Fuse Block/Backup-Flood Light

[John L]

Pinzies:

I finally had eough time to finish my project. Thanks to all of those that commented with regards to my questions. Especially Morris who inspired me to install the fuse block and not just grap some power for this one light.

So, here's what I did. I needed a back up light to obtain my inspection sticker in La. (I actually had one but had to "promise" to install a light. LOL) Anyway, using my Pinz in the woods in the dark required the install of a light in the back anyway. The best location was on the passenger side in the back. You can see from the photos that I fabricated a steel tab and welded it to the frame on the back. It was primed and painted. A hole drilled to mount the light. There is a natural hole in the frame with a plug on it already at the back. So, I used that chanell to run my wires up to the front.

Note, I ran duplex thinking I needed it. At the end of the day I decided to ground the light to the body of the truck, so the second wire was unecessary. It made the install more difficult trying to fish the wire out of the hole behind the passenger seat. FYI for anyone doing this in the future. While I have an extra wire run to the back now, I didn't need it for this project.

I insalled the 12 fuse block on the wall behind the passenger front seat next to the radio plug. I bought the block from Westmarine. It's rated for 32 v and designed for rough outdoor use. I obtained power from the radio plug. I bought the plug from SAV. I'm not sure if all of them are the same; but the "B" plug designation was the positive connection on my plug and"A" was the neutral/ground. For anyone purchasing this plug it requires a sautered connection and there aren't any instructions. Dry fit everything before you sauter your wires so you are confident they are correct. Use your voltmeter to confirm the positive and negative connections on the plug. It will only connect one way and if you reverse the polarity you have a problem. One other tid bit: before sautering your wires you need to slide the rubber and plastic pieces onto the wire so they can be slid into place to separate the pins. After you connect your wires you may want to lightly spray the wires withe WD 40 so the rubber piece slides easily down the wires. If you don't, you may rip your work apart and have to start over (learn from my mistakes!)

After you have connected the block you will then need to run a wire up to the dash that you will connect to switch. I decided to use a manual switch for my light so I can use it both as a back up light and a flood light when in the woods. I switch the hot wire, so I ran a wire from the + on the fuse block to the dash and back. You will see where the wire supplying power to the radio plug comes from when you pull off the engine cover. Underneath it was another hole that I used for my wire. I ran it along with the other wires in the engine compartment, out and along the passenger side of the air box and into/under the dash. I used a $10 fan switch from SAV. It looks just like the stock switches.

The light I ran is a 1000 lumen LED flood light. It is used as a work light on tow trucks. While it cranks out some serious light, it draws very few amps.

Here are some photos:

[John L]

Here are a few more photos. Also note that while I didn't take photos of it, I used rubber grommets where the wires went through a hole in the metal (rear, out of frame behind seat, and into engine compartment). I also didn't take a pic of the switch, but I had an unused spot on my dash that had a plug in it that I removed and used it for the place to install the light switch. If anyone has questions please drop me a note:

[krick3tt]

John,

That is one serious light. Looks like you now know much more about your vehicle. I was surprised about the requirement
to have a light back there but, each state is different. CA and WA did not make get an emissions test, CO does.

Morris

[captxmas]

Sweet Job. You seem to know alot about the Pinz electrical system. Perhaps you or other members could share a little advice.

I am planning to use the same type application from the radio connector in a 710K to power an 120 volt inverter (small compressor for air horn and tire filling, laptop while camping. ) supplied or a 30 amp 24/12 converter. What size wire are you using and do you think this can be accomplished without harm to the vehicle?

Additionally I plan to put in a bank of 2 or 3 12 volt batteries to supply accessories. Do you think a charger (?) could be installed in this system also. Recommendations?

Thanks in advance to anyone contributing. I appreciate this site so much.

[audiocontr]

re the bank of batteries off of an inverter: Cant be done without a charge circuit. If you find one, let me know!

I have a massive 24v to 115 v inverter for running random tools. Connecting a 115v - 12v battery charger to it is incredibly inefficient and not a proper solution. Look into adding a 12v alternator if you really need a large amount of 12v

[audiocontr]

wonder how much this is: http://eurogroup.gb.com/24v_12v_battery_chargers.htm