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Electrical Wiring - Best Practices, Tips & Tricks, Basics, etc

JeepFreak21

JeepFreak21

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Cameron Park, CA
I'm starting this thread as a place for people to post their tips and tricks, advice, general rules, best practices, and common mistakes regarding electrical wiring.

I'm sick and tired of the wiring in my Jeep looking like I did it on the trail at 2am in order to get home. In the not-too-distant future, I'm going to tear out my dash and overhaul the electrical wiring and components. I'm not that great with this stuff, but I want to make sure I do it right the first time.

So... let's hear what'cha got on the topic!

Billy
 
One question that I'm struggling with is just a general plan for wiring a few different accessories - let's say, front and rear LED rock lights, a 12v compressor, which is under my back seat, and a manual control of the electric fan.

I want to keep everything together so that it's easier to keep track of, easier to diagnose problems, easier to add onto later, etc. How does one wire multiple accessories like this without running two dozen wires through the firewall?

Thanks,
Billy
 
This is the electrical panel that i have made. It holds 9 relays and 10 fuses. You ask why more fuses and relays. Well very simple answer is that was all i could fit. I mounted it in the glove box and the only down flaw so far is that i had to remove the storage unit from the glove box door.

Switchpanel.jpg


I plan on running a 2 guage battery wire thru the fire wall to a distribution pannel to the relay/fuse panel and then from there itll go to all the accessories.

I plan on running the following
-fog lights
-spot lights
-rock lights
-air compressor
-front locker
-rear locker
-and extras for later add ons

Then for my switches i made up a 8 gang switch box that mounts above my CB which is mounted to my roof between the sun visors. The switchs are all ran off of cat 5 wire down to the relay/switch panel.

Thasts all ive gotten done for know i sort of switch builds. From little custom items to an entire new rig built from scratch.
 
Here's a link to a guy who built a Fitchbox:

http://www.naxja.net/forum/showthread.php?t=938344

This is the one I am going to buy soon to replace my homemade relay bracket and autozone fuseblock:

http://www.dirtboundoffroad.com/accessories/aux-relay-fuse-panel/

When I rewired my overhead aux lights and added two more to the back of my rack, I wasn't too worried about the wiring coming through the firewall as much as leads coming off the battery.

A short while after I wired it all up, I disconnected my fan from the factory harness and wired it up to a seperate circuit with a relay and fuse.

I am using this switch panel, which helps to keep it organized in the cockpit:

http://www.prime4x4.com/shop/Switch...itch--Receptacle-Panel-sku-SP8496XJ-SB008.htm

This was my first major wiring project and took me all four days of MLK weekend working all day. My write-up is in the faq section. I learned SO MUCH from that project and didn't even burn my Jeep down!!:flamemad:

The best thing I could say to anyone is don't be cheap and just splice connections and then tape it. I used the weatherproof terminals from autozone instead of the cheapies. Good crimpers are a must. Heatshrink and a heatgun are great for extra security...
 
Good stuff guys.

One practice I changed a while back is NOT to use wire loom. It can get filled with dirt/mud and it makes it super hard to diagnose shorts, broken wires, etc. Instead, use small zip ties every ~12" to bundle wires together.

Some good sources for electrical components are:
www.Part-Express.com (all kindsa stuff, from fuses and wire, to door lock actuators)
www.AllElectronics.com (some harder-to-find electrical parts)
www.Oznium.com (trick LEDs and and remotes - good quality stuff)
www.evsource.com (battery cable-sized heat shrink w/ adhesive)
www.waytekwire.com (Carling/Contoura switches)
www.delcity.net (all the common components w/ a few unique ones - watch out for minimum quantities)

What do you guys do for a ground in the cab? Do you have a heavy gauge wire that's run back to the negative battery post?

Billy
 
Relay sockets can be had from waytek, etc. They have a slot on 1 side, so that they interlock like blocks, buy 2 or 200.

They come with 'flagged' terminals to plug in the backside, the flags make them next to impossible to pull back out, so doublecheck your wiring twice!
 
