So I'm finally documenting my build. Over the past year I've added quite a few mods and so here it goes...
That's a lot of wires!!!!!
Brave man.
I looked at building this with my 700. Then i relized there was no way I could figure all that out.
Found one on amazon and just boight it. Lol.
Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk
So...what’s the total $ invested
Lol, you don’t have to tell me! I have to estimate on cost per pound of weight addedI will have to get back to you on that one. Honestly haven't gotten around to making my spreadsheet on it yet. I'm afraid it's going to be more than I care to admit LOL. I know it wasn't cheap.
Lol, you don’t have to tell me! I have to estimate on cost per pound of weight added
So...what’s the total $ invested
Have you seen my buildIf you have to ask...….. YOU CAN'T AFFORD IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Looks great! I bet you spent more time planning this out than executing it! I've been adding switches as I add accessories but your way is much more efficient in the long run. Great idea with the guarded switch. I too have a separate power switch for my winch for the same reasons. Just look at one photo of a Pioneer's front bumper caved in from the winch being accidentally activated and you'll see why.
Looking really good!
Looks great young Jedi!Alright, I’m finally getting to this. Sorry for the delay folks.
The Wiring:
Wiring has definitely been the most time consuming of this entire project so far. I had spent moths coming up with a wiring blueprint, which was quite helpful during the actual task. Most of the time however, I would just have to stop and really think about the device, the switch, the flow of current and what I wanted it to do. This helped me piece things together slowly but surely.
I have found that color-coding is a LIFESAVER when working large wiring projects. Every wire coming from the Bussman is a different color and so I made sure to stick with that theme. I ended up ordering a few packages of colored wire bundles from www.wirebarn.com. Great source of automotive wiring and very quick shipping!
View attachment 77753
I bought an 11-pack of 12-gauge TXL as well as a 16-gauge pack. Each color contained 25’ of wire. Knowing I would use a bunch of Red for miscellaneous HOT wires and Black for NEG/GRND wires I bought a couple extra rolls of each color both in 16 and 18 gauge.
For all my connections I used heat-shrink butt and spade connectors. These kits from Amazon were really good quality. Also for a lot of these connections I also used dual wall adhesive heat shrink tubing to completely cover the connection. This particular kit of tubing is the best I’ve found and used thus far. (Note: I did run out of some of the sizes because I used so much, so order extras if you have a big project like this). What I like about the heat shrink tubing is, not only does this make the connection sealed and now waterproof, it also strengthens the connection. If you’re like me you’ve had the occasional wire pull right out of the butt or spade connection after crimping. A good crimp of course should not allow this to happen, but hey, sometimes it does. This additional tubing just gives an extra strength to the connection regardless.
Another heat shrink tubing I used were these little numbered pieces. To help me keep track of which wire went into which side of my connector plugs (details on those below) I used these to mark them. Since I had two wires coming from most of my switches, and my switches once installed were buried too deep to trace wires back to to see, I marked them with a 2 and 3 respectively so I knew which pin on the switch they came from 2 or 3. If you have no idea what I’m talking about look at the back of your switch or diagram and you’ll see a bunch of pins. This is probably the most standard one shown here. Not only did I label the 2/3 wires individually, I also labeled the two as a bundle to the correlating Fuse they went to in the Bussman, reference pic above. (Example shown below: wires coming from my Backup Lights Switch go to Fuse 8 in the Bussman so they bundled together and I labeled them 8. This just helps me personally in addition to the colors as well as for knowing fuse slots.)
In addition to wiring colors and heat shrink numbers, I used a label maker to label almost everything. Mostly for the fact that months and years down the road I will have NO clue what goes to where. And with soooo many wires in such a small area tracing them is an extremely difficult task. Labeling makes life so much easier!
View attachment 77754
View attachment 77756
With all this heat shrinking, a good heat gun was very helpful. This one from Amazon is really awesome. But it gets HOT! I accidently got a fairly good-sized 2nd degree burn when my wrist barely touched the end of the nozzle. OUCH!
A good pair of crimpers and wire strippers is an absolute necessity! This pair of Irwins is awesome and cut a lot of time out of the process. I love this tool!
I also used a lot of cable sleeve. I especially used this any time wires left the ‘under the hood’ areas such as through the engine bay, wheel wells, along the frame and also while routing up the ROPS bars to get to upper in-cab components. It keeps things a lot cleaner and more organized. It does however take a bit of time to run all the cables through it and you really have to think about it all well in advance of starting to run any wires.
Those wires that went through the engine bay and wheel wells that were even more exposed to the elements got even additional protection with split wire loom conduit.
Finally, I wanted all of my connections, or at least as many as possible to be quickly disconnected so I could either change or move them, or if I wanted the wiring to go to a different accessory or something down the road. There’s nothing worse than needing to disconnect a wire that you just crimped and heat shrunk the connector and also the extra heat shrink tubing around. And I have a history of sometimes making the connection and doing all that before thinking of the process a couple steps farther along that requires that one actually not be connected yet. So I learned from my past mistakes and decided to make connections and disconnects much simpler.
Therefore, I decided on using Delphi Weatherpack Connectors. These things are awesome! They aren’t cheap but they make life so much easier and I believe are totally worth it. I ordered a large Weatherpack Kit from www.allelectronics.com as well as some additional connector kits, just because the large kit didn’t contain enough 1 and 2 pin connectors for what I’d need. You’ll need a special crimping tool for these and of course Amazon comes through again with this one.
This type of connection/kit really steps up your game. I believe it creates a better look as well as makes it all more functional. However, it is a little more time consuming and you really need to pay attention to the pins and seals you’re using and the connections you’re making. Once I got the hang of it I actually really enjoyed making these connections. It was actually a lot of fun and I felt like a pro!
There were several times I needed a good soldered connection rather than crimped. I’ve always cheaped out on soldering tools in the past with things like battery powered or the small butane powered solderers. And they have always sucked and broken so finally I bought something legit. This guy, and I’m happy I did. So easy to use and has made all my soldering painless from that of the past!
Alright, I think that about does it for all the specialty tools and products I used for wiring this project up, so lets check out some pictures.
Here is everything before the mayhem begins!
View attachment 77757
Here are both of my switch panels completed! So many wires!! This includes almost everything (switch wise) on my Pioneer. I do have a few others that aren't in these panels and are cut directly into the dash, so this isn't all inclusive LOL.
View attachment 77758
My main panel with stereo. I think I did a decent job bridging things and overall it turned out fairly clean. I'm sure there's a few things I could have done to make it a bit cleaner but oh well, It all works really well and that's all that matters.
View attachment 77760
My lower cubby panel
View attachment 77759
And finally just some of the connections
View attachment 77761
View attachment 77756
After all of this was done I had to put the mating connectors on the wires coming from the Bussman or the Blue Sea Systems Fuse Block to the appropriate switch and do the same to the accessory and then everything just simply push connected real easily!
Next, I'll show you how it all came together! The end result of all this wiring!
Looks great young Jedi!