Accessory Wiring Overkill

I've been planning to add some useful exterior lights to my pickup, a 2013 F150, since I bought it last year but it wasn't a really high priority. This is by far the nicest vehicle I've ever owned so I want to do it right, not just throw some crap together and curse the failures while hoping it doesn't burn down. I did some research early on and found the hardware I wanted to use but the cost wasn't really justifiable so I decided to just wait. I recently found out that I have a hernia and have to have surgery, so I started thinking about projects I could stay busy on that didn't involve heavy lifting. Know what's light? small amounts of wire! Combine that with an unexpected work bonus and I was finally convince to blow way too much money on complete overkill electrical upfitting!

I'm stoked about this so I'm starting the thread even though I'm just ordering parts.

What I'm adding.

• LED off road lights - I do actually venture out in the deep woods with this truck and use the 4WD, so these will see some use. Mission critical? Of course not! Plan is to buy a couple individual high-output LED pods that will fire through the factory grill. I want the function, but I don't want the "offroad tiara" light bar
• Backup/ground lights - Backing out of my driveway on dark and stormy mornings could be better. But also I want lights that shine on the ground behind the truck and beside the bed to make loading the mountain bike stuff nicer after a night ride. Tie them all together and call it all back up lights. manual switched so I can use them or not
• Bed lights - LED's under the rail, also for loading/unloading at night
• other...Dunno. Future expansion? I have a ham radio that's direct wired to the battery for power reasons, probably won't run that through the relay box. Ditto on a cheap Chinese air compressor. I will do a hardwired plug for it, but probably not through the relay box. either/both might get run through the main disconnect though.

So where to start? With power distribution, relays and switching. Enter my first glamour piece, the Eaton SSVEC 36-000-0:

water tight 200 amp, 8 circuit fused relay power distribution hub. Includes the fuses, the relays, the input/output connectors in the sides and even the fuse puller. $156 from Waytekwire.com (and again, could we get some photo sizing controls?)

This thing is one of my two splurges on this project. I bought connector pins, seals, and the pin tool as well. You see stuff like this in some marine installs, and maybe in police/ambulance upfitting? I've never seen this level stuff in aftermarket hot-rodding or off-roading though.  I'm excited about this one.

I also ordered a 150amp rated main circuit breaker that will feed the panel. I'll keep the load below that as an over all safety buffer. 

Next, switching hardware. I found a guy that does custom panels for F150s on one of the truck forums. CNC machined, anodized, switches of your choice, wired to your specs. Even does custom etching although I opted for more switches. The panel mounts in an empty headliner bulge between the sunglass holder and the sunroof:

It uses the Carling style switches that are the defacto standard and very versatile. Mine will have more OE looking switch graphics like the Off Road Lights above, not the little pics of the truck which just seem redundant.  Here's a pic of one with etched logo:

This is my second splurge. wired with 6 switches and 12 foot of cable, it's going to cost me $230.  But free shipping!

And the wiring is well done and will make my life easier. Sure, I could save a few bucks and only put in 3 switches, but why not install the full set so I don't have to take the trim off a second time, and wire all the switches to relays. That way all I have to do for new accessories is wire to the relay's power outlets.

Waytek parts are on the way, the panel will be soon enough. I'll start thinking about placement of the relay box and deciding cableing requirements. I'll spec to the 150amps and keep the runs short but I will likely run + and - direct to battery instead of body grounding it.

Once it's installed and the controls are wired I'll actually order some of the stuff it needs to power!

One man's "overkill" is another man's "just enough". 

Yeah, I guess so. I think mainly I'm a sucker for color coded plastic bits.

I can only see the first picture, the one of the box. I want to see all the pictures, especially of the install. You should take lots of pictures. 

Hmm. Later pics are linked out of my email, probably the issue. I'll correct that. EDIT: linked some new ones out of a forum. See if that's better.

I will take lots of pics as soon as stuff starts arriving!

That fuse/relay box looks a lot easier to deal with than the one I built in 2003!

That's not bad, that's kind of where I was headed when I stumbled on the Eaton piece. They're available in a bunch of different specs and sizes, this is the smallest. Also Waytek can customize them as needed.

Pictures are there now. And awesome. Thanks for showing us this. 

I love electrical overkill.  My trailer wiring plug has a dedicated 8-ga for live power through a 40A breaker, and a 10-ga line from an proportional brake controller... on a truck that is technically rated to tow 3500 lbs.

Soon I'll be adding under-rail bed lights and a switchable hitching light above the receiver.  Reversing duties have been helped immensely with some super-bright LED reverse lights.

I'm looking forward to how anal I can be when I rewire the 67 LeMans.  I'm going to have a centralized fuse/relay panel under the hood; most likely from a GMT900 because they have enough circuits and they're all in once place.

I also want to do a big bulkhead connector for everything on the engine.  If I ever need to pull it, I can yank one plug, pull the fuel line, and I'm done.  I'm having trouble finding a multi-plug that has at least two pins hefty enough to handle starter and alternator, so they might be on their own.

I don't know why but the last few years the idea of perfectly aligned and color coded wiring harnesses makes my pants tight. Maybe it's a result of having newer cars that actually run without heavy wrenching...

Anyway, I was looking at mounting possibilities. Anyone want to.play "whats behind that bulkhead?"

