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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 2:42 pm 
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Hey guys... I am trying to complete a few other things on my build... but I am close to where I will start my wiring and other related items... I received my Rebel Wire Harness from Jeremy at Rebel Wire... I ordered the Deluxe Bug kit... thinking the wire would be longer for rear engine and such. I only have a 9 inch switch box, and I am trying to figure out if I am supposed to put the fuse block in that as well as the idiot lights and switches and oil gauge and so on? Or do I pit it in another enclosure and run the wire up to that switch box for things like I mentioned...

I looked and I think if I put the fuse block inside the switch box it will limit what else will fit... Which may be fine as long as I can fit what I need in the box. Unsure what to do here... I looked and I couldn't really find any pic's showing people running the fuse box and wire to the locations on the buggy... Other than the ones with a full dash and body panels which I don't have (or maybe I should)?

Any way here are a few pic's (same as in my current build thread) please offer any direction or advice you may have... I don't want to cut up the harness, as I would like to keep my options open... I may end up wanting a 4 seater after this one... If I do I want to use all these things on future frames.

thanks


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My fuse box looks like this one:
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:33 pm 
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My riding, if you can find a pull box at Lowes or Home Depot then see if you can find a centrally located area. Locate the fuse box there that way your wire runs are shorter. You want it accessible. But it really is a matter of preference

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 9:56 pm 
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When you say in a central location... You mean like behind or between the seats? Also... You think I should look for the electrical Box at lowes or should I get one of those center consoles? Been looking at them... Seems like there would be plenty of room to mount the fuse box in one... As well as other stuff... But I'm good which ever way... I like the cleaner look for this rail I think... It's not that big, so the more I jam in it the more I might end up bouncing off of...


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:34 pm 
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Here is what I did
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its hard to see I can take a few pics if you would like or you close come take a look :lol:
i made a big t shape box down to the frame my fuse box is inside mine is a watertight fuseblock. I also have a small boxs from lows I have overhead with my key and switches.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 10:52 pm 
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I don't install fuses into my wireing systems but if i did i would not put it in the switchbox enclosure. I would make a small weather proof enclosure somewhere easily accessable in the area between the seat and the motor. You could even include it in a sealed enclosure for dry storage/ignition box/battery box. Just remember to keep plenty of fuses and located so you can see the fuses and check or replace them easily.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:02 pm 
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Thanks blue buggy.. More pics when you have time. RDB#3 would you be talking about one of those water tight electrical boxes at at a Lowes or other hardware store? How do you feel about a center console? Just trying to figure out what to do. Sounds like you guys are saying no matter what put the fuse box in a water tight enclosure that I can get to without having to rip the buggy apart... And then just run wire to whatever...

Any pics?

What about a front mounted battery... In the middle or at the passengers feet?


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:21 pm 
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i got the same box as yours i just mounted it back far enough to put the fuse box under it. if your worried about water intrusion just smash a bunch of dielectric grease in every terminal and orifice. but first i would stretch it out and kinda mock it up to see what options you really have.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:26 pm 
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I will take some tomorrow. I should add all my fuses to the motor are in the a box in the back with the ECU. the one i showed you are for everything else. is your buggy going to be street to?

my battery is mounted at the passengers feet beeing a water guy just no room in the back. I believe most guys put them behind the Passenger seat.

I think RDB#3 was just trying to say put it where you can get to it in the woods if you need to and maybe a place where its dry and you can get to without tools.

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:47 pm 
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You may already know this or your package might have came with directions that instructed this but you will also notice that the fuses were installed in certain locations that should be sized for the maximum allowed amp draw for the size of wire that it is fusing. You will have to do a load size rating for each fuse and try to stay atleast 3 amps from the rating on the fuse....15 amp fuse keep the load at 13 amps or less. If your blowing fuses when you first wire everything up don't install a larger fuse in that location or it will melt your wire or fuse block assembly before it blows the fuse. Then keep in mind the purpose of the fuse is equipment protection so don't connect anything to a fuse with a higher amp rating then the maximum allowed ampacity for that piece of equipment. If its not a piece of equipment your not worried about then just keep the load below the ampacity rating of the wire.


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:59 pm 
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Image
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this is a watertight box from lowes its a small one 5x5 i think
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:46 pm 
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new to the forum, if it helps, from the panel you have about 30 inches of wire to the ign.turn. and headlight switches. about 40 inches of wire to gauge panel, wiper pwr, radio etc. Hope I can be of some service to the forum.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:21 pm 
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Thanks Jeremy... once more coming through for me... Guys this is who I purchased the wire harness from... Good guy. great looking product... cant wait to try it out.

30 inches... hmmm

Jeremy have you seen this harness in a rail before? Or do you have any ideas for me to water proof it for this application?

looking and thinking...


