Power Distribution
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From: Vernon, NY
Power Distribution
Okay... I was thinking about adding some more accessories to my truck, like a CB radio, and possibly some Hella lights when I get my brush guard. However... right now my battery has more wire going to it than my fuse box. 
It looks bad.
How can I clean it up?! I was thinking of some sort of fuse box or distribution block for smaller accessories.
However, all I keep coming up with is stereo sub woofer amp distribution blocks that are guaged like 1/0 to 4 AWG wiring... sheesh, I don't think my tiny little wires would even go into it. Not to mention the fuse would never burn out, which could set my truck ablaze if something went wrong.
I'm looking for like a fuse panel or distribution block that I can attach say 1 input of a decent AWG wire to handle about 10 accesories. This way there is only 2 wires going to the battery and that is the positive and the negative.
It might sound confusing what I am looking for... but I basically want like a place where I can connect all of my accessories without them directly connecting to the battery to take all of the accessory (like my HAM radio, lights, etc) wiring off of the battery posts.
It looks bad.How can I clean it up?! I was thinking of some sort of fuse box or distribution block for smaller accessories.
However, all I keep coming up with is stereo sub woofer amp distribution blocks that are guaged like 1/0 to 4 AWG wiring... sheesh, I don't think my tiny little wires would even go into it. Not to mention the fuse would never burn out, which could set my truck ablaze if something went wrong.
I'm looking for like a fuse panel or distribution block that I can attach say 1 input of a decent AWG wire to handle about 10 accesories. This way there is only 2 wires going to the battery and that is the positive and the negative.
It might sound confusing what I am looking for... but I basically want like a place where I can connect all of my accessories without them directly connecting to the battery to take all of the accessory (like my HAM radio, lights, etc) wiring off of the battery posts.
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From: Vernon, NY
Originally Posted by i.ride.suzuki
Thank you!
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I used this:
www.waytekwire.com
Stock number 46071
Basically you just bend down the terminal ends on one side and solder a 10AWG cable across them and run that to the positive side of the battery...cover the solder in hot melt glue..
I can't remember his username, but there is someone on here that had a website w/F150 mods...there are pics of the very thing I just described..
I'll see if I can find it..
R/
Craig
www.waytekwire.com
Stock number 46071
Basically you just bend down the terminal ends on one side and solder a 10AWG cable across them and run that to the positive side of the battery...cover the solder in hot melt glue..
I can't remember his username, but there is someone on here that had a website w/F150 mods...there are pics of the very thing I just described..
I'll see if I can find it..
R/
Craig
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Originally Posted by i.ride.suzuki
R/
Craig
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From: Wichita KS
Calculate your amps before you buy one of those fuse boxes. For me I pull too much juice (100A just on lights) so I bought one of these:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Stinger-4-Gang-M...QQcmdZViewItem
It's a 4 way power block with MAXI fuse. That's the big blade type that go up to about 100A. I'm splitting it 4 ways for my various accessories.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Stinger-4-Gang-M...QQcmdZViewItem
It's a 4 way power block with MAXI fuse. That's the big blade type that go up to about 100A. I'm splitting it 4 ways for my various accessories.
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From: Vernon, NY
I want to purchase one of these, but I've been delayed due to time... and the fact that now I want to install more electrical accessories...
I'm looking at this site...
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/Rel...Fuse_Boxes.asp
On the bottom, there is a Hella 8 Junction box.
This one:
Anyhow, do both the positive and the negative go into the box? Or do I still have to find a ground?
Right now I've got my accessories wired up to both the + and - terminals of the battery. I tried using the frame as a ground, and got poor results. So I just took the extra effort to run the extra wire.
My major question is...
When using this fuse box, I want to run BOTH the + and - to the box, just like how I have it on the battery now, is this possible? OR do I need to buy two of those boxes, one for the + and one for - terminals?
I don't want to buy one, and find out I need two or I need to take everything off the - and go crazy trying to ground it.
I'm looking at this site...
http://www.rallylights.com/hella/Rel...Fuse_Boxes.asp
On the bottom, there is a Hella 8 Junction box.
This one:
Anyhow, do both the positive and the negative go into the box? Or do I still have to find a ground?
Right now I've got my accessories wired up to both the + and - terminals of the battery. I tried using the frame as a ground, and got poor results. So I just took the extra effort to run the extra wire.
My major question is...
When using this fuse box, I want to run BOTH the + and - to the box, just like how I have it on the battery now, is this possible? OR do I need to buy two of those boxes, one for the + and one for - terminals?
I don't want to buy one, and find out I need two or I need to take everything off the - and go crazy trying to ground it.
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Okay... I was thinking about adding some more accessories to my truck, like a CB radio, and possibly some Hella lights when I get my brush guard. However... right now my battery has more wire going to it than my fuse box. It looks bad.
How can I clean it up?! I was thinking of some sort of fuse box or distribution block for smaller accessories.
However, all I keep coming up with is stereo sub woofer amp distribution blocks that are guaged like 1/0 to 4 AWG wiring... sheesh, I don't think my tiny little wires would even go into it. Not to mention the fuse would never burn out, which could set my truck ablaze if something went wrong.
I'm looking for like a fuse panel or distribution block that I can attach say 1 input of a decent AWG wire to handle about 10 accesories. This way there is only 2 wires going to the battery and that is the positive and the negative.
It might sound confusing what I am looking for... but I basically want like a place where I can connect all of my accessories without them directly connecting to the battery to take all of the accessory (like my HAM radio, lights, etc) wiring off of the battery posts.
It looks bad.How can I clean it up?! I was thinking of some sort of fuse box or distribution block for smaller accessories.
However, all I keep coming up with is stereo sub woofer amp distribution blocks that are guaged like 1/0 to 4 AWG wiring... sheesh, I don't think my tiny little wires would even go into it. Not to mention the fuse would never burn out, which could set my truck ablaze if something went wrong.
I'm looking for like a fuse panel or distribution block that I can attach say 1 input of a decent AWG wire to handle about 10 accesories. This way there is only 2 wires going to the battery and that is the positive and the negative.
It might sound confusing what I am looking for... but I basically want like a place where I can connect all of my accessories without them directly connecting to the battery to take all of the accessory (like my HAM radio, lights, etc) wiring off of the battery posts.
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Technical Article Contributor
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 10,636
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From: Vernon, NY
Anyhow, I will learn how to do it on this truck, so it will come out 2x better on the new truck.
Besides, if I screw up I could really care less... the other owner will deal with it. Talk about passin' the buck... haha
Not to mention if I get this, it will make removal like unpluging appliances from a my house and moving them into another house and plugging them in. I'm getting another HAM radio so I can xmit on 6m and 10m... as I got a few buddies that like to do remote (((DXing)))...
Last edited by ManualF150; Jun 1, 2008 at 11:43 AM.
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From: Wichita KS
I'd kick the ground to the nearest solid metal. But you can run grounds to the fuse block as use that as a distrubtion block for grounds. When I installed my amps I ran one massive wire to the frame and used a ground distro block to split to the amps. When I installed Yeasu 9800 quad band HAM radio I used a dedicated fused power/ground just to prevent any noise from coming into the system. That's something I need to do for my CB as I get tons of noise on it.
That fuse box is looking tempting now that I'm getting a lot of smaller items installed in the truck now.
That fuse box is looking tempting now that I'm getting a lot of smaller items installed in the truck now.