FROZNJP

This will be my first post and I hoping to harness the collective genius of JK-Forum. I've been doing some mods on my JK and thinking about how I'm going to tackle the electrical. I have some experience, but not enough to give me the confidence to try this without having some experts look at it...always a good idea in my book. I've looks at dozens of threads in this forum to help guide me. It's a little busy, but I've attached my plan to install 4 switches that control any auxiliary systems (lights, etc.) that I'll be putting in. Could someone please take a look at it and let me know if I'm going to burn up my JK. Thanks!

FROZNJP

I guess we call this tacit approval.

Dieselguy3

What switch's are you using and is that the way that they say to wire them??? Everything else looks good. Nice choice on wire size too.

Sapper12b

Thats the same setup up i got but wired it slightly different. I called James at OTATTW and followed his suggestion to do the wiring. I ran the power wire from the batter to the blue sea fuse box on an 8gauge wire with 30amp in line fuse. I taped one of the fuses from the fuse box and ran a 14gauge wire to the switches for accessories light. All my lights are LED and HID so i used 15amp & 20 amp fuses in the blue sea fuse box. I grounded the Blue sea fuse box on ground cable found inside the foot well, driver side, of the Jeep. I ran all the power from the blue sea fuse box straight to the switches with out any relay.

My BLue Sea fuse box is a constant hot so i dont have to have the Jeep running to power my accessories. Ive left my lights on over night by accident several times and havent had a single issue. Once I was done running all my wires i plugged the hole in the firewall with foam insulation in a can that i bought from Lowes.

FROZNJP

Thanks Dieselguy3...to be honest I'm not quite sure which switches I'll be going with. The ones I used in my diagram were 3-position LED switches/toggles. I'll probably go with something similar. Thank you for the feedback.

Sapper12b - I was debating on going that route...still may. I'm still in the planning phase and hoping to get more info off this post and forum to persuade me one way or another. Thank you for your feedback and info...much appreciated!

powrsurg

Im thoroughly confused by this. Its for this reason I hate messing around with wires.

1) The grey wire that connects all 4 switches is 10 gauge. Why use such a thick gauge?
2) The ground for the 4 fuses is 12 gauge? Again why such a thinck gauge?
3) Why use the relay if the devise you purchased doesnt come with one?
3) Why use the Blue Sea fuse box?
4) Why use the circuit breaker?

I have 4 switches ive added.
1) 2x100 Watt lights
2) 2x 130 watt lights
Would like to merge these into one switch but dont know how.
3) Back Lights
4) On Board Air.

The main power lines are all fused with manufacturer supplied fuses. My switch wires are running to a ground, and two for each switch is straight to the battery.

The switch wires are all 16 gauge and the main power lines are all 10 gauge.

Im not saying my wiring is right by any means but this diagram looks way over kill.

JK-Ford

1) If you are using relays with your switches, then the conductor and fuse can be small ( 3 Amp / 16 awg ).
2) In the electrical world, there is a relationship between amperage rateing and ground conductor. But, having said that, 12 awg is a good size.
3) There are no rules reguarding when and when not to use a relay. Just as long as the individual devices used are rated to carry the load. It's more or less based on "Good Practice". Anything over 5 Amps Should have a relay.
4) Using a fuse box helps orginize multiple power distribution feeds.
5) You don't have to use a circuit braker. You could just simply use a fuse. But you do have to use one or the other.

powrsurg

Thanks for the explanation. Its going to take me awhile to translate that picture.

bobholthaus

My two cents: your diagram is perfect, but I agree with the "way overkill" statement. The trip wire on an average relay could be as low as 22 gauge (the draw to flip a relay is milliamps!) You can up almost all of the wire gauges. If your lights are LED, you likely don't even need a relay; I talked to Rigid Industries the other day and their Duallys need a 5 amp fuse with 16 gauge wire and the D2 only needs a 10 amp with 14 or 16 gauge (most switches are rated for at least 20 amps, so a relay for those is totally unnecessary if you're pulling juice directly from the battery). Most people don't realize that fuse size only is in relation to wire size; the fuse is there to blow before a wire melts and causes a fire. There are standard fuse charts/wire gauge sizes all over the web. Since you're only running 4 accessories, I'd call each mfg and ask them what they recommend. Running 16 gauge wire over 10 gauge (for instance) is a hell of a lot easier and cheaper. Running huge wiring on devices that don't need any more juice is like running a fire hose over to your garden sprinkler; the sprinkler is perfectly happy with the flow from a garden hose. You won't hurt anything with big gauge, but you're totally killing yourself trying to manipulate those sizes and fitting it all in your Jeep. I just bought two Blue Seas today, after buying a Painless 7 circuit from Quadratec (and not using it because it doesn't have enough taps) and just realized only one will fit behind the glove box (2012 JKU); I'm running two as one will be constant hot and one will be switched (the switched one using a relay in the main power line going from the battery to the box, to allow the entire device to be switched - still haven't figured out where I'm going to shoehorn it in). I am running LED lights and radar and a Homelink mirror, so I will take power from battery to blue sea (prob on 10 gauge wire, which is good for 30 amps or 414 watts) and then just run the power directly through my OTRATTW switches to the devices. For my air shock compressor, which needs more juice, I will run a relay and pull the power out of the constant Blue Sea through the relay. I will use another output of that same box to power the switch that will trip the relay; just don't want that heavy of juice running through the switch. I'm using three way switches on the driving and reverse lights, for constant on and auto on (with high beams and reverse), so I may have to use relays in those scenarios, just because I have two different sources powering one device (and the Rigids come with prewired relays so it will be simple to integrate those into my blue sea setup). If anyone wants to talk through this on the phone, call me at 314-680-2624. I've been pimping out motorsports equipment for years and love all of this wiring. I'm happy to help wherever I can. In fact, a fellow St. Louisian I met on this forum gave me his Rubicon suspension and rock rails in exchange for wiring his new JKU. Keep the good posts and sharing coming. Check oznium dot com for an explanation of watts/amps/fuse size/wire gauge. http://www.oznium.com/forum/topic15761

bobholthaus

I did my air compressor for my shocks yesterday. It was 16 gauge wire! Also, Rigid lights do not come with a relay, they're also 16 gauge running through the switch. I stand corrected!