12V Power Into Tray

[fixa]

see pics in my profile. I have installed plugs into tray today, ran the wires up behind the tail light through behind the liner.

[schimno]

On the subject, well kinda.. the aux power point in the cabin centre console, is it capable of running a waeco fridge. reading the manual has confused me..not easy some would say

[fireball]

fixa: thx for that pic... so do your wires go behind the tray liner and come out the back of the tray liner at the bottum ? or do the wires go behind the trayliner up up over the side of the inner body of the tray and run to the left rear lights ?? what kinda 12v plugs are those ??? some tell me to put a hella plug whereas others say a cigarette socket ...

?? confused??!

[fixa]

fireball;
yes, i've run the wires up from the left rear of the car, followed the tail light wiring up, then through the cutout into the tray area. from there they run behind the liner to where the plugs are. make sure the wiring has some sort of protection though, especially through the cut out area.
They are flush mount sockets, from BCF, about $18 each. not cheap, but exactly what i wanted. They are a marine item, so may be able to get them cheaper at a chandlery. They are just cig plugs, thought about the hella, but.. well... dunno.
I ran seperate wires to each plug, 20 amp cable, so there's 4 wires behind there. 2 will ground just near the towbar, and 2 will run forward to the battery, via their own fuse, using 15 amp fuses. I'm running 2 separate circuits because the future plan is to run 2 fridges in the back, one fridge one freezer, so needed some decent wiring to allow this.
BTW I am an avionics engineer by trade...

[Notso]

"2 will ground just near the towbar, and 2 will run forward to the battery,"

So you don't run the earth right back to the battery?

[TrickML]

IMO don't run fridges from Cig sockets they have low amp rating are not secure enough, I use Merrit plugs and never had an issue.

[fixa]

these ones rated 16amps, more than enough i reckon.

[fixa]

Notso;
No, just using a local earth. No need to run all the way back to the battery. More voltage loss doing it that way.

[Notso]

Right, just that I've heard elsewhere to take it all the way back.

Saves a bit of work if you don't though. Thanks.

[TrickML]

Fixa, I have heard that fridges draw up to 25amps on startup, you may need to check your specs. I would also take the time to run the earth back to the battery as well because there is no guarantee that the earth from the car body and chassis are the same. I know on my current Patrol the earth is attached to the body not the chassis and the towbar is bolted to the chassis which mounts to the body on rubber blocks.

[fixa]

Trickml;
the 240v adaptor that canme with it puts out 10 amps max, and it runs fine off that, so that's what i based my decision on.
And the towbar bolt i'm using is indeed a chassis earth.

[Skog07]

I tried to upload some photo's but no good and in doing that I have done something to my account and that I don't know what but I had to open a new account to get back on to the site (do not know what I have done)

[fireball]

finally got round to wiring in the socket yesterday..

thx for all the tips guys
finally found the hole above the rear light ! previously had tried feeding a wire thru there but i was feeding it at the worng angle thus never getting to the tray !... plus the factory trayliner was in the way so couldnt see what i was doin...
so i pulled the trayliner in the middle (at the back of the tray) bent the trayliner to pop the left side out to see what i was doin..

tools used:
-bcf 6mm power cable (has black and red cable wrapped in white sheath $7.95/m about 6m worth)
-solder
-soldering iron
-narva crimp terminals ~$5.95 from s.cheap
-waterproof 30a inline blade fuse (but used a 10A fuse instead) ~$4
-12v waterproof socket from autobarn ~$13
-couple of cable ties
-electrical tape

[Buzzy]

Guys, just on this again.I have nearly finished my fridge slide/rack and I am now going to put a Projecta 1000w inverter next to the fridge as well. I only want to run 1 power cable to the back for the inverter and fridge. Was size should it be? Whats the best way to set it up? BTW I am not running the fridge off the inverter, the inverter is just for cooking etc.

Ben

[Buzzy]

Ah yeh can you earth these inverters straight to the chassis or do you have to run the negative back to the battery?

