Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hi all.

i have decided to tidy up the wiring that myself and the previous owner have added to the troopy. I'm have created on PDF and word a picture of the proposed loom that i'm going to make. I was wondering if i could get some professional opinions on it, suggestions etc.

I don't know how to convert a PDF or word diagram to a jpg picture so i can't host it. could those of you who are prepared to help shoot me a pm or post so i can forward it to you.

My aims for this are -

1. Get rid of the spiderweb of little cables on my battery terminals
2. Use proper siting of fuses to protect the accessories and car
3. Minimise voltage drop to the various items to maximise performance

Some general questions i have are -

1. on high draw items like my compressors, spotties and fridge should i have a dedicated Earth return cable to the battery, or will an earth that goes to the chassis be sufficient for minimal voltage drop and efficiency.

2. i intend to have large 4 ga. cables coming of the batteries going to distribution blocks that have integral fuses off each smaller wire coming out (8 ga.). Should I, and how would I, put a fuse in the larger cables at the battery to stop my truck burning to the ground.

3. Are high capacity relays ok to use for my compressors (30A peak), instead of using solenoids. Reason being that the only solenoids i can find to do the job have exposed threaded terminals and i don't want them exposed under the seat.

4. Is it worth soldering the joints/fittings/terminals for minimising voltage drop, and can some one give me a bit of a step by step on how to do it in awkward spots on the car.

cheers
MILO

rockcrawler31 wrote:I don't know how to convert a PDF or word diagram to a jpg picture so i can't host it. could those of you who are prepared to help shoot me a pm or post so i can forward it to you.

Send me the PDF and I'll have a stab. Contact details at bottom of post.

1. on high draw items like my compressors, spotties and fridge should i have a dedicated Earth return cable to the battery, or will an earth that goes to the chassis be sufficient for minimal voltage drop and efficiency.

As long as part is bolted tightly to chassis, or a fat wire runs to the chassis or unpainted thick metal body part, it'll be as good as a wire back to the battery. For things like spotties that have a dubious path to the chassis, run a return wire.

2. i intend to have large 4 ga. cables coming of the batteries going to distribution blocks that have integral fuses off each smaller wire coming out (8 ga.). Should I, and how would I, put a fuse in the larger cables at the battery to stop my truck burning to the ground.

Yeah you should. Use fusable link wire of the required capacity.

3. Are high capacity relays ok to use for my compressors (30A peak), instead of using solenoids. Reason being that the only solenoids i can find to do the job have exposed threaded terminals and i don't want them exposed under the seat.

If the relay's rating exceeds the unit's draw, fine. As long as it is fused right it doesn't matter if the relay/solenoid is over rated.

4. Is it worth soldering the joints/fittings/terminals for minimising voltage drop, and can some one give me a bit of a step by step on how to do it in awkward spots on the car.

Only if you can't substitute with a tight plug, connector or nut.

Take only 2c value from this post.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h228/ ... wiring.jpg

finally got it converted to a pic.

any suggestions now would be great

rockcrawler31 wrote:Hi all.

I don't know how to convert a PDF or word diagram to a jpg picture so i can't host it. could those of you who are prepared to help shoot me a pm or post so i can forward it to you.

Acrobat reader has a snapshot tool, you can snapshot the entire visible area(on screen). You will lose quality though.