Be kind...I'm more than comfortable working on my truck but electrical isn't intuitive for me.

The objective here is to have 12V power directly from the battery to a couple of new sockets, one in the front and one in the cargo compartment. (I am not using the existing sockets, these are new.*) Without a switch, these sockets would always be hot, however I want to use a push switch similar to OEM to provide control over whether the sockets are live. Please have a look and lmk if this is what the wiring should look like, and if not, your suggestions. Also curious as to what size fuse would be appropriate in this instance.

The fuse block is a Blue Sea Systems 4-circuit, two of which are currently in use (engine bay lights & stereo amp). TIA.




* I'm aware of the constant power mod but don't want to go that route b/c many say the OEM wiring isn't overly robust.

12 ga wire should handle around 15A, so a 15A fuse and a switch rated for higher than that should work.

I would use a relay, the switch to trigger the relay, negative trigger since you want them to be hot with the truck off.

use a fuse of 10-15 amps, not sure how large if your load, but use 14 gauge wire, if you have a large load, 20amp and 12 gauge wires.

check out Car Alarm, Car Stereo, Mobile Video, and Cruise Control Info for Installers for relay diagrams. a lot of those switches are only good to trigger stuff, not to run power right through them.

Riceandpho, thanks for that reference. I was looking at relay circuits, and the titles describe circuits with positive output or negative output. Can you tell me what the difference is and why I would choose one over the other? Positive output and negative output are not in the website glossary.

positive trigger is good if you like to use "accessory mode" to trigger the relay.
also you can use "ignition" (key on) to trigger.
Weak Positive Output to High Current Positive Output Relay Wiring Diagram
basically when you have the "key in", you can trigger the relay to turn on what you need. also the circuit will turn off when the key is out.

negative trigger, is good to use to trigger the relay with no key in. when you tap the ground, it'll trigger the relay. also you want to have a positive output.
Convert a Negative Output to a Positive Output Relay Wiring Diagram

those aftermarket switches is not design to supply a lot of power through them, that's why they recommend to use it with relay.

always fuse the power in side of the relay. typically 10-15 amps is plenty for led fog lights. halogen back then was fused at 20 amps for a pair of lights.

kind of hard to explain, but use positive output from the relay.

what ever way you trigger the relay, you want the output of the relay to provide positive power out.

Aren’t both the outputs from the relay positive?

I have plenty of experience using relays, but none of it is using multiple relays to perform Boolean functions.

not necessary, you can use relay to convert positive to negative and negative to positive.

depending on how the relay is wired, remember the relay is a switch.
the website is kind of useful, you can use them for other things, I use it to make sure alarm / remote start wiring is correct.