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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:44 pm 
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I've seen plenty of these used in buggys but we don't get alot of build threads with pics. Thanks again for yours. The box above looks good, I checked out pelican but couldn't find basic boxes with deminsions. I will look more into it, this is something we were looking for last year, we were playing around with a drag car switch and relay harness.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 2:59 pm 
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don't know a price range but just came across http://www.budind.com with weather-proof enclosures with dimensions. the NEMA boxes with latch look good, got this link off of a marine forum. Also some listed on mouser's website with prices http://www.mouser.com/Enclosures/Enclos ... /_/N-5g3p/
Still wouldn't be a bad idea to check out home improvement outlets. Hope this helps.

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 5:16 pm 
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ill say it again you dont really have to weather proof your fuse box. you could dunk it in a bucket of water and it would still work perfectly. water is a conducter but has enough resistance that it wont screw with 12v. the thing you have to worry about is corrosion from constant weathering. put a nice coating of dielectric grease on all the terminals and you will have no problem. if your still worried about it something like this would be perfect because you wouldnt need any tools to change a fuse.

http://www.google.com/shopping/product/5802638954461945362?hl=en&gs_rn=1&gs_ri=serp&ds=sh&pq=watertight+ammo+box&cp=10&gs_id=6z&xhr=t&q=marine%20box&pf=p&safe=off&biw=1600&bih=775&sclient=psy-ab&oq=marine+box&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1357700187,d.dmg&wrapid=tljp1358024423211518&sa=X&ei=Cc_xUOrqKa640gG8-IDYCg&sqi=2&ved=0CIsBEPMCMAI

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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 11:46 pm 
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Thanks guys... I want to take a look at the local places first... Will be able to get my hands on things there... This weekend I am trying to wrap up some bracing on the frame... A bit more to go... Then this week I will pull out the harnes and lay it out so I can see what I have in store for me... I may still go with a console... Would be nice to have it to conceal the junk running down the middle... Plus I want to add a accessory plug... Would be easy to put it in the console... But I don't see many of you guys using them... So just not sure.

Jeremy, thanks... The links are great... Lots of good choices... A latch lid may be best.... But I may have ideas for other designs... Need to get a diagram together for my install as well...


All to do this week.

I may run over to the hardware store tomorrow ... If I grab anything I will post pics... Or I may just make a run for research and keep looking till I have what I want.

Ideas welcome....

Hpfreak... I get it man... I am just looking for an enclosure to bullet proof things as well as clean it up... Thanks for the info... I will use the grease no matter what.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 9:09 pm 
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Going to get back into this install (weather permitting) I picked up the weather tight electrical box and some flexible conduit... I have a Billet dash and a Aluminum center console. lots of other things to throw into the mix... I hope to start this Thursday/Friday... SO pics will follow... I was looking at the harness... Jeremy I hope you will be able to help out when needed... man there are a lot of wires... Another trick will be that I need to hide some of it or I guess I can run the wires to the destinations used or not (makes more sense) this way when I add things it will be closer to plug n play. I need to figure out how to get the fuse box inside the electrical box (need to mount it so its still weather tight and might put it on rubber pad or something to absorb shock).

Anyway... just heads up... will be nice to get past this part... I hope it turns out OK.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 10:15 pm 
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You can mount it using machine screws just put some small o rings and a little rtv. I would run your wires to the destination. I also used a good amount of wire loom to cover my longer runs.

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PostPosted: Sat Feb 16, 2013 9:14 pm 
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Well I didn't get far today, it was not much over 30 deg. in my garage... I just wasn't real excited about working in the cold... Takes the fun out of it.

But here is where I am (kinda like step 1.

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Made the bracket and bolted the box up... Now I need to get the fuse box into the box and pull the wire to its end points... I hope to do that tomorrow... I also need to pull it all together somehow (having some problems with mounting the center console..

more pics later... once I get the harness in that's when all the fun will begin... I hope I can figure it out.. there are a crap load of wires... and also might need to make some longer... so will need Jeremy to help on that (unsure if the fuse and wire size will support it.. but I don't know till I pull the wire and see.

thanks


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 12:10 am 
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I built a dashboard with a fuse box inside, to make access as easy as possible. You never know when you have trouble out on the trail, in the middle of the night, stuck on a hill. the way its situated, i dont even have to get out of the drivers seat to work on it. you might want to get rid of the little tiny box and built a whole new dashboard to put everything in it, there is some nice dashboards on this post with the same concept. easy access.

http://www.woodsbuggy.com/index.php?opt ... ard#p71288

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PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 7:00 pm 
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Thanks Afterburnt... I like your buggy... and I do plan to do a dash in the future... this is a step in that direction. I am actually trying to fabricate lid for this electrical box that will allow me to see the fuses and flip the lid open with ease... more on that later, if I can work it out... And I can reach that area pretty easily... this frame is really small... but honestly this being my first build and my first buggy... I am not sure if there all like that or if its just this style?

