Auxiliary fuse box....installation tips

[knac1234]

Hello all,

So some of the accessories that were in my truck before (fog lamps and rear window defroster) were kind of rigged up (fortunately none of the harness was hacked apart to do so). I want to add an extra fuse box and make a neat job of the wiring.

Any tips on how to hook it up, assuming I would like these items to be able to receive power only when the ignition is on. Should I use a heavy gauge wire (w/inline fuse) from the solenoid to one of the 4 fuse box terminals and bridge it across all 4 fuses. Of course, the other side of each fuse would connect to the relay/accessory/switch.

Fuse 1-fog lamps
Fuse 2-rear defrost
Fuse 3/4-L/R heated windscreen (newly added)

Note all will have relays.

Any tips/diagrams appreciated.

Thanks,
Julian

Note: all has been fine electrically now.....heated windscreen may require an alt upgrade in the future, but I do not intend on running everything all at once, so will see...

[SafeAirOne]

You might check out one of these all-in-one (relay and fuse) units--about as simple as it gets. Wiring would be pretty simple too.

[o2batsea]

First, add up all the amp load that the accessories will draw. Chances are that you can get away with a regular old Cole Hersee continuous solenoid to power your feeds. This will get energized from the ignition switch on terminal. Run 8g from the battery to the solenoid lugs, and then to the fuse box positive. Nothing less than 16g from the switch feed to the solenoid switching lugs.
With proper fusing you won't need any other solenoids for the circuits.

Where'd you get your heated glass?

[printjunky]

I did exactly that: Battery to continuous solenoid to a mid 90's Caddy fusebox. Check my posts, there are some pics and questions/answers, but I will try and get some better pics of the entire system. It is grafted in carefully, and permanent connections are soldered and double marine shrink-wrapped. Now almost nothing comes from my original fusebox, and the entire system is pretty easily reversible - I cut relatively few connectors - (even though I expect to drive my dream car for the rst of my life and have no intention of becoming a purist). In fact, the only thing that is not switched (turned on by the key) is the four-way flasher. I have something like the capacity for 18 or so circuits and room for 4 or so relays. I am using 2 relays so far, and about 10 circuits. So I have room to grow. Oh, I also have a hi-amp circuit breaker that I was considering putting at the front of the whole thing to, hopefully stop catastrophic failures, but haven't done so yet, and it might be even more overkill than the overkill I've already done.

[knac1234]

Thanks for all the tips--and Mark for the GNR post too.

printjunky--please post some more details if you have them. I will search your posts too....

o2--heated glass came from Ricky Evans motorsport---about $375 shipped from the UK to me in Colorado---good price

Julian