Member III
I am new to this community. But not new to modifications, I have been a Aircraft Technician for over 40 years, have worked on Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles and boats for longer.
I decide to write a post because a little over a week ago I was on an Overland trip with some friends in the North Georgia mountains. One of my friends said the fridge he had installed stopped working. What we found was very disturbing. Well, he had installed several aftermarket pieces of equipment, including solar panels, duel battery set up with a REDARC, an sPod system. It turns out that one of his power connectors, was not properly soldered/crimped which caused high heat and melted the connector and wiring about 3 inches. The wire was proper size, but if not installed correctly it is just as bad as problem as too small of wire for the load.
We did a field repair, but noticed poor wiring on almost everything we looked over. Along with another friend we spent 2 days rewiring his Tacoma aftermarket accessories. Using the proper wire, connectors, crimps, power and grounds.
Why am I putting this on the DIY forum? I am a DIY'er, but if I do not know the proper way of doing something I seek advice. My friend could have easily burned down his Tacoma as we were bouncing around the mountains, in fact if we had not found it when we did it probably would have on his way home.
Wiring is one of those things that people just do, without much thought, we can get wire and connectors and run wire from on end of the vehicle to the other, pop it thru anyplace we see it can go thru.
Things that people do not think about are (1), wire size for the load it is going to carry, we think of the fuse size but not the wire size. ( improper wire size for the load with melt the wire) And the size of wire may have to be may have to be larger due to the length of the wire, (voltage drop). {2) connectors, use good quality connectors ( not the cheap Chinese ones) I prefer the solder sleeves, And the proper crimpers for the connectors . Heat shrink over the connectors, Test them to make sure a tug will not pull them apart, Or, solder the wires together (another skill) and heat shrink. (3) build a harness, put it in wire loom and use a quality electrical tape like 3M super 33, along the loom to keep it together. Then run it thru or under the vehicle out of the way, suggest with the factory harness if possible. Use good quality zip-tys to secure the loom every 8 -10 inches or where possible. use rubber grommets if going thru a panel if a factory access isn't possible. all this to prevent chaffing and possible shorting the wires or to prevent getting them caught and ripping them off when crawling.
(4) ground all grounds to a good ground, if doing what we did, all grounds were grounded to the Frame of the truck. Solid grounds will prevent future issues.
Well this is my very first post on OB. I don't judge anyone's electrical work. But I am an Instructor, that believes that if it is done poorly then education needs to happen.
Please do it right, you have a lot invested in your Vehicles , and whatever the wiring cost is a small figure compared to replacing the vehicle due to a fire.
Eddy G
I decide to write a post because a little over a week ago I was on an Overland trip with some friends in the North Georgia mountains. One of my friends said the fridge he had installed stopped working. What we found was very disturbing. Well, he had installed several aftermarket pieces of equipment, including solar panels, duel battery set up with a REDARC, an sPod system. It turns out that one of his power connectors, was not properly soldered/crimped which caused high heat and melted the connector and wiring about 3 inches. The wire was proper size, but if not installed correctly it is just as bad as problem as too small of wire for the load.
We did a field repair, but noticed poor wiring on almost everything we looked over. Along with another friend we spent 2 days rewiring his Tacoma aftermarket accessories. Using the proper wire, connectors, crimps, power and grounds.
Why am I putting this on the DIY forum? I am a DIY'er, but if I do not know the proper way of doing something I seek advice. My friend could have easily burned down his Tacoma as we were bouncing around the mountains, in fact if we had not found it when we did it probably would have on his way home.
Wiring is one of those things that people just do, without much thought, we can get wire and connectors and run wire from on end of the vehicle to the other, pop it thru anyplace we see it can go thru.
Things that people do not think about are (1), wire size for the load it is going to carry, we think of the fuse size but not the wire size. ( improper wire size for the load with melt the wire) And the size of wire may have to be may have to be larger due to the length of the wire, (voltage drop). {2) connectors, use good quality connectors ( not the cheap Chinese ones) I prefer the solder sleeves, And the proper crimpers for the connectors . Heat shrink over the connectors, Test them to make sure a tug will not pull them apart, Or, solder the wires together (another skill) and heat shrink. (3) build a harness, put it in wire loom and use a quality electrical tape like 3M super 33, along the loom to keep it together. Then run it thru or under the vehicle out of the way, suggest with the factory harness if possible. Use good quality zip-tys to secure the loom every 8 -10 inches or where possible. use rubber grommets if going thru a panel if a factory access isn't possible. all this to prevent chaffing and possible shorting the wires or to prevent getting them caught and ripping them off when crawling.
(4) ground all grounds to a good ground, if doing what we did, all grounds were grounded to the Frame of the truck. Solid grounds will prevent future issues.
Well this is my very first post on OB. I don't judge anyone's electrical work. But I am an Instructor, that believes that if it is done poorly then education needs to happen.
Please do it right, you have a lot invested in your Vehicles , and whatever the wiring cost is a small figure compared to replacing the vehicle due to a fire.
Eddy G
