Wiring accessories into a puma

[c.h.i.e.f]

Recently I've been wiring accessories into my 2013 defender but find it such a pain in the @ss as there just isn't enough room or places to run everything...accessories so far are: led light bar , led work lights , spotlights , spotlight outlet , UHF , phone charger/long range Ariel for phone charger , external power for fridge...
The main problem is having the battery under the seat having to run wires from there under the car and then back up into the steering column and then trying to pull them threw it ends up a bloody mission to wire in 1 little accessory simply because there's very few places you can actually enter the cab...the wiring for lights on the roof has me stumped on how to get the wires upto the roof without looking terrible and making it reasonably water tight...
I have an idea I am playing with and that running 2 main supply wires out under my bonnet to a fuse box and running everything from that however there's still the pain of getting the wires into the cab behind the instrument panel.

What's everyone else done?

[n plus one]

Recently I've been wiring accessories into my 2013 defender but find it such a pain in the @ss as there just isn't enough room or places to run everything...accessories so far are: led light bar , led work lights , spotlights , spotlight outlet , UHF , phone charger/long range Ariel for phone charger , external power for fridge...
The main problem is having the battery under the seat having to run wires from there under the car and then back up into the steering column and then trying to pull them threw it ends up a bloody mission to wire in 1 little accessory simply because there's very few places you can actually enter the cab...the wiring for lights on the roof has me stumped on how to get the wires upto the roof without looking terrible and making it reasonably water tight...
I have an idea I am playing with and that running 2 main supply wires out under my bonnet to a fuse box and running everything from that however there's still the pain of getting the wires into the cab behind the instrument panel.

What's everyone else done?

I put a fuse panel in the bat box and one in the exbox - still a pain to run things though.

I think Cruisers have a remote fuse box under the bonnet like what you're contemplating?

[Phil B]

Hi,

Have you seen the dash in the picture?
Made by Raptor in the UK.

All the switches are in one place. You could bring one large supply wire to a fuse box in the new bash and split every thing from there.

Best bet from there is onto the inside of the gear box/prop shaft chanel and up the pillars.

Hope this helps.

Phil.

[Brute]

You can get a little gadget from jay car that plugs into a blade fuse holder and has a fuse to replace the original fuse and another beside it with a short lead attached to connect your accessories to.

[rar110]

I've bought a multi fuse box/holder from jaycar. The intention is to run a single power supply from the battery to the fuse box which will be a source of power for power outlets and maybe the HF.

The fuse box will be located in a ply Hm made box that sits under center cubby box.

[c.h.i.e.f]

Thanks guys
I just went and bought a 1-10 way fuse box and am going to mount it on the fire wall I think....it will save having to run into the battery box every time I get another accessory..the other annoying thing is the standard LR battery does not have decent connection points for extra positive and negative connections.
I am thinking of also running a large negative wire out beside the external fuse box and connecting it to a terminal strip so that I can bring all my negatives back to that rather than to the chassis (in particular wiring for lights)

[AndyG]

I was thinking of getting an Ex box with fuse box inside, hopefully there is enough space on the front fascia for a row of switches, maybe even a few on the rear for appropriate items such as cabin light or outside illumination.

[AndyG]

I was thinking of getting an Ex box with fuse box inside, hopefully there is enough space on the front fascia for a row of switches, maybe even a few on the rear for appropriate items such as cabin light or outside illumination.

[Felix]

You can get dual input fuse boxes from vehiclewiringproducts.co.uk so you can have ignition switched and constant power in the same fuse box. You'd run a 100A relay and fuse the supplies obviously and you can also run all your earths back to the box as it has provisions for that also. That's how I did my RRC and is how I will do my Defender when I get around to it.

Make sure you use appropriate sized cable, and if it's going to be a long run, account for voltage drop. I'd use no less than 6B&S for a 100A fuse box.

[n plus one]

I was thinking of getting an Ex box with fuse box inside, hopefully there is enough space on the front fascia for a row of switches, maybe even a few on the rear for appropriate items such as cabin light or outside illumination.

