2thousand5.4

Ok so I'm planning on wiring a separate fuse box that will Power my off road lights
, reverse lights, cb, and a winch. This box will be mounted under the center console cup holders and I will have a big switch/cb panel in between the dash and center console. So what guage main Line would yall recommend to run from the battery to the fuse box? I was thinking 6 gauge but I'm thinking that might be too small. Also I would like to wire in a master kill switch, what size switch and relay should I use since there will be a lot of power being pulled through the box

spotterjoe

It depends on what your total current draw is going to be and the type of wire used and distance. A number 6 3 strand (core) wire is good for 55 amps. 4-6 strand wire is good for 44 amps. This is a engineering chart for wire sizes and capacity (amps) and strands. http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wi...ges-d_419.html


What I would due is to add up all your current draws for everything that you plan to wire from the aux fuse box, roundup to the next 10 amps (IE 37 amps would be wired for at least 40 amps. Then size the wire for that amperage. Make sure that you fuse the wire for the proper capacity as close the battery as possible.


Re; winch. This will be your main current draw. Most people use a separate battery for powering the winch if trailer mounted, and have a circuit for recharging the battery. You didn't say where the winch will be mounted, (trailer, front or rear of truck) If you have a 7 pin RV type connector on the back of your truck, the pin at the 1 o'clock position as you look at it should have 12v when ever the ignition is on and can be used to recharge a trailer battery for the winch.

If you give more detail on what you are planning on doing it would helpful as we are only guessing the solution.

2thousand5.4

Well right now all I have is some 55w off road lights and some rigid LED cube knock offs, but around Christmas time I should have a 32 inch bar as well as a cb radio. Possibly some HID off road lights. I don't plan on doing the winch untill sometime next year I was just gonna put a switch on the panel so everything is there for when I do get one. And when I do get a winch it will be front mounted. Since the truck is a long project I plan on putting in 8 aux switches, not all off them will be off the aux fuse box though (foot well, reverse, bed lights will be off the stock fuse box) so that leaves me 5 switches for whatever else I want. I also might put the cb on a switch.

spotterjoe

ok that's helps a lot. Now, lets break this into two parts: winch and other components.
Winch wiring: As I said before the winch is going to draw a bunch of current so we don't want to run all that heavy gauge wire into and back out of the cab so here is what we do: buy a starter relay similar to this one http://www.yesterdaystractors.com/D2...LC4aAoYO8P8HAQ Mount it under the hood close to your battery. Run a short cable from the battery to one of the heavy duty (side terminal) terminals of the relay. Run another heavy duty cable to the other side of the relay to the positive side of the winch. Run another short heavy duty cable from the negative side of the winch to chassis ground. Lastly, run a light duty 12/14 gauge wire from the starter relay to your aux fuse box switch for the winch.


Other items (Off road light, LED cube, CB radio, ETC Again you need to calculate your total current draw by listing each item current draw separately and adding it up. For example, use the manufacturers spec sheet to determine the actual current draw or wattage. If wattage is listed and not current draw, take the wattage and divide by 12 for the current. (IE. 55 watt off road lite divided by 12 =4.58 amps say 5 amps) Once you have you have your total current draw (IE. 37 amps) round up to the next ten which would be 40 amps and use the chart to calculate your wire size. You will only need a positive wire as you can pick up the ground from the chassis inside the cab. And again, make sure that you fuse the wire for the proper capacity as close the battery as possible.


Hope this helps. Let know if you need more information.

macka

I wouldn't put a CB radio in the aux power block you are making. It doesn't draw a lot of current in stock form and being near high current draws you would need to have an isolator for it, so your radio doesn't catch current spikes and make noises when running the other devices.

Willard5.0

^^Beat me to it. Youll want to keep your CB isolated from the high current devices. Alternatively, you could get creative and add filtering capacitors to suppress the noise.

2thousand5.4

So even if it was on its own circuit it would still be a bad idea? I might just wire it into the cigarette lighter. Unfortunately I have done very little work on this project. Funds got tight and hours got cut back at work. I'm hoping to pick it back up again after thanks giving

tomb1269

IMO I would utilized relays to do the actual high current/load switching and utilize the switch box for the signal switches. I.e. bring in a small gauge power wire to your switch bank either constant 12 or switched 12 or both and wire your switches to signal on and off the individual components relay. This would minimize the amount of heavy gauge wire you would need to run, as well as minimize the heavy wigh current wire from chaffing due to the need to run it in and out of the console, and cab. Use the same concept as was advised for the winch, just using smaller relays.