Install of rear glass lift gate dome light bar
#11
I don't have outlets. It's hardwired from the battery to the back of the fridge, with a Y-connection for the Brawley light. The wiring is hidden until it comes out from under the back seat. It then is draped with a very loose zip-tie loop to the bottom of the rack. That's to allow slack for the fridge to slide in and out, but not pinch the wiring. There is a tap, then from there I have a homemade harness of two wires in a loom attached with Adel clamps to string it along the bottom of the rack you see in that video. Since I don't need 12 volts for anything else in that area, this works fine. The only parts visible, short of bending over and looking up at the bottom of the rack, are the connector and switch--which obviously you want readily accessible.
It's a brilliant (pun not intended, LOL) implementation of a super useful mod for the overlanding community..
It's a brilliant (pun not intended, LOL) implementation of a super useful mod for the overlanding community..
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Mcclamrock (12-31-2020)
#12
I finally have what I feel is a good plan for wiring. I going to run it form the battery and attach a singe fuse holder, hopefully close to the initial mount on the battery. Then run though the firewall and up the roll bars, being discrete as possible . Then hook up my switch to the light bar wires and find a good ground spot . Still looking for what spot I want to drill the switch in, Sounds easy on paper of course. I feel like the only hard part will be running the wires from the battery to the tail gate.
#13
Maybe I'm misunderstanding your plan on running the wiring, but not sure why the rollbars are coming into play. Mine are all run like Mark's, through the firewall and along the floor under the plastic trim by the doors, then up behind the rear door (presume you still have carpet) and under the tub rail to the tailgate and wherever you want to put the switch. Even without carpet this route can be done discretely. I would think that you'd put the switch somewhere in the plastic molding in back. You can easily remove the plastic molding and find a good ground in a location you're not going to see anyhow as it will be covered by the molding. From there I think I would use some small zip tie anchors that simply attached to the inside of the hard top via good double sided tape and run the wire from the tub rail up to the top of the hardtop beside the window....then you can just secure with zip ties. Keep the wire in a nice small conduit and I bet it wouldn't be very noticeable.
#14
Running under the carpet would be a lot easier than going up along the roll bars. I honestly never thought about going under the carpet for that. The videos I was looking at they all followed the roll bars, and of course the covers hide everything. I will re-evaluate my plan for wiring haha, thanks for helpful input on that.
#15
I didn't run under the carpet. It's actually behind the plastic trim around the bottom of the door. There is already existing wiring there. If you run under the carpet, be sure to place such that it won't be stepped on. That could lead to damage, shorts, and a blow fuse. As for the firewall access, you may already be aware of this, but in case you aren't, this access hole exists on both the driver and passenger side. You'll have to hog out some sealer, and recommend replacing it (to preserve water ford tightness). Ignore the "where I mounted switch". This is actually for a long-gone mod that was replaced with an sPOD ...
#17
makes sense to me. My parts came in for it so I will be getting at soon enough, I will keep you posted as it goes. Thanks for all your help on this simple project I greatly appreciate all the info!
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Mark Doiron (01-02-2021)