Cracka's Traxide upgrades

[Cracka]

Well I thought it was about time I updated my previous and current projects on 'Ivy'

I bought a USI-160 dual battery isolator from Tim (Traxide) a few months ago. I removed the original battery tray and made a new one with alloy chequer plate and packed it up to make one level floor. I used gal threaded rod all the way through for the hold down rods. I fitted the original battery hard over to the nearside of the battery box and then fitted an Optima D34 as the auxillary.

Along with the USI-160 I fitted an ABG-25 low battery isolator to the fridge socket in the rear, also powers my UHF. Also ran 6 B&S cable to the rear with an Anderson plug for the camper charging duties.

Here are some pics, you can see the 4 auto circuit breakers for the P3, Anderson plug, Aux fuse box and the upgraded wiring loom.







I then built my own incarnation of the ex box, as I thought it was a bit too high and impeded the gear shift throw (my opinion) and I only wanted it to mount power sockets 2 x doubles to the front and fit the aux fuse box to the inside, I didn't want or need to shift the electrics from under the drivers seat. 1 of the sockets I put a switch in so that I can leave my GPS plugged in and just flick the switch to power of instead of using the GPS power button when stopping.

I was lucky and found some vinyl which matched pretty good it actually looks the same in the flesh, the flash makes it look darker in the pics.







And the job that I finished today was the Defender Headlight and driving light wiring combo from Tim (Traxide).

I had read all of the threads here on where guys had put there relays and I spent a few days in between other jobs contemplating where to put them.

Well I found on the nearside under the bonnet, just in front of the fan blower there is a metal bracket, I think it's a strengthener for the plastic wheel liner. I used some 50mm x 3mm steel 'L' brackets I had and made this bracket.





I also fitted a pair of FYRLYT driving lights so we upgraded the spotty wiring to 6mm. I ran a length of 6 B&S cable from the main chassis earth point back to the bracket and used the relay bases as my earths for the wiring.





And the finished result.



I was really impressed the voltage increase of the upgraded wiring loom. I took a few measurements

PRE LOOM UPGRADE.
Measured at headlight (turned on) engine OFF..........10.92 v.
" " " " " engine IDLE........13.20 v.

POST LOOM UPGRADE.
Measured at headlight (turned on) engine OFF...........12.38v.
" " " " " engine IDLE..........14.31v.

SPOT LIGHTS.
Measured at spotty (turned on) engine OFF................11.85v.
" " " " " engine IDLE...............13.81v.
I'm pretty sure I'll get nice performance from the spots, as I was speaking with Paul from FYRLYT the other day and he told me you need 13.2v for optimal performance from these lights.

Overall I'm extremely happy with the results gained from the upgrade and thank Tim for his guidance with some of my 'questions' . It's not often you get that kind of service these days thanks mate.

Mick

[Pickles2]

Very neat work cracka.
Well done, Pickles.

[n plus one]

Nice install of the headlight relays - I mounted my relays behind the DS headlight - leaves the engine bay uncluttered but is a nightmare to work on!

I got similar voltage improvements too.

The rest of your install is nicely done - I like the homemade exbox!

[Cracka]

Thanks Pickles..

N plus one, I poured over the number of posts on here about where you guys had put them. I was going to go the drivers side but then this idea came to me, plus it was a bit easier to work on there as well.

Yep I'm happy with the 'Cracka box' it does just what I wanted.

I actually just got back in the door from aiming the spots, whoo I reckon I got a suntan adjusting them...............very happy with their performance.

Mick.

[Rurover]

Cracka,

Very professional job!
Re the mini X-Box...
How high did you make it in the end? Looks like about 50mm from the pics. Does it work OK as an arm rest and does it impede gear changes in any way?
Oh and did you have any problems with the wiring of the sub-woofer being too short?

Lots of questions, but I'm thinking I'd like to do something similar!

Alan

[skidrov]

I was really impressed the voltage increase of the upgraded wiring loom. I took a few measurements

PRE LOOM UPGRADE.
Measured at headlight (turned on) engine OFF..........10.92 v.
" " " " " engine IDLE........13.20 v.

POST LOOM UPGRADE.
Measured at headlight (turned on) engine OFF...........12.38v.
" " " " " engine IDLE..........14.31v.

SPOT LIGHTS.
Measured at spotty (turned on) engine OFF................11.85v.
" " " " " engine IDLE...............13.81v.

OK, this is interesting. There's another thread where a long-term Puma owner has reported that his headlight switch burned out. And, if I understand correctly, the Puma does introduce a relay into the wiring for the headlights, which is located in the fuse box under the dash.

So, given there is an obviously good result here, would I be correct in saying that LR have been penny-pinching and put the factory relay too far away, used factory cabling with too low a rating over too long a run, or combo of all of the above? Doesn't change anything, I'm just curious and would welcome the thoughts of the forum.

[Cracka]

Cracka,

Very professional job!
Re the mini X-Box...
How high did you make it in the end? Looks like about 50mm from the pics. Does it work OK as an arm rest and does it impede gear changes in any way?
Oh and did you have any problems with the wiring of the sub-woofer being too short?

Lots of questions, but I'm thinking I'd like to do something similar!

Alan

Thanks Alan. At the front it is 70mm tall and the rear 85mm. This gives me a nice 'slope' on the lid of the cubby to rest my forearm. It doesn't affect the gear throw whatsoever and I still have about 10mm of clearance behind the low range lever knob as well. I mounted my cubby box rear edge overhanging the metal lip on the back edge of the seat box by about 35mm, this is where I get the non interference from.

No problem with sub woofer wiring, I don't have one fitted, although I do have one to fit from when I fitted my Pioneer and Vibe system.

I recall seeing on another thread there is some extra wiring length on the subwoofer somewhere.

Mick

[Cracka]

OK, this is interesting. There's another thread where a long-term Puma owner has reported that his headlight switch burned out. And, if I understand correctly, the Puma does introduce a relay into the wiring for the headlights, which is located in the fuse box under the dash.

So, given there is an obviously good result here, would I be correct in saying that LR have been penny-pinching and put the factory relay too far away, used factory cabling with too low a rating over too long a run, or combo of all of the above? Doesn't change anything, I'm just curious and would welcome the thoughts of the forum.

Mate, have a look at the wiring going to your headlights, it's like cotton. That's probably where the majority of the voltage loss is.

Mick

[n plus one]

OK, this is interesting. There's another thread where a long-term Puma owner has reported that his headlight switch burned out. And, if I understand correctly, the Puma does introduce a relay into the wiring for the headlights, which is located in the fuse box under the dash.

So, given there is an obviously good result here, would I be correct in saying that LR have been penny-pinching and put the factory relay too far away, used factory cabling with too low a rating over too long a run, or combo of all of the above? Doesn't change anything, I'm just curious and would welcome the thoughts of the forum.

I'm pretty sure that there isn't a relay in the Puma for the headlight current - though I think there's some sort of dimmer relay which is mistaken as such?

[drivesafe]

There's another thread where a long-term Puma owner has reported that his headlight switch burned out.

Hi skidrov, this is a common problem and the kit brightens the headlights while at the same time, removes the high current load from the switch.

Once the kit is fitted, you should never need to replace a switch again.