aslostasyou
Adventurer
By selling copper wire to China! :sombrero:
So this weekend I was graced with the presence of Afirover to teach me the way of the RAVE Electrical Samurai... We completely gutted the wiring on my Big-*** Disco to the bare minimum. I'll admit I was a little scared at first but once we got going and I was comfortable identifying what was what it was really just like wiring up a set of fog-lamps. I encourage everyone to give it a try.
[FONT="]You can also see in the photos below some of the new back-bone wiring we did for the electrical system. We set it up so the system is based on a 12v back-bone and I have the ability via heavy duty gray plug connectors to connect my ready welder to a 24v or even 36v system if all three batteries are being utilized. The way we designed the system allows for 12v operation all the time with the 2nd and 3rd battery online and available (if the Hellroaring is selected) allowing for a deeper battery power. Because the two aux batteries are connected to the system in a way that it is essentially one big battery we can bridge the + of AUX1 and – of AUX2 with the Ready Welder requiring no additional work or connections with no fear of back feeding 24volts back into the stock electrical system. We also pre-wired for a ignition off solar panel system charge option. Very cool stuff to come..[/FONT]
We traced every SINGLE wire in the entire truck and marked everything off one at a time removing what we didn't need on the final pass.
Wires....
More wires...
AUX1 and AUX2 batteries are located under the seats
Things will obviously be tidy'd up but this is the rough idea. Last time we built the truck I made the misstake of using all the same colored wire and labeled nothing. Not this time!
Be it that we're building the aluminum dash (photos of dash mock up below) I felt it was justified to go through and gut everything that wasn't going to be used. Less points of failure in the field and, it offered the great opportunity to get very comfortable with the true insides of my truck should a field failure occur. I'll also be taking the opportunity to label and relocate all the critical relays and left-behind components. The final stepp will be move the GEMS ECU inside the cab.
The dash is the perfect blend of racer and expedition in my opinion. The allows for a very low line for visibility and will sport a cross-bar connecting both sides of the cage acting as a "stuff hold and o-****e bar." Pre-igition swithches and the push button ignition will reside on the left side of the steering wheel. Locker switches to the right with lights, bilge pumpes, etc...on the left side of the center bulge. 6 critical gauges in the center and on the right of the center bulge and non critical gauges on the pass side stripe. GPS will act as the speedo. Going to build an overhead console to hold the CB, HAM, etc...in between the cage rails.
Thoughts? Ideas...comments...?
Thanks for looking...
So this weekend I was graced with the presence of Afirover to teach me the way of the RAVE Electrical Samurai... We completely gutted the wiring on my Big-*** Disco to the bare minimum. I'll admit I was a little scared at first but once we got going and I was comfortable identifying what was what it was really just like wiring up a set of fog-lamps. I encourage everyone to give it a try.
[FONT="]You can also see in the photos below some of the new back-bone wiring we did for the electrical system. We set it up so the system is based on a 12v back-bone and I have the ability via heavy duty gray plug connectors to connect my ready welder to a 24v or even 36v system if all three batteries are being utilized. The way we designed the system allows for 12v operation all the time with the 2nd and 3rd battery online and available (if the Hellroaring is selected) allowing for a deeper battery power. Because the two aux batteries are connected to the system in a way that it is essentially one big battery we can bridge the + of AUX1 and – of AUX2 with the Ready Welder requiring no additional work or connections with no fear of back feeding 24volts back into the stock electrical system. We also pre-wired for a ignition off solar panel system charge option. Very cool stuff to come..[/FONT]
We traced every SINGLE wire in the entire truck and marked everything off one at a time removing what we didn't need on the final pass.
Wires....
More wires...
AUX1 and AUX2 batteries are located under the seats
Things will obviously be tidy'd up but this is the rough idea. Last time we built the truck I made the misstake of using all the same colored wire and labeled nothing. Not this time!
Be it that we're building the aluminum dash (photos of dash mock up below) I felt it was justified to go through and gut everything that wasn't going to be used. Less points of failure in the field and, it offered the great opportunity to get very comfortable with the true insides of my truck should a field failure occur. I'll also be taking the opportunity to label and relocate all the critical relays and left-behind components. The final stepp will be move the GEMS ECU inside the cab.
The dash is the perfect blend of racer and expedition in my opinion. The allows for a very low line for visibility and will sport a cross-bar connecting both sides of the cage acting as a "stuff hold and o-****e bar." Pre-igition swithches and the push button ignition will reside on the left side of the steering wheel. Locker switches to the right with lights, bilge pumpes, etc...on the left side of the center bulge. 6 critical gauges in the center and on the right of the center bulge and non critical gauges on the pass side stripe. GPS will act as the speedo. Going to build an overhead console to hold the CB, HAM, etc...in between the cage rails.
Thoughts? Ideas...comments...?
Thanks for looking...
