Best way to power accessories
Kevin Johnson
As I'm tinkering with my Jeep tonight, adding yet another electrical
accessory, I'm thinking there has to be a better way... So far I've added KC
lights, an extra accessory outlet (cigarette lighter) and CB. I am of
limited electrical knowledge, so I've just been using what I think they call
"blade adapters" to get power from the fuse box. (These are the little
things that you crimp onto the end of the power wire, align with the fuse,
then try to cram into the fuse slot along with tthe fuse.)
Anyway, my question is: Is there any better way to get power to these types
of accessories without splicing into pre-exsisting wiring, or jamming more
wires into the fuse box? Maybe I could somehow use the empty slots on my
fuse block, or establish some kind of "power distribution point" that is
wired directly to the battery.
Like I said, I'm no electrical whiz. Maybe this question has been answered
before. If so, maybe somebody could point me to the thread and I could try
to educate myself.
Also, has anybody tried this:
http://home.att.net/~email.id/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html
It is supposedly a homemade way to electrically disable your Jeep. Sounds
legit.
Thanks in advance for any advice,
Kevin
_________________
Kevin
'02 TJ
EdC
"Kevin Johnson" <kjohn...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Anyway, my question is: Is there any better way to get power to these types
> of accessories without splicing into pre-exsisting wiring,
>
between the splice and the source and at best, overloads your existing
fuse and at worst overheats the wire and causes a fire.
Run your own line off the battery with an inline fuse or fusable link
making sure that the wire you're using is heavy enough to handle the
current load(s). I haven't worked directly with enough electrons recently
enough to quote wire sizes vs amps and fuse sizes. Just get enough info
from somewhere to make sure your fuse is your weakest link!
--
Ed in Vegas, '94 YJ
It is a truly unfortunate accident of the English language
that the words JEEP and CHEAP rhyme.
Mike Shelley
I also put a pair of lights up there and I ran into a similar problem with
things that I've added to my electrical system previously... I didn't like
the idea of trying to squeeze another wire into the fuse box, so I installed
a terminal strip on the plastic trim piece on the left side of the driver
side foot area... I used ring connectors on all the wires instead of just
wrapping the bare wires around the terminal screws... A power distribution
terminal strip would be better, but I was working on this after Radio Shack
had closed, so I had to make do with the parts that I happened to have on
hand... To give the equivalent to a power distribution terminal strip, I
routed a solid conductor wire around all of the terminal screws on the
bottom of the terminal strip and put all the accessories on the top half...
It's possible to put multiple ring connectors on a single terminal screw,
but it makes a neater installation if you separate everything... I did the
same thing for my ground connection and for another terminal block that is
just used as an intermediary between power and the switches... Depending
upon the size of the terminal block, you could combine all of these
functions on a single terminal block... A terminal block and ring
connectors sure look better than a bunch of wire splices (even the crimp on
type inline wire splices)... Depending upon how much amperage you are
drawing, you might need to use a larger wire directly to the battery for the
initial 12V for the power distribution terminal strip...
Jo
battery that is wired directly to my second battery which is located
directly below the original battery) that I use for the extras...Don't have
many extras yet, but who knows what's to come??? Ya know?
--
As a dear friend wisely advised me, "Someone without baggage has either been
nowhere or has nowhere to go, my love."
"Kevin Johnson" <kjohn...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Michael A. Cochran
power and ground buses that do an excellent job of providing good connection
points. They even sell a version of a power buss that has inline fuses
built in (very cool). Mount them to your firewall near the battery and wire
them directly to the battery with 10 or 12 gauge wire. Then you can wire
all your accessories back to the busses for good clean power and neat easily
maintained wiring.
The downside of this is that any accessory you wire through the busses is
hot all the time and is not controlled by the ignition switch. You can
either power off the accessories manually or you can wire the hot side
buss's connection to the battery through a relay that is connected to your
jeep's accessory circuit. The relay will be activated by power in the
accessory circuit when the key is in either the run or acc position.
This works great, I did this to my YJ years ago.
MAC
"Kevin Johnson" <kjohn...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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K. J. Turnbeaugh
All of the answers that have been on the group are good. If you are going
to run a lot of electronics I would go with a battery separator, that is an
electronic device that gets hooked into your electronics between the
alternator and your battery. One side will go to the car battery, the other
to a second battery and a third goes to the alternator. This device allows
you to charge both batteries but if one battery fails it will not allow a
discharge from the good battery. Your second battery should also be a deep
cycling battery. Run all of your electronic extras off of this one. You
can check with different marine, off road, electronic shops for a small fuse
box that you can wire in off the positive side of the battery. You will
find most electronic gear comes with specific amp ratings. Slip in the
proper fuse and there should not be any problems. For Wire I would check
with local electronic stores in the area. Radio shack may not have the type
of wire that you need for the application. For Wire leading to the fuse box
I would suggest a good 8 gauge buss wire use red for the box and black to
ground to the body. Use 10-12 Gauge wire to go to your high amp items. It
may seem like overkill but later on you will thank yourself for it. Also
never wire you radio gear to cigarette lighter plug. Should you be
transmitting and the plug loosen (intermittent contact can melt the plug
housing in about 15 seconds) or just gets pulled out (can blow the accessory
fuse and the main fuse that supplies it) you can loose more than just the
power to the electronic device. I know that it sounds extreme but if you
take the time and wire everything soundly you won't be in a jam later. One
other item I might mention. By having the second battery option should your
main electrical system shut down for any reason, you should have a complete
charged battery powering that emergency radio. A great thing to have when
you are out in the middle of nowhere.
I run a system like this and power 4 complete separate radios, a location
beacon, Laptop computer and GPS unit.
--
K. J. Turnbeaugh N0UIJ
(Ham Radio Operator 11 years, General Radiophone Operator License,
Electronics Technician 22 Years)
Everyone has a photographic memory.
Some just don't have film.
"Kevin Johnson" <kjohn...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
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Zippo
Terry Jeffrey
your existing tray:
http://www.wranglernw.com/
They also sell them through Quadratec:
http://www.quadratec.com
and 4WD Hardware:
http://www.4wd.com/
but I think they are all the Wrangler NW tray.
Terry.
"Zippo" <elimin...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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