[andyj]

Buzzy
I just ran a power source to the tub then plug the invertor into that and run the fridge from the same source

Andy

[andyj]

Buzzy
I just ran a power source to the tub then plug the invertor into that and run the fridge from the same source

Andy

[Stu]

Buzzy, Narva have an 8mm 100amp cable
Depending on what you're running on the inverter that should be enough, my inverter has a short run of about 40cm of 30mm (starter motor/winch size) cable hooked up to batteries in the tray and can run a kettle or a toaster no probs but when it only had the 8mm stuff on it melted the insulation off in about a minute trying to boil a kettle. Anything with an element is going to put a fair amount of load on the cable

[Stevo8]

I did mine same as Jueylea up along passenger side chassis rail and towbar loom and up in behind tail light. I used a flat steel HD hella plug of a tractor. Sits in against the liner well. And put a maxi blade fuse in up near the battery.

[Greedy]

Just resurrecting an oldie. I've just purchased a set of reversing lights and need to remove the lefthand taillight to get to the reverse circuit. The instructions (in Indonesian I think) show the light being removed by two screws inside the tailgate. After removing these, the light is still solidly held in as far as I can tell. Does anyone know the trick to getting it out without breaking any clips etc that may be holding it in.

[Greedy]

Cancel that question. Just found the info posted in the canopy wiring thread. Thanks Nowforthe5th.

[TritonSteve]

Trickml;
the 240v adaptor that canme with it puts out 10 amps max, and it runs fine off that, so that's what i based my decision on.
And the towbar bolt i'm using is indeed a chassis earth.

240v @ 10 amps is 2400 watts. To get 2400 watts from 12v you will be pulling 200 amps. You can only safely get 120 watts through a 10 amp fitting. If your fridge is pulling 25 amps on startup when using 12v you will have to use wiring and connectors rated at least 30 amps or you are risking fire.

[Notso]

I've checked my EVA Kool with a danfoss compressor that draws about 4.5 amps on the Boost setting and the most it draws is a momentary 6.5 amps on start up. I can't see how any of the similar compressors in these small fridges would ever draw anything like 25 amps.

[WWWobbly]

In the passenger side rear wheel arch I removed 3 screws and 2 plastic screws and bent the plastic back out of the way. When you look up behind the plastic you can see the back of the fuel filler.

Inside the tub at the front passenger side (roughly where the orange strap attaches to the side in the pic below) if you feel up underneath the lip you will feel an opening. I curved a piece of thin wire and fed it in and downwards through this opening about 300mm. Then looking up under the wheel arch I could see the wire above the fuel filler hoses. Pulled it out taped the +ve and -ve cables in protective conduit to it and pulled it into the tub. EASY.

I had a sticky beak in a similar area on the drivers side and found that there is a cavity that runs all the way through the corner of the tub, indicated by the cable tie below...



And here is where it goes through to the tub...



So to find this cavity, feed a long cable tie from one of the inside corners at the front of the tub and poke around until it comes out. The cavity is tight but I have managed to poke two runs of reasonably juicy power cable through. They then run down between the tub and the cab to a chassis rail, then run a short distance to an unused rubber bung near the rear doors. There is one of these on either side of an MN...





From underneath the car. I'm no expert on sealant but obviously, it has to be done top and bottom. Something tells me that white stuff the factory uses is the way to go...



Once those cables re-enter the cab, they go to the bus bars I have mounted on a backplane behind the back seat...





It's not pretty but both the outgoing runs of power to the tub are fused at the bus bars and the main incoming feed from the battery under the bonnet has a 70amp circuit breaker right at the battery up front. If you are only going to run one circuit breaker, put it right at the battery. A short can occur anywhere and if one occurs between your breaker and the battery and the breaker is down the back of the car, then all that cable can go up in flames setting your whole truck alight. Better to keep an explosion forward of the firewall and under the bonnet...

[Hondon]

I jst drilled a couple of 16 mm holes in the front of the tub lol..to fit the split conduit .haha ..what are you powering with the new run to the tub?