Thread: Permanent power from Traxide back to accessories and dash - design?

Originally Posted by drivesafe

Hi Redtail, minimum cable size would be 6mm AUTO, which is actually 4.5mm2, but as suggested above, 8B&S or 7.8mm2 would be a better choice, to keep voltage drop to a minimum.

Cheers, Tim and David! 8B&S it is.

Now, for more trim and panel grubbing. Yay.

We had a long weekend this side of the country, so I got stuck in and sorted out my power distribution up front in my D4.

Thanks to everyone who answered my perhaps silly questions, but you gave me enough confidence to have a go. And having done the Traxide install myself, I had no qualms about ripping out the panelling and running the power feed back along the driver's side.

First up, I installed a Baintech 6 fuse holder. Quite a solid unit, and more robust than other versions I found. (Hat tip to Rod.)
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The main power feed is 8B&S, as is the earth strap back to the sidepanel, earthed to the same point as the Traxide.
From there, it's twin cable back around and under the console for permanent power to the passenger acc socket, and another twin lead to an inline cig socket behind the glovebox for the dashcam (see why here Dashcam - BlackVue - permanent power).
The other circuits are for the UHF radio and the micro/mini wire-in USB adaptor for my phone.
Wire-in Adaptor 12V to 5V USB Micro/Mini | Jaycar Electronics (I may put up a separate thread about that.)
I used the supplied wiring for those two.

Youtube was useful showing me how to get the console out.
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Plenty of room to work. The twin cable I used was 10B&S from memory.
It comes through and doesn't pinch where it crosses the edge near that noise-suppressing packing.
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I only did the passenger acc socket, as it was easy with spade fittings. The cigar socket (top of photo) would need soldering because it's a different design. I guessing due to its heat shielding etc.
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And a trusty cable tie keeps the original out of the way while stopping the new getting pulled out if I ever lift the console again.
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The UHF (GME XRS-330C) sits under the seat, routing the aerial cable as per Scott's build (Scott's Discovery 4), and the dashcam (BlackVue DR900S-2CH) is pretty much the same as this from Bytemrk (Installing a Blackvue Dual Channel Dashcam into a D4).

All in all, it took me most of the three days. Slow and steady, and it all worked first time.