the wiring if would add considerable length, I would still end up near a cat, and it is only 10awg TXL. My plan going forward will be as follows: PET loom the entire wire run, split loom over PET, foil/fiberglass sleeve over PET in high heat areas. I will be checking the circuit for resistance when cold and when everything is at operating temp (drive until the engine is at temp then let it sit and idle for 20-30 mins.

 

Well it seems you have done your homework and are familiar with the standard products used for automotive electrical. I would say that to me the triple layer of loom is a bit over kill. That being said most of the shit I do is over kill too lol. Let me know how it turns out and if there’s anything else I can do. Good luck buddy.

 

Only doing a double layer, PET will cover everything, then switch between foil and split loom over that depending on ambient temp in the area. Doing wiring right is definitely tedious and time consuming but it is oddly rewarding once finished. Thanks for your help!

 

just ran across this thread, I've tried looking thru most the pages and didn't see what i was looking for. im running negative switches for my lights with a fuseblock. im having trouble figuring out where the wires go to the rocker switch and having it light up. it won't work with the diagram in the pic.

 

Here’s mine. Fuse panel and grounding block in side.

 

You're going to have to have the output of your switch jump over to the ground of the led you want to turn on when the switch is on. You're also going to have to provide a 12v source to the LED inside the switch. This can be constant 12v+ if you like or key on 12v+. Just make sure you have a fused circuit. just remember that just like you're switching the low side of the relay you're also switching the ground of the led inside the switch.

 

Neat little DIY power pack. What did you use for your power source?

 

thanks...so just swap the ground and the output

 

You want to make yourself a small little jumper wire on the wire that goes out to the relay. It will connected to both, the output of your switch and the ground of the led you wish to power when the switch is on.

 

This is just a power source for my power pack. Eco flow River Max. Ran a 4awg from battery and took ground to frame underneath.
Let me know if I can in prove it.

 

On a 2018 Tacoma TRD sport with factory tow package.

With a recent trailer purchase I'm looking to upgrade the battery charging setup in the trailer + add solar (and upgrade capacity/leave an option for lifepo4 batteries in the future).

Planning it out with running new wires from the truck battery to an anderson connector near the back and a separate line to the batteries in the trailer. My one thought is since the existing 7pin connector can technically trickle charge the battery a bit (with the thin stock wires), if I'm running a new line for bigger amps I should disconnect the 7 pin 12V when connected and just run the 1 path to the battery setup.

Currently I'm planning on a Renogy DCC30S which will do 30 amps from the truck or 400 watt solar (and split 15A/15A if both are working). 4AWG cable from the battery and through the setup as below. This should also then let me leave the existing converter in place with the lead acid batteries (and swap for one that can properly deal with lithium later) for shore power charging but do solar/vehicle charging other times.



So the questions are:
1) Is the +12V on the 7 pin on it's own fuse in which case I can just remove that fuse and if I ever need that +12 back I can just re-insert, or do I need to add a switch to it and where would be the best place
2) When grounding back, should i ground to vehicle chassis or come all the way back and connect to the truck battery neg terminal.

Thanks