Rewiring the diamond - a different approach to feeding the 12v junction block

This was a fun little project, and I thought some of you might find it interesting.


A while back I did the resistor bypass, and I upgraded the GP wiring when I did. You can read about that here.


Along with that, I wanted to clean up the wiring to the 12v junction block. I had a burned connector there, and I didn’t like the fact that that particular wire runs a pretty good distance with no overcurrent protection (fuse) of any kind.


Here’s that burned connector:




As with the last project, I had the cables made by BestBoatWire.com, using the clear heat shrink option on the terminals. I really like that, because it lets me keep an eye on the condition of the terminal.

To keep Tim from yelling at me again, I added some wire loom to a few places, and a few places he didn’t mention. I hadn’t really paid attention to it in the past, but when I started this project I found that the factory wiring is really not well protected AT ALL. There are two points where hot wires lie across an edge of grounded metal, and one point where the main lead to the starter lays along the inner fender. Zero protection! So, I added some loom to those points, too. Take a look at a few before and after:







I also corrected a mistake that doghead pointed out, and took my 12v feed directly from the front battery terminal, instead of from the rear battery negative post.

Back on another thread, antennaclimber measured the maximum load on the 12v loads (cab, lights, headlights, the whole shebang) at ~30 amps, IIRC. I fused the new circuit at 40, and mounted the fuse holder to the inner fender wall near the battery. Now that circuit is protected before it starts its long trip across the firewall, and I have one less fusible link to mess with. (I hate fusible links.)

Now that it’s installed, I wish I had stayed one gauge size down. Yeah, I said down. Smaller. Less copper. Bigger is not always better. Even though it was only about a buck more for the size I used, it’s just not necessary. It’s only carrying 30 amps, max (less if you have a headlight relay mod, on my to-do list) and this is just pointless overkill. I do like some overkill, but this is just a bit over the top.

Still, things are better than they were. On my future list is getting rid of the rest of the fusible links, but that’s a story for another day. (I hate fusible links.)

I also corrected an oops from a previous owner. Wrong terminal size. I replaced this with the correct size, and cleaned up all the connectors going to that block. Use the right terminals, folks!

In this picture you can see the color difference in my new cables. The larger one is the GP supply from my other thread. I commented about the pinkish color. The smaller one is the new 12v feed to the junction block, and it's much more red. Dunno what that's about, but it doesn't affect function in any way, so I'm happy. It's not a show piece.

Chaffing of wiring is one fire hazard that is not wanted or needed. Also clean connection of all circuits prevents overheating of wires. Prevention now beats problems later when away from home base.

Hoses and their connections also need protection from chaffing and vibration, the elements also. When looking over there is always something that needs attention.