JeepFreak21 said:
Good stuff guys.

One practice I changed a while back is NOT to use wire loom. It can get filled with dirt/mud and it makes it super hard to diagnose shorts, broken wires, etc. Instead, use small zip ties every ~12" to bundle wires together.

Some good sources for electrical components are:
www.PartExpress.com (all kindsa stuff, from fuses and wire, to door lock actuators
Click to expand...

Your link doesn't work but I think you meant http://www.parts-express.com/

I like these guys for Carling switches, lots of options

My tip, lots of people think that soldering all connections is best. However, soldering creates a brittle area in the wire that can break over time. With that said I still solder the majority of the time because I've had crimp connections fail but never a solder connection. If I'm repairing a section of wiring that might see a lot of flexing I'll usually crimp it though.

When using shink tube try to always use the shrink tube that has a sealant in it otherwise it's really any better than a good tight electrical tape wrap. If you can't wrap electrical tape tightly then you may want to stick to shrink tube.

I have lots of electrical experience (10 years as an electrical & electronics specialist at Peterbilt) so if you want to know something specific feel free to PM me
 
Susquehanna Motorsports has a lot of Hella stuff, including the ganged relay bases. Like xcm says though, you can get them from a lot of places.
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=3981
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=415

I use shrink tube on just about everything, although I prefer to buy the heat shrink terminals with the glue in them, as they are easier to buy off the shelf here than decent shrink tube.

Get a butane torch (I have a small pencil torch I keep with my auto electric junk), some cheap terminal picks, and a decent crimper. Cheap ones aren't worth the hassle if you're going to do a lot of wiring, IMO.
 
xcm said:
Relay sockets can be had from waytek, etc. They have a slot on 1 side, so that they interlock like blocks, buy 2 or 200.

They come with 'flagged' terminals to plug in the backside, the flags make them next to impossible to pull back out, so doublecheck your wiring twice!
Click to expand...

Thats right! I remember seeing those now.
Thanks!
Billy
 
A couple more tricks that come to mind...

If you need to run a pull string through a length of tubing, tie a plastic grocery bag to a string and suck it through the tube from the other side with a shop vac.

Take a few different colors of wire, tie one end of all of them to a stationary object and then put the other end in your drill - twist them up into a nice, neat bunch.

Billy
 
Last edited:
JeepFreak21 said:
Where'd you get the bank of relay sockets, by the way? And the bank of fuse sockets?
Thanks,
Billy
Click to expand...

The Relay blocks were actually hard to find. I needed ones that had the female end of the socket to be able to bolt down it self/ I didnt want my realys only being held by the tab on the relay itself. So know when I need to pull out a relay to check it the mount side or the plug side is bolted down. Also these ones are interlocking so they lock together and can be bolted down. I found these on Hella website.
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=415

As for the fuse block I believe I got it off ebay. If you plan on running a lot of current thru your panel items make sure that the fuse block has seperate HOT wires connectors coming in and obviously going out. Do not get the block that has all the hot wired to one wire (This wire is not the correct guage)
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=765

Hopefully that helps out
 
Also you'll want to use actual automotive wire and not house wire. Also ensure shrink wrap everything and use proper gauge wire
 
I thought I would share this with you guys, as I have never seen anybody with one. My uncle gave me this awesome test light that requires no ground lead, the ground goes right through your body. It lights up and buzzes when you find power. Mine is an older model that doesn't have the "Y" shaped attachment on the end, but I believe you can remove that for the typical pointed end. It operates up to 24 volts. I love the simplicity of it.
http://www.gtc.ca/EN/CT8002_EN.html
Billy

EDIT: you can buy them for $15 or $20 on Amazon.
 
Is it better to ground a headlight wiring harness, offroad lights, etc directly to the battery or the chassis assuming the length of the ground wire is relatiely equal?
 
I've always heard ground leads should be as short as possible and grounded to the chassis not the battery. That's the way I've done it for years, it would be interesting to hear from someone who can give a legit answer on it.
 
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