Show off your aux fuse panels.

Also regarding your question about grounding everything at one central point (like the ground post of a battery). It wouldn't hurt anything to do so but would be a lot of wasted effort and wire. Just ensure you have a good point to ground your accessories and you will be fine. A good practice I like to use is find an area where you can get a ring terminal locked down with a bolt to what is clearly a steel area linked to the chassis. If there is paint in that area and it is a concealed area I would go as far as to just give it a quick scuff so you are working with exposed bare metal as your ground point.

 

Thanks man!

Hey does the average light bar consume any power even when off? Many people say to wire them up so they are only live with the ignition so you don't drain your battery when the ignition is off. But wouldn't it be impossible to not notice it was on?

 

No problem. Did you ever end up making your own version of a skygear box, I remember seeing that you were considering doing that.

 

I was going to, but then he started posting again, so I'll wait a bit more.

Just bought a 12 circuit blue sea box from a member in the mean time though.

 

Ah okay. I think the box skygear makes looks like a better build then the blue sea box... but as you know there are some complications with timing and communication going on over there. Good to see you have something to keep you going for now though

 

Thoughts on this?

 

To get ignition switched 12v power to the input of my acc switch, the easiest thing to do would be use a fuse tap on a factory fuse that is already ignition switched, right?

If I wanted constant power I could just run the 12v supply directly from the fuse block, the same terminal that is connected to pin 30 of the corresponding relay.

 

up2nogood is right. although, it is best the make your ground wire as short as possible to cut down on that wire's resistance. also, I personally like to find factory ground points to use, as they are known good grounds. the best way to find a good ground is, if you have a multi-meter, set it to ohms and put the negative lead to the negative terminal of the battery, then place the positive lead to the point you want to test. usually anything under 1 ohm is a good ground.... you want something as low as possible, but measurements will be more like 0.3 to 0.5 ohms.

 

Good info, thanks!

 

I would agree with the majority that I would be inclined to wire it so that it can only come on when the truck is on. If you wanted to have it so that it could be turned on regardless of the truck on or not it could be done, but might want to consider a backup of some sort like a relay with a built in timer, or I believe their are also products that monitor your battery and cutoff power to accessories when the battery is getting low enough to be at risk of not cranking over. That is probably a bit extreme though....

Best compromise would be to have the power source come from a keyed accessory source so that you could turn on the light when the key is switched to ACC but don't actually need the truck to be started. This would make it impossible to leave your light on by accident but allows a bit more flexibility to use it without needing to start the truck. All of these are possibilities and can be set up for what you want by different choices in where you put your add a fuse.

All that said I do agree it is unlikely you would not notice a light bar left on.

 

These are good points. A lot of sporadic electrical issues end up being related to a questionable ground. It really pays off to find a good grounding point right from the get go and save yourself some future headaches.

 

Finally got mine mounted! Now to mount lights and start wiring.









The vertical brace shares a bolt that secures the diff vent holder. It's rock solid! I started with a paper template then started cutting stainless scraps. 14ga sheet.

Relays are mounted on screws that I welded the heads on the under side. I've got room for 6 relays.

 

Looks nice and clean! If you haven't already done so I'd consider a dab of dielectric grease on all the relay terminals. You should be mostly fine being under the hood but will prevent dust and moisture from reaching those terminals in the long run.

Anyhow, like how the install turned out

 

Thanks!

Anyone know where I can find plugs that will fit the terminals of the relays? Like the switch backs available for the Carling switches. I think that would make a very clean install.

Also, regarding the power being fed to the relays (pin 30) from the fuse box, would it be better to supply each relay individually with its own dedicated circuit from the fuse box, or use only one slot from the fuse box and daisy chain all the relays (all pin 30s)?

I'm leaning toward supplying each individually, thus for 3 relays, I use up 3 circuits out of my 12 circuit box. I like the idea of each being independent, if for some reason a relay failed, only that circuit would be affected, right?

I would do likewise for the grounds for the relays, I think. Each relay individually grounded to the fuse box itself.

 

What number platform is that?

 

$7 Parts Express 330-075 12 VDC 5-Pin Relay Socket For Bosch Type Relay

http://www.amazon.com/Parts-Express...pebp=1434946123331&perid=15KGAZ5B2SZ40CHH65TY

 

Don't know what you mean by that my friend

 

Gauge?

 

Lol i m not sure