Waterproof Fuse and Relay Boxes - RFRM (10 relay) & RTMR (5 Relay) no Blue Sea/ SPOD

I'm in the same boat. Paid Feb 1 and never got a single bit of correspondence. I asked for a refund via email, post and pm and still got nothing. At this point I'm just assuming my money is gone. He may send me a box eventually but by then I'll have an SPOD unit and just sell my skygear box on the forum. I've got no hard feelings but it is frustrating.

 

Have you guys thought about building one yourself?

 

I have thought of it. You can buy the empty box for around $30, but the main reason I was interested in a sky box was that I'm not very proficient at automotive wiring. Hooking up and using this box was supposed to be pretty simple. From what I understood the smaller box had 20 wires coming out of it. 10 heavier gauge wires to go to your accessories and 10 lighter gauge wires you run in the cab to switches. That appealed to me, so I popped on a box assuming I'd have it in 2 weeks tops. I still do like the skybox, but if he is unable to fill orders what can I do beside humbly ask for a refund and look elsewhere.

 

I built mine (well its almost done just waiting on the right relays (my dumbass ordered the wrong ones). In total it cost me right at 100 bucks for all the parts. Plus the crimper tool which was like 20 bucks. Plus i had to buy the wire (which i would have done anyways) so i think i spent 150 total. Could have done it cheaper but i wanted the weatherpack connectors in the engine compartment so that added some cost.

Building it actually wasnt that hard. Did a few screw ups but thats to be expected for a first timer lol.

With that said the skybox is a great product and well worth it. I only posted to give those who think of building their own an idea of cost of building vs buying

 

How did you wire up your weatherpacks? Do power wires go directly from accessories to the weatherpack? I thought of doing something like that with those connectors.

Say you have 3 aux light sources on your truck, like a roof top light bar, fogs on the front bumper, and reverse lights. I was thinking you could run the power wire from each light to a 3 terminal weatherpack, which would in turn, of course, plug into the corresponding weatherpack plug at the fuse box. In this example all 3 supplies from the fuse box would probably be from a relay versus just a fuse, but you could mix and match your supplies from the fuse box into a multi pin weatherpack, right?

So in my example above, disconnecting a single weatherpack plug would disable all my aux lighting.

I like this method, if I am comprehending it correctly, the only problem is that you'd have to have a pretty solid plan before hand. For instance if you wanted to add one more set of lights, you'd either have to wire it up separate from the other weatherpack or chop off the 3 pin and rewire with a 4 pin.

Or maybe better yet, wire the 5 relay supplies to a 5 pin weatherpack and the 5 fuse only supplies to another 5 pin weatherpack you can leave unused terminals on the weatherpack plugged, waiting for future expansion... that seems to make sense...

Maybe I can wire my own box.........

 

Pretty soon I'm gonna be asking questions about which crimpers to buy and what gauge wire to use!

 

I did not use actual weatherpack connectors. I used these ones (this is just one end of it) http://www.waytekwire.com/item/38063/Metri-Pack-280-Series-Female/

It works more or less the same way though.

As for how i wired it all up...i did pretty much what you mention. Though I used "2" pin terminals cause there was a minimum order. Buying 10 "5" pin ones was a bit excessive and i couldnt find them elsewhere for a good price. But i basically did what you mention. I have the "to switches" off the relay in 3 connectors. The fuse only side has 2 of the connectors. The fifth fused only i put in the same connector as the 1 extra fused terminal.



For the crimper i used this one

Del City Crimp Tool for Weather Pack and Metri-Pack 150 & 280 (1 Per Quantity)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00H9L1HEG/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Its nothing fancy but it works and it a lot cheaper than any other one i could find.




As for doing it yourself....figuring out how to do the connections was the hardest part for me. But order some extra connectors and practice a bit first and it works just fine Mine isnt as "pretty" as Sky's but for the first one i ever did im happy.

