Progress has been slow, but I am happy to report, progress has been made.
I finished running cable from the aux battery under the hood to the passenger side saddle bag storage in the bed and wired in a few outlets.
I ran the flexible 1/2" grey conduit first then ran the 1/0 wire through to the back.... but not all the way up into the saddle bag storage, I left it hanging on the ground to make it easier to fish the wire through. I ended up running paracord through the conduit with fish tape, then drilling a hole through the end of the 1/0 wire where I tied the paracord through, trying to attach the fish cord to the 1/0 wire didn't work. While I pushed/fed on the cable on one end applying wax, and my son pulled on the paracord, which I wrapped around a thick dowel to make a handle. We got it through fairly easily with that method. Once it was through, I poked the cable and conduit up through the floor of the storage compartment. I had already put on the ring terminals on the end I was pushing through, and I cut and put the ring terminals on the other end in the bed once I knew how much I needed.
Here is under the truck in the back where it enters into the saddle back storage compartment from underneath.
Here is the inside before I cut it down.
This is the aux battery under the hood. The negative terminal is wired direct and run to the back, while the positive runs through a 200A circuit breaker that I stuck on the battery. You can also see the PAC isolator that runs through a fuse then up to the positive, that cable is black conduit. The conduit pretty much follows the frame all the way back.
On the inside, I decided to permanently mount an Anderson Power Pole (APP) panel mount connector and an regular 12v plug into the side wall figuring there may be times I may want to have some power, but not the full panel or maybe need the power but don't have the full panel in the truck. I will mount the rest of the outlets to the panel and as I said earlier, that entire system will be removable so I can use it to run a separate battery power box.
Here is a shot of what it looks like inside the storage compartment. I have the cables coming up through the conduit, and attached to a Blue Sea Systems Dual Power Post with a Blue Sea Systems ST- Blade Battery Terminal Mount Fuse Block Kit. You can see the smaller wire coming off and is wired to the APP and 12v ports. Coming off the post is also 1/0 wire with a big APP connector that I will plug into another panel mounted inside going to a fuse box (see further below). I've wired one APP with a 15 Amp fuse for the ARB fridge, one with a 30 Amp fuse for use with a tire inflator, and the 12v socket with a 15 Amp fuse. All are wired with 10 gauge wire. The two APP connectors are rated up to 45 Amps each . I really took all the over build recommendations to heart and I wanted to be prepared if I need more power for something else that comes along later.
This is the next part of the project… I will be putting in more power ports into the panel, along with a fuse box, solar controller, and a 1500W inverter inside the storage box. Pictured is the actual panel not drilled yet, the cardboard mockup with actual components - very much still a work in progress All of this will be removable and attachable to a portable battery power box. Layout is all wrong here and I hope to fit in a small fan in the panel, wired to the inverter so that when the inverter is turned on, the fan kicks on to alleviate any temperature issues inside the storage box.
Let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions....
Cheers, Maker.