Strategies for upgrading electrical circuits

[4Runner4Leon]

I'm planning a number of electrical upgrades to my '97, and was wondering what others have done for adding circuits/fuses/relays. I want to have a clean install, with minimal number of wires penetrating the firewall.

Some of the upgrades will be for the interior (heated seats, heated mirrors, power outlets). Others will be for the front end (several different lights).

For the interior upgrades, I was thinking of adding a fuse/relay block inside the vehicle. Then run a heavy gauge wire from the battery to the new fuse block, with individual circuits then going to the heated seats, mirrors, etc. That way there is only one penetration through the firewall for the feeder hot wire.

For the exterior, I was thinking of adding another fuse/relay block under the hood, with individual circuits running to the lights as needed. I'd need one wire going through the firewall for each circuit to get to the dash mounted switches.

Does this sound right, and are there more elegant strategies?

 

[pauldub]

Make sure you fuse your feeder wires near the battery.

 

[4-Ripcord]

Here was my solution.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...02-sport-ed-version-2-0-a-30.html#post2615087

20170309-IMG_2299 by Jim Reynolds, on Flickr

 

[4Runner4Leon]

That's a nice install, I've seen it before and was considering it as one possible approach. I'm just not yet ready to drill a 2" hole in the firewall, which is why I'm trying to minimize wires running back and forth.

A couple of questions on your approach (I apologize, I haven't fully studied your diagram yet and the answers may become obvious once I do):

- Why do you have four separate ground wires going back to the fuse box from the switches, as opposed to tying them all together?

- Why did you decide to run a 12V wire to each switch, then run the switched wire to the relay (blue wires are relays, right?), as opposed to having 12V go to the relay and then running just a grounding wire to the switch? (This is how my headlights are currently wired, i.e. negative switched). That would require only one wire penetration through the firewall for each circuit instead of two?

- How did you decide on whether to provide relays to circuits or just power them directly?

- Did you have a separate relay block for all the relays, or use a relay for each circuit as part of the harness?

 

[4-Ripcord]

The routing of wires can be done however you want. I was adding it as relevance for a finished product. But since you asked,

1 & 2. Rookie move. If I did it again I would have daisy chained a single power and ground to the switches. The blue wires are the accessory wires and go directly to the item they are powering (or its relay, see below). Negative switching wasn't considered because I was not worried about how many wires I had going through the firewall since I had that 2" pass through part.

3 & 4. If the accessory came with relays in its harness, I used those. If it didn't, I didn't add one. There is the one main relay for the fuse block itself for an ignition cutoff. If I did it again I would have a relay for every accessory (necessary when daisy chaining power and ground to the switches)

 

[TCLLC]

here is what I did

 

[4Runner4Leon]

The routing of wires can be done however you want. I was adding it as relevance for a finished product. But since you asked,

1 & 2. Rookie move. If I did it again I would have daisy chained a single power and ground to the switches. The blue wires are the accessory wires and go directly to the item they are powering (or its relay, see below). Negative switching wasn't considered because I was not worried about how many wires I had going through the firewall since I had that 2" pass through part.

3 & 4. If the accessory came with relays in its harness, I used those. If it didn't, I didn't add one. There is the one main relay for the fuse block itself for an ignition cutoff. If I did it again I would have a relay for every accessory (necessary when daisy chaining power and ground to the switches)

Thanks, that's very helpful!

 

[4Runner4Leon]

here is what I did

Looks good, can you provide any additional info on the wiring behind the fuse block?

 

[TCLLC]

Looks good, can you provide any additional info on the wiring behind the fuse block?

its a 12 circuit blue seas fuse box, mounted on a power tray. custom battery cables from powertrays. 100 amp fuse on battery, two 100 amp breakers on tray, only one is hooked up to the fuse box. the other is free for now until a compressor or whatever I choose. its all separate from the factory wiring and I can turn it off at any time via the breaker. right now I only have lights connected to it. each light has or will have its own relay. I also have a blue seas below deck panel for the back, it has usb ports and a plug for my fridge. also has a volt meter and a switch.

All wires can go below the tray via the holes and slots in it. I spent about 6 months planning this and got a lot of ideas from this site. I decided against switch pros only because I didn't like the way the panel looked mounted. I got all aob switches for the dash (its worth pointing out that not all lights are mounted yet either)

all wires are hidden either below the tray or under the molding on the fender. If you want more pictures just let me know what you want to see. it was added with the intent of adding more to it in the future.

btw if you need cables, hit up Maverick at PowerTrays, he did some great custom work for me at a great price. and he has all of the measurements

 

[amalik]

definitely seen heated seats posted on here and power outlets, but heated mirrors? daaaaamn. are you considering a dual battery to run all this shit?

 

[4Runner4Leon]

definitely seen heated seats posted on here and power outlets, but heated mirrors? daaaaamn. are you considering a dual battery to run all this shit?

Nah, heated mirrors were stock on '99-02 models.