That spot under the ECU looks perfect but I'm betting I shouldnt sink self tappers in it for a mount bracket. Have to check the factory manual. I had too many tacos to stand on my head under the dash tonight.

We had a stud welder at the sign shop where I worked. If I was still there I'd pull the battery and ecu and spot weld 3 studs in. Maybe I could tack in bolts with my flux core...

I can heartily recommend Lightforce lights, particularly if you want driving lights. Pics for emphasis:

Low beams:

High beams with an led light bar and the HID Lightforce pencil beams:

For perspective, the no passing sign on the left is 0.4 miles away, the street sign behind it 0.6 miles away, and the stop sign is 1.6 miles away.

Doublecheck me here peeps. THis is the exploded view of the HVAC box from the service manual. Looking at the internal box, it mounts on pedestals. Which means there is at least a little space between the firewall and the box itself. If I were to use screws at the 3 red dots that were just long enough to get a hold in the sheet metal - say 1/2" - I think I'd be fine.

What do you guys think?

EDIT - or even better, screws at the top two red dots and use the HVAC mount nut/stud as my bottom mount.

Watching with interest.

I have some lighting/accessory wiring projects upcoming on our Bronco... always looking for good ideas and nifty parts. 

Ill throw a vote in for Baja Designs lights. I finally spent the $$ and holy hell.....

Buddy took this from behind with his headlights off.

If I were to use screws at the 3 red dots that were just long enough to get a hold in the sheet metal - say 1/2" - I think I'd be fine.

I tend to agree.  The engineering diagrams make it look doable, but I found this image in a google search that gives a better sense of how tall the pedestal on the evap box is.

Its not shown in the drawing but on the actual part the pedestal looks to be as deep as the threaded portion of the mounting stud. Seems reasonable you can sink a few sheet metal screws in the neighborhood and be OK.

the only caveat I can think of is there may be other wiring in that neighborhood that is not shown in the drawing. Maybe a quick visual with an inspection mirror can rule that out.

good find on the photo. Ill give it the ole reach-around before I drill. I'll have to get the unit in and check fit and positioning. 

On another note, let's talk wire awg and amps. Looking at the diagram for the box it has 2 studs for positive connection rated at 100amps each. Max length will be 4'.

I'm thinking a 4awg, 18" jumper from Batt pos to my 150amp breaker, then 2 8awg jumpers from the breaker to the relay box, about 2'. That should give me a safety margin on wire for the load, making my 150amp breaker the limiter. Right?

This is my favorite gauge/ampacity chart.

I usually use that one but notice the shortest runs are 20 feet. I found another that started at 2 feet.

In reply to ultraclyde (Forum Supporter) :

Valid point! That's just my go too....thise look appropriate according to that chart 

Should I be concerned that the power drop i bought for my cheap Chinese Air compressor is from a company called 'SPARKING'?

Ah, I'm sure it will be fine.

Relay box arrives tomorrow! 

After work I installed the pigtail for the compressor. This is purely vanity. When we're out exploring the wildlife refuges and national forests I like to drop the tire pressure for comfort and traction. Then I use the compressor to air up but it takes a while. Using the clip on leads with the hood up people keep stopping to ask if I'm okay or need a jump. Nice, but annoying. So I added the pigtail that comes out the front bumper.

Comes up to accessory studs and you can see the inside fuse.

Unplug the compressor and the capped plug tucks into the bumper recess with a nice friction fit and its invisible.

One point. If you are going to order cheap Chinese heavy wire to cut in half and reuse, check the wire material. The extension i cut to use on the compressor was 10awg silver stuff with individual wires the thickness of mouse hair. Nice and flexible but you can't cram it in a crimp connector, you have to solder it.

I got the stuff from Waytek too.

Coke can for size. My only flub is that it didn't include the plugs that snap into the outputs like the blue and green. I thought it did, now I'll have to order them as well. But thats ok.

Test fitting i think i like this placement

Making a bracket to place the relays there is going to be a PITA. The breaker bracket will be easy and mount to the structural plastic battery surround. This should keep my pos cable runs about 12" each.

I got an email from Brett, the guy behind KustomFX who is building my switch panel. He came up with the design several years ago and started selling them on the truck forums, now he's running a full operation and making panels or a bunch of different models. Mine is done and should ship today, arriving Monday. 

My actual panel:

Sweet! The blue lights will come on with interior lights, the red light come on if the switch is on.

I plan to tie the blue lights into the dimmed circuit for the interior lights, but if that isn't dimmed by PWM natively it won't dim the LEDs. In that case  I'll likely add a PWM box to the feed, I usually find blue LEDs WAY too bright at normal voltage.

Question for the group: Are there any pitfalls to running a single 12v power supply to all 6 switches for the switching signal?

I believe it's supplied with a separate power in and power out for each switch - which is great is you want to activate different accessories based on different circuits (park lights, high beams, interior lights, etc) but I plan on running all switches so that the lights can be turned on when the truck is off. I'm thinking I run one fused 12v supply in and jumper to all the switches. I'll leave the individual feeds in the loom so if I want to change later it will be easy. 

On that compressor, watch the wires going into the housing in the back. The break real easy, I have the same one. 

java230 said:

On that compressor, watch the wires going into the housing in the back. The break real easy, I have the same one. 

I can believe that. It's not what I'd call a high-end unit lol. Have you opened it up and fixed a break? Would it be possible to add a reinforced strain relief?