 

Hmmm... doing it in pairs is a pretty good idea. Maybe each 2 pin plug would have the one wire for the switch and the one wire for power. That way each accessory is connected to the fuse box and switch with its own plug. Nice idea! Can you mix wire gauges in the same plug? That is, in one 2 pin connector you have one 12 gauge wire (for power) and one 18 gauge wire (for switch).

 

I'm looking at box# 15303-2-x-x

https://www.tacomaworld.com/out/?url=http://www.cooperindustries.com/content/dam/public/bussmann/Transportation/Resources/catalog_pages/power-distribution/bus-cbt-ds-series-15300-rtmr.pdf

The -2 box has bussed fuse side and relay side. This would mean less daisy chains I would have to wire up, right?

In this case both bus terminals would go to battery positive and there would be a third terminal to ground to box?

 

@skygear
Can I get the status of my order?
Payment was sent on 12/27/14.

 

I subscribed to this thread months ago because the skygear box seemed the way to go vs the SPOD. After reading EVERY post on every page to learn about the product and the options available I decided against it due to all the drama and poor communication. I purchased the Trail Toys NSA Switch Panel from Nathan instead.

Just another option for you guys tired of waiting on a skygear box. The NSA switch panel is remote controlled so it solved the problem of not having anywhere in my cab I was willing to cut up to install switches. All my wiring will be under the hood and nothing in the cab but a remote control. I received my box fast and Nathan responds to questions fast. win win.

 

I'm an outsider; take my contribution at face value - but this seems to be taking a similar direction as the GB on lockers that was being organized on here, T4R and Expo. No update, prices promised by a certain date, guys waiting for an update, yadda yadda yadda blah blah blah...

All that I'll say is that those of you left waiting have immense amounts of patience and civility. I'd have been way past the point of still pleading for an update at this point if I was out the money. Of course, the fan boys will chime in and defend the OP; but seriously - get real.
There's always the excuse that "life must be getting in the way"... I get it. There's a clear difference between being anal retentive about demanding an update, and being sympathetic... Just as I'd expect from someone that I'm doing any business with - or is doing business with me - communication is a key factor. It's only right.

How much fucking effort is it to shoot off a short message with an update? Take the the time that you spend on the shitter, grab your phone - and send off some emails!

I hope it works out for those of you that are still out the money.

 

You cant mix wire gauges really. The connectors are made for certain gauges of wire. So you buy one that fits 12-14awg or 14-16awg ect. I just bought 100ft rolls some different color wires so used all 14 gauge.

As for the to switch and to ACC in the same connector. That would work. I just wanted all my "to switches" to be run in the same run of wire so just made one "loom" for them. My to ACC kind of go all over (some in cab some in engine bay) so figured i'd just wire those depending where they go.

I have the 15303-2. So one side has a bus for all 10 fuses. The other side you use that bus for the ground. You need to use the four pin micro relays and you put them in "upside down" in relationship to the bussmann logo. That lets the ground pin of the relay match up with the bus.

You dont need ot make any daisy chains for the bussmann. You just run a small jumper from the fused side to the relay pin 30 (i think i always forget lol). So you end up with 5 fuse spots being used on relays and then just have 5 just fused spots.


Im not an expert but so far this is how i have it and its been working. But we are getting off topic on this thread so feel free to pm and ill help if i can

 

Right on, thanks man.

 

I would love to have Skygear build me one of these with all the bells and whistles, but if I want it within a few months it looks like I'll need to go a different route.

 

Has anyone tried installing Carling switches with the switchbacks into the sunglasses holder? Seems like the depth of the switch is about 2", and the sunglasses holder is about the same... Might just have to go with crimp terminals to make it fit.

 

Last I saw someone put switches up there without the backs it was a tight fit.

 

Tim, I think @EddyRRT did it. I know his switches are up top don't know where though.

 

I'm thinking BGR or Lurry. Eddy said he wanted me to help put his new switch up there.

 

Well the tag works. I got mine up there. But Cap installed it.
I need one of the these blocks BTW