My FitchBox (tm)

[FitchVA]

I gotcha now. So if I were to run lights on the bumper and lights on top, and only wanted to run the roof lights I could have 2 seperate switches so just the roof lights come on and not the bumper lights as well. Or a switch to turn the power on to my power seats?

What's the overall cost give or take on a project like this?

Thanks for the reply Fitch. It helps me understand the 'why' and 'what for' aspect of it. Definately makes sense to do.

yup, you got it. it's organized to be very flexible. it's a little more work up front, but really cuts down on the future time spent adding things. it's like object oriented programing (for the fellow geeks out there)

cost? that's a hard one. it really depends on what you buy, where from, and what you already have laying around. plus it's been a while since i ordered all of my stuff. but you'll def. save money ordering online vs going to parts stores.

you're welcome. and by no means am i trying to steal splitz's thunder. he's done a super bang-up job getting this put together. i was just trying to answer some questions while he's not signed in.

 

[Bdiddy11]

It's all good. I don't think you're stealing his thunder. Just a fellow jeeper giving great input =) Would something like this work if I were to use the 'back defrost' style switch or the two switches on the right side of the steering wheel as the switches instead of buying new ones? I'm all about budget projects.

 

[FitchVA]

if it's a switch, it can be made to work with enough fooling around with.

 

[Bdiddy11]

Ok cool. I figure it's pretty much the same kind of switch in the back like you get when you buy any kind of fog/aux lights that has a switch with it. The 3 prongs in the back... like shown in the above pics. I figure it'd be cheaper to do that, paint the front etc... and cheap at the junk yard =)

 

[87manche]

Ok cool. I figure it's pretty much the same kind of switch in the back like you get when you buy any kind of fog/aux lights that has a switch with it. The 3 prongs in the back... like shown in the above pics. I figure it'd be cheaper to do that, paint the front etc... and cheap at the junk yard =)

those styles of switches have one set of prongs that are the actual switch leads, you can figure that out with a multimeter set to test continuity, the third prong (usually the middle one) is for the light in the switch.
Usually the 3rd prong just needs a ground for the light to work.

 

[splitz]

Fitch - Don't worry about stealing my thunder! Afterall, I stole this idea from you!

600dollarxj - Here is a photoshop version of the switch panel. The actual panel has 10 switches, but I'm missing one, so I'm waiting until the last switch comes in before I post it up (my fault, not the suppliers, I screwed up cutting so I ended up with more switches than originaly planned).

Bdiddy11 - As far as costs go, Fitch is right its hard to say. I'm guessing I spent about $60 or so (figuring each terminal at $.15 ea, and the wire at $.20/ft).

 

[Bdiddy11]

Ok cool. I'll have to grab some switches next time i'm at the yard and test em' out. Doesn't sound too costly to do. How much was the 'project box' or whatever it's called?

 

[splitz]

The project box was $5 or so. I should point out that you should use relays anytime you are wiring lights or anything that requires a heavy current draw. So...if you were to have 6 circuits, you'd end up spending about the same, but you'd end up taking much more time to wire each circuit up.

Plus, I consider this a hobby, and I enjoyed making it, so to me it was worth it. It is kinda cool putting circuits together and making them work. (although I've really regressed from the days of building logic circuits)

 

[Bdiddy11]

Ok. I wasn't sure if the project box costs a lot or if it was cheap. I plan setting up a second battery in the back for the lights/stereo/power seats etc and figure with a box like this it would tidy things up nicely. And one day a mini fridge for those longer camping trips :chef:

 

[Markos]

This is really cool. I knew that you were building switch boxes fitch, but I didn't realize that you were using cat5. That's pretty neat!

 

[dgrigorenko]

ok super noob question. why is the relay so important? when i got my kc's they gave two options: put a fuse in the circut and run it straight from your battery, or have a relay.... for me the easiest to do was the fuse one. am i putting anything in danger by doing this? this mod does look pretty cool so i might do it anyways, but am curious for the benifit of really understanding what is going on.

 

[Timber]

That looks nice and clean. One question--from the pic with the labels, the positive wire goes to black wire inside and the negative goes to a red wire that is grounded. Why reverse the traditional colors there?
EDIT: I see now that the red is going to the fuse box inside, but that then means you mislabeled them in the first pic. I'm not knocking you in ANY way--just a head's up.

 

[splitz]

Dgrigorenko - there are a few different reasons to use a relay. relays allow you to control high amperage circuits with a low amperage circuit. The reason I did it was so I could control all of my lights in one location, it is easier to run 1 Cat5 (8 conductors) vs running 8 12awg cables. I also did it because I'll have a lot of switches I don't know what I want to do with yet. Wiring them ahead of time to the FitchBox (tm) makes things easier in the future.

Timber - Yeah, I really only labeled them in the pic so you knew what the terminal blocks did. I know what is where, and I'll have them labeled with a P-touch (hopefully it will work better than the re-gifted label maker on Seinfeld).

 

[Timber]

Yeah, I figured it was a mistake. I feel badly pointing it out because you did such a good job, and I don't want you to think I was knocking it.

 

[jjmat3]

Subscribing. (and wishing I hadn't thrown out that spool of cat5 cable I had laying around collecting dust since going wireless at home. ugh.) Now to find some cat5 and get busy wiring a box for my upcoming arb and light wiring projects. Thanks for sharing.

 

[BlueCuda]

Nice, I like the Cat 5 stuff. I think I will do a box like this to run my electric, water pump, fan, fuel pump, nitrous stuff, etc on my Barracuda.

One question, whats kind of crimp connectors work on the small cat 5 wire? That seems like it would be tough to do. Thanks!

 

[JNickel101]

I have a few questions....I hope splitz and/or Fitch dont mind answering...

#1 - does the box get hot from all the power running through it?

#2 - would this be strong enough to handle an electric cooling fan? I've read where people say to use a 75amp relay for that...? I dont want to run a big taurus fan, just another OEM fan in place of my clutch/belt fan.

#3 - the 2 position barrier strip that you actually run power to - I read on the link that its for 16awg wire or smaller - but on the backside, you ran 12awg wire - any chance of those barrier strips melting? or can you get ones that are rated for 12awg?

Thanks and it looks awesome!!! definitely something to try!!! the CAT5 idea is awesome (i'm a computer networking guy in the air force)

 

[splitz]

BlueCuda - I used 14-16 awg connectors, but I shouldn't have been so lazy and picked up 18-20 awg ones.

JNickel101 -
1. Dunno, Fitch probably could answer this better than I, since this is my first box and I haven't ran power through it other than for testing
2. Dunno, I guess as long as you used the appropriate relay and gauge of wire you'd be fine, but that would depend on the answer to question #1
3. Dunno (man I'm really helpful). I guess its possible. I honestly didn't look at that. I figured it was a strip of metal that probably had a higher load rating than the 12awg wire I was running to it...guess I was wrong.

 

[53guy]

Subscribing. (and wishing I hadn't thrown out that spool of cat5 cable I had laying around collecting dust since going wireless at home. ugh.) .

WHAT?!?!?! You threw perfectly good Halo/Xbox wire away?!? NO WAY!!!

 

[jjmat3]

WHAT?!?!?! You threw perfectly good Halo/Xbox wire away?!? NO WAY!!!

Yep, really didn't think I had any more uses for it any more......guess I was wrong, trying to end my pack rat ways and look what it gets me....
Sure I can find some laying around work though.