 

[4Runner4Leon]

its a 12 circuit blue seas fuse box, mounted on a power tray. custom battery cables from powertrays. 100 amp fuse on battery, two 100 amp breakers on tray, only one is hooked up to the fuse box. the other is free for now until a compressor or whatever I choose. its all separate from the factory wiring and I can turn it off at any time via the breaker. right now I only have lights connected to it. each light has or will have its own relay. I also have a blue seas below deck panel for the back, it has usb ports and a plug for my fridge. also has a volt meter and a switch.

All wires can go below the tray via the holes and slots in it. I spent about 6 months planning this and got a lot of ideas from this site. I decided against switch pros only because I didn't like the way the panel looked mounted. I got all aob switches for the dash (its worth pointing out that not all lights are mounted yet either)

all wires are hidden either below the tray or under the molding on the fender. If you want more pictures just let me know what you want to see. it was added with the intent of adding more to it in the future.

btw if you need cables, hit up Maverick at PowerTrays, he did some great custom work for me at a great price. and he has all of the measurements

Sounds like you put a lot of thought into your system, I would like to see more. Do you have a build thread or some place I can see more pics?

 

[TCLLC]

Sounds like you put a lot of thought into your system, I would like to see more. Do you have a build thread or some place I can see more pics?

Not yet, its still a work in progress. I have been keeping pictures for when I do. right now I am doing my blue lights. I am doing them in a very unique way. You would have to see it to understand

I will take some more pictures tonight for you, provided I have time, but I will take more for you as soon as I can

 

[4Runner4Leon]

Not yet, its still a work in progress. I have been keeping pictures for when I do. right now I am doing my blue lights. I am doing them in a very unique way. You would have to see it to understand

I will take some more pictures tonight for you, provided I have time, but I will take more for you as soon as I can

Thanks!

 

[violation]

Link for info.

 

[kolelt]

Here is how I did my electrical. Started with a Bussmann 10 relay box. Basically 10 relays in one clean organized box. I divided the box into 2. 5 wires run to the front engine bay. And 5 to the back, driver side behind the trim. What that means is, whenever I add a accessory that requires a relay. Such as a light, air compressor and so on. I just tap into 1 of the wires. There is another bundle of wires. They are the trigger relay wire. Which are ran to the front of the console under the head unit. So When I add my accessory, I just install rocker switch and that's it. This box is wired to a 100amp breaker.


It is installed in the back under the seat. The box is waterproof, so it can be installed in the engine bay. But I had no room.


Wires in the back.




Wires to the front.





( pics are small, just click on them to enlarge them )
So I installed 2 breakers. 1 bussmann @100amp for the relay box and another bussmann @100amp for blue sea fuse box. The blue sea fuse box will be for small stuff. Such as underhood light and stuff.

Got stainless steel Allen key bolts with washers and rubber washers to mount it. I used a river washer in between the breaker and the metal on one side and used a rubber washer on the other side where the nut goes.




Stuck my hand through that hole to screw the rubber washer and on. Painful haha



Some wires made for the breaker to battery. 4gauge. I'm going to take the electrical tape of and use shrink wrap over the wire loom another day.

 

[kolelt]

The aux fuse relay box



Connected the ground to where the jack mounts



Switches installed





And pic of my dash



I also have a bluesea aux fuse box. This is for small BS electrical stuff. That don't need a relay.








you can see where i mounted my breakers.

 

[TCLLC]

here is an overview of what I did, only one light hooked up so far, but more to come. not as nice as the post above, but as I mentioned, I wanted it separate from everything (I did clean it up after the photos to get rid of the water spots)

 

[sleepydad]

I'm planning a number of electrical upgrades to my '97, and was wondering what others have done for adding circuits/fuses/relays. I want to have a clean install, with minimal number of wires penetrating the firewall.

Some of the upgrades will be for the interior (heated seats, heated mirrors, power outlets). Others will be for the front end (several different lights).

For the interior upgrades, I was thinking of adding a fuse/relay block inside the vehicle. Then run a heavy gauge wire from the battery to the new fuse block, with individual circuits then going to the heated seats, mirrors, etc. That way there is only one penetration through the firewall for the feeder hot wire.

For the exterior, I was thinking of adding another fuse/relay block under the hood, with individual circuits running to the lights as needed. I'd need one wire going through the firewall for each circuit to get to the dash mounted switches.

Does this sound right, and are there more elegant strategies?

sorry super late to the party on this one...

I did something a little different... I think what everybody has done is great but I mounted things a little differently and added a relay based ACC sub-box under the dash. maybe it will give you some extra ideas?

<iframe width="800" height="600" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qiA2XzTUCDs" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I will put some more info to by build but it might take me a bit

 

[4Runner4Leon]

sorry super late to the party on this one...

I did something a little different... I think what everybody has done is great but I mounted things a little differently and added a relay based ACC sub-box under the dash. maybe it will give you some extra ideas?
...

I will put some more info to by build but it might take me a bit

I'd love to see the details, but it says "video unavailable".