Thread: Defender Cargo Area Power

I started rewiring the rear of the old girl today. Previously I had the fridge hard wired into the secondary battery with an in-line fuse, and no other power at the rear of the vehicle.

Well I went into Jaycar and picked up 4 x Merit Plugs, and 4 x Merit sockets. I also finally mounted my work lights to the rear of the roof rack for those nights were I always seem to set up in the dark!

I started by drilling a couple of holes at the back of the roof rack, and mounting the work lights:





I then wired them up for a merit plug. Considering they draw approx 6 amps at most, and the merit plugs handle 20 amps I am happy with the way it is. I didn't want to drill a hole in the roof, (yes I know I have holes everywhere else) hence why it's not permanently wired. And in all seriousness, how often do you really use them?

From there I sorted out the fusebox. For this I used parts from Jaycar - I x enclosure and 2 x 4 way fuse gang blocks. I've fused both sides (positive and earth) because I can. No need to do it, but I did.





Wiring is stuff I had around the shed, but all of it is minimum rated to 30 amps (in reality you only need 15 or so). From there I fitted the merit sockets. This ended up being a pain in the bum, as the thread is 12mm long - and so was the plywood I was mounting it into.

And at 18mm, it isn't a small diameter either. However a bit of (not so good) work with the drill piece worked that problem out. Hint - fit these bloody things BEFORE you fit the storage drawers into the vehicle.



Oops - the fuse box is located on the passenger side - same side as the battery. I ran the wiring through the side of the storage box. The wiring is all in conduit to protect it - however each line is also fused. The two wires you see without conduit is my main power feed - I am yet to connect that up and finalise it.



I ran two lines across to the drivers side storage box for the fridge and light that side. It also is inside of conduit. I attached it to the cargo barrier with zip ties (real high tech here)



Completed:





With one of the lights plugged in:




Tomorrow I need to complete the line to the battery. I am also tidying up the battery area, so I'll most likely put up a post about my dual battery system. Bet there aren't many (if any) Defenders running around with a 830 CCA main battery and a 140 A/H deep cycle :wink:

Cheers
Chris

The lights fold inwards when I'm not using them (back towards the inside of the roof rack). I did look at this and that's why I chose there to mount them. The other thing is one 13mm bolt either side and they are both off the bracket if I needed too.

However saying that - I'll definately have to be more careful in the future than I have been previously.

Cheers
Chris