So today I didn't get anything done... I took the harness out and cut some of the zip ties that group the harness together for shipping... Man there are so many wires... I don't know what the heck to do. I sent an email to Jeremy... Hope he can help. For starters, it looks by how its designed the wire to the gauges is a bit short... now I am unable to tell if I can just shift the wire in the harness or if it is what it is on the harness... if that is the case I need to make them longer... and if that is what I need to do then I am unsure if I can just add t it and be fine or if I need to pull the wire and replace the longer runs... I bet it will be about 2 feet short (just a guess).

For tomorrow I think what I need to do is figure out how to get the fuse box into the electrical box and string the wire out to where I think it might need to go... to do that I will need to drill a hole in the side of the electrical box and figure out how to pull all the wire threw it :shock: this will be a task all by its self with how its tied together... so I will need to separate the bunch to get it to work... and that scares me, lol looks like a Honda threw up in my garage floor already... and I am not even getting started.

will be researching tonight and hope to get started in the morning.

Any help or ideas would be good....


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 8:49 pm 
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if you need to add to the wire the best way is to strip the wire about a half inch stick the two ends together and solder them then slide a piece of shrink tube over the solder joint and heat the tube to shrink it . now thats the best way to splice wire. by the way don't look at all the wires as one bunch look at one wire at a time and it wont confuse you as much :roll:


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PostPosted: Sun Feb 17, 2013 11:30 pm 
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Thanks man... Good idea. I need to think this through... The fuse box is wired to be about where the stock bugs fuse box sits... I should have looked a bit closer at this... As it is it would be a lot easier for me to just put the fuse box in the center console which would make it about even for a bug wire harness. If I do that I will not be able to have it in the water tight enclosure. If I continue to put it behind the seat, I will need to pull apart the harness and route it as if it was a custom install... Also will need to cut a lot of wire off the motor side and splice to the switch side...


Not sure what to do... I was thinking this wold be easier... There is no way to pull the wire through the electrical box without splitting it up... I am going to look at running 3 separate lines out of the electrical box in the morning... If I can do that it will make it a lot easier... And I will only need to splice the wire back on to the switch side... Which is not the worst thing in the world... I will not be using much of it for starters...

Going to sleep on it... Please feel free to offer any advice that might help me decide...

Console - re design my idea and make it water tight after the fact ( I can do it ).

Or

Electrical box and splice wire ( will be quite a few wires but still not a huge deal ).

Both are going to be a lot of work at this point.


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 8:45 am 
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I'm not sure it has to be 100% water tight and sealed. I would protect it from water but not worry about making it a sealed unit. Unless you plan to totally sink the buggy in a river and still try to drive it, it really won't matter much. Rain, power washing and spray from the tires is not going to effect the wiring much if it just protected a little. I've washed all kinds of engines with them running and the wires are exposed, even on new cars. They may have a lot of water tight plugs, but there are always some open ends here and there. I've never had one short out. Just protect it some and I think you'll be fine.

To make the harness less daunting I started by sorting the wires that would go to the back and to the front. Then you can isolate the ones you don't plan to use now and coil them up and out of the way. I think you'll be surprised how the bundles get smaller and easier to work with. Once you get going it gets easier. It's just one wire at a time.

I agree with afterburnt, just splice, solder and shrink wrap. If you can get shrinkwrap with the adhesive in it, I would. That stuff is great. I also put shrink wrap on the spade connectors and eylets on the connecting end of my wires too. Just take your time and think two steps ahead. You'll be fine.

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PostPosted: Mon Feb 18, 2013 10:39 am 
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OK if that is true about the water tight thing then I feel a lot better... I thought I had to find a way to make it water tight... and no I do no plan to sink it in the river ;) .

That said it opens up a few doors for me and I hope you guys have time to answer... I took the day off for some relaxation and I hope to get this wire harness at least mounted and pulled to the destinations.

I have two options...


1. I can cut the electrical box that I have, and stick with the current plan of sorting and splicing as I go (this should work out now that I don't need to make it as water tight as I thought.

2. I can add a 2nd electrical box in the center console (or close) and mount the fuse box in it and run the wire up to switch box and out to the current electrical box as if it were a junction box for the motor... If I do this I will need to cut a big square in the console to fit the box... I think I have the tools to do an OK job... but I risk damaging the console... Or as I said... I may be able to mount it near by like between the battery and console?

you get the idea... still need to think it out.

What do you think?

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I am ok with current plan... all I would need to do is make a slot down the side for the wire harness to fit, or just drill a hole big enough to fit the harness through... And I should be able to do something to seal it back.

let me know I am getting my tools together... going to do more research.


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