The Woofwagon. Beginning pictures

[Woofwagon]

I'll try to take some this afternoon when I unload some items from the Suburbillac. I'd like to mount the LED bar to the rack, but I'll have to see if my schedule this weekend will allow it. Got lots of stuff to get done.

 

[Woofwagon]

LED lights installed. Testing tonight

This is a 32" wide light bar. I only applied about 9VDC off a cordless drill battery.
I had the stock head lights on in the picture, you can't even see them throwing out any light! :Wow1::Wow1::Wow1:
That big hood is a great tool bench.
Lots of room to either side of the light bar for antennae or side lights.
This bumper light was only powered with 9VDC. Gotta love LEDS for how bright they are. :wings::wings::wings:

 

[chilliwak]

Wow:Wow1:talk about hardcore lighting there Woofwagon! That is some light show!:drool:

 

[Woofwagon]

My friend Jon (who's an electrician) joked that I might have Close Encounter of the Third Kind with all those lights on. I retorted that will only happen if I get the sound system installed with the five basic tones from that movie :victory:

 

[chilliwak]

So true Mr Woofwagon. Let me know if I should give you my 18 subwoofer info your way...:drool:

 

[Woofwagon]

I see that Painless Wiring and other companies offer a 22 pin bulkhead connector that can use 12 AWG wire. This would mean that I could have just one sealed connection for all the light circuits and one hole in the firewall. I see that I can buy one with the seals and pins on fleaBay for 28 bucks. Pretty good deal.

 

[superbuickguy]

why such heavy wire for LEDs?

I've not had huge luck with NAPA or ebay with electrical supply stuff.... I've found that when they're great, they're awesome, but there's a great one in about every 100 sellers

 

[Woofwagon]

Well considering that the LED bar will draw at least 20amps, 12 AWG will give an appropriate safety factor for the amperage required. I have an Allied Electronics account. I can get bulkhead connectors from them as well. I"ve had good experiences with ordering components from Amazon and eBay. The light bar is rated at 300 watts. 300 Watts / 12VDC = 25 amps. There is a 30amp fuse in the wiring harness. I have 30amp rated switches for all the lights mounted on the vehicle. Now it's matter of running the wire. I'd like to make a proper harness so there isn't a rat's nest of wiring running helter skelter all over the engine bay. Using a 22 pin bulkhead connector would allow me to have one process connection through the firewall that would be liquid and dust tight. I work with these connectors all the time at my job for a waterjet cutting machine company.

 

[Woofwagon]

This is a link to wire ampacity chart. It shows what the acceptable amount of current should be for various gauges of wire. Ideally I should use 10AWG for a 30amp load, but 12AWG will do quite well, especially if stranded.

http://www.cerrowire.com/ampacity-charts

 

[chilliwak]

Any pics of your install Mr Woof?:drool:

 

[Woofwagon]

Not yet, emergencies keep coming up and by the time I'm done with them I'm so pooped that I need to hibernate for a couple days. I would like to do some wiring this Sunday afternoon if I can get my electrician friend to give me a hand. I need to cut a new switch panel for the rocker switches. The one I made, the holes are too tight.

 

[Colorado_Outback]

Not yet, emergencies keep coming up and by the time I'm done with them I'm so pooped that I need to hibernate for a couple days.

I sure know how that gos. LED's look awesome.

 

[escadventure]

Woof, have you got any pics of your Airtab installation? I'm always interested to sqeeze another mpg out of my truck...

 

[Woofwagon]

See attached.
AirTabs work best about 3-6" from the tailing edge. Put the tabs on 4" centers. Any trailing surface with an angle greater than 30 degrees works best with AirTabs
I have these on my F250, not sure how well they work with that headache rack in the way, but I'm still pulling down 27mpg on the freeway with no load.
AirTabs can be sprayed to match the color of your vehicle.
I have two additional AirTabs ahead of the rear wheel arches to keep pockets of turbulence from forming there. I have additional trailing edge AirTabs ahead of the tail lights on the truck as well.

 

[Woofwagon]

Small update on the Woofwagon. I installed the 150psi compressor today. I need to do the wiring and air line to the rear bumper/tank still but the compressor dropped right into its bracket with no fuss. I'm going to use simple push connectors for the air lines. I also have a switch panel ready to wire in for the lights.


This little furnace is a Rocket type cook stove. You run this little beauty on just twigs and you get super amounts of heat for little fuel. Sure beats worrying about having bottles of Coleman gas.