A few aftermarket wiring questions

Well, I'm sort of up in the air with this, and I'm sure plenty of you have ran into the same problem as me.

I have added quite a few additional circuits to my jeep. (electric fans, headlight rewire, offroad lights...) Now, I have aftermarket battery terminals with additional spots for wires, but it's not enough. I have two many wires for my terminals to handle. It is plain retarded. You open the hood and there is just a cluster of wires surrounding the battery and crammed into the terminal.

I am looking for a way to one, clean it up, and two, have room for all the circuits and room for future circuits. Now, I have an idea of what I need/want, but am not sure if they even make what I am looking for. What I would like is a distroblock. Something that I can take say, one four gauge power wire from the battery, to this block, that then branches off into 10 or so fused terminals that I can just run wires from.

This would allow me to relocate the mess of wires to an area with more room. Plus it would look cleaner, be easier, safer, and more organized.

Now, the next issue. I have a handfull of Autometer gauges that I am in the process of putting in. I am just wondering where would be a good point to tap into an ignition power source to supply power to the gauges.

And finally, also for the gauges, they have lights. I would like to wire the lights up to also come on when the headlights are on. Again, I am looking for a good spot to get this signal. The only obvious/easy points that come to mind are for the stereo, but I wonder if those circuits can feed the demand.

Any help?

http://www.delcity.net/delcity/servlet/catalog?parentid=370&page=1

This should get you a distro post similar to what I used to get from Gall's, and which should serve nicely. The only problem with this is that they use a 1/2" post, so stock up on 1/2" rings.

You can mount these where convenient, and they can be fed with relays for circuits that aren't always on.

For the HOT IN ACC and LIGHT circuits, I'd run a power lead into a relay for each set. Trigger one with a device that only comes on with the key (I used the cigar lighter on RENIX) and the other with a panel light feed (on RENIX, they're ORG/BLK.)

If you give us the year, we might be able to give more specific wiring advice - it's a good habit to get into...

5-90

I knew I was forgetting something. It's a 90 XJ 4door limited.

OK...

Take the "Key On" power signal from the centre of the cigar lighter - that's what I did. You can use the side tap of your choice to get the sense, and use that to trip the relay (connect the other side of the coil to ground.) You can also grab a "key on" signal from the 12 gage brown lead off the ignition switch - it's also power distribution for KO circuits. This runs into the fuze box, so you can grab it at the switch or at the fuze box. You can also use an ATO fuze tap to get the signal from the powered side of Fuze 5 (Blower,) Fuze 1 (Rear Window Wiper,) Fuze 8 (Turn/Backup Lamps,) or Fuze 2 (Radio.) There is also an unused one-circuit connector (14 BRN) that comes off of that splice, which may also be used. I'd use that to trip a relay and have it on a separately protected circuit, for safety's sake.

Also, use a relay for the feed to the lighting for the gages. You don't need a lot of power for those little lights, but you'll need some, and I'd sooner add a slave circuit than try to expand the one in place. Tap any orange/black wire (IP ILLUM) for the feed to the relay. NOTE - this will result in your being able to dim the OEM IP lights, but not the gage lights. The gage lights won't be connected through the rheostat.

Check that link I gave you - there should be a surface-mount version of that distro post, and a "bulkhead" version, which will provide a rigid mount and you won't have to worry about wires rubbing (I need to get some of those yet...)

5-90