Plenty of room on/in an exbox to do that.

[alan48]

Hi,
I run a cable to roof lights up inside my snorkel and the roof lights have a small plug to plug into this cable--looks neat but agree entry points to firewall more difficult on pumas.

[RVR110]

3 options immediately come to mind...

Option 1
Get a Mulgo to install an ex-box. Has the benefit of raising some vulnerable electrics. Put the fusebox in the ex-box.

Option 2
If you don't have an ex-box then consider putting a fuse-box in the dashboard. Pull out the front centre dash console (the one with the stereo in it), then look at the possibility of placing the fusebox on the left hand side, backing on to the panel that mates with the passenger's dash handle. It might also fit on the right hand side on the panel next to the instrument cluster. I have a bus bar on the LHS. All hidden nicely away and in a great position to feed my additional switches in the standard switch positions.

Option 3
Put a circuit breaker in the battery compartment. From there, run a heavy duty (4G or 8G) across to under the drivers seat and put your fuse box there.

What I Did
I have dual batteries under the passenger seat in my MY13 Puma. The second battery runs to a 100 amp circuit breaker in the ex-box and from there it splits off to a 12-way fusebox in the ex-box and a six-way fusebox in the rear. All negatives run back to the battery. I have a GME TX3540 UHF located in the ex-box as well. My winch is wired directly to the primary battery, as is the Traxide headlight wiring loom.

[jc109]

RVR110, any chance of some pics of your set-up? I'm specifically interested in the UHF install, as I have an Ex-Box and have done much the same as you except for the UHF, which I fitted inside my cubby box. I'm not happy with it and am keen to see other solutions.

[RVR110]

RVR110, any chance of some pics of your set-up? I'm specifically interested in the UHF install, as I have an Ex-Box and have done much the same as you except for the UHF, which I fitted inside my cubby box. I'm not happy with it and am keen to see other solutions.

The UHF is mounted on the underside of the ex-box lid using super strength double sided tape:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/03/677.jpg

The microphone is mounted on the front. Sometimes the microphone cable gets a bit in the way of my coffee cup. The UHF microphone and speaker wiring exits the ex-box in the rear with the subwoofer wiring and is routed along the bottom of the ex-box (passenger side) to the speaker and the microphone socket. The external speaker for the UHF is visible in the bottom left of the photo:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/03/678.jpg

The fusebox and circuit breaker are mounted towards the front of the ex-box. The thick red wire coming off the terminal runs to the rear fuse box. The circuit breaker doubles as an isolation switch, covering both front and rear fuse boxes simultaneously:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/03/679.jpg

[jc109]

That's great. Thanks Mate. Boy, your Ex-Box looks a hell of a lot neater than mine does. I think that's a better solution for both the UHF and sub (mine was due to go down the back but the wiring is a PITA). Cheers!

[AndyG]

Can anyone suggest something like the Blue Sea Fuse box, but with integrated on/off switch per fuse. I would like to turn power off to the accessory not in use.
There are a few marine options but they do not have a backing plate and have to be mounted through a panel, plus i don't really want my my external lightes to be labelled "Bilge":D

regards
Andrew

[Chops]

Thats a good looking setup RVR110, nice and neat.

I wouldn't mind one of the Mulgo boxes, but just not too sure on the height.

[noyakfat]

Most people who have had them installed seem to spruik only good things about the resultant height of the box top.

Can't speak from experience... yet...

[Cracka]

Looking for ideas myself.

[Bundalene]

We used existing switch positions and replaced the blanks with switches from a Series 2 Disco



https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/03/534.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/b5lbjij)




https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/03/535.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/m9x5gij)



As for a fuse box we mounted this under the front right guard. The fuse box is out of a Series1 Disco.



https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2014/03/536.jpg (https://imageshack.com/i/16d4x7j)








We ran the feed for the fuse box directly from the starter motor as the battery box area is a bit busy




Erich