evomaki
Observer
I've been needing to do some auxiliary wiring on my Gen 2.5 for some time now. Finally got around to doing the job using a Painless Performance Universal Trail Rocker. Overall, I'd say the job turned out OK, not great. I thought I'd provide a brief update in case it proves useful for anyone.
For those of us who are not expert 12v wiring is a huge PITA. I thought I'd share these pictures if they might be of help to anyone. The Trail Rocker is handy because it already includes the fuses and relays in a pre-built panel along with all of the wiring. Power wiring legs were easily 22' long and color coded. Switch legs something like 14" long, similarly color coded, so there was plenty of wire. Guys have built there own panels using products from Blue Sea. I might go that way were I to do this again. This just all winds up very expensive when you go shopping for the wire (see Waytek Wire, a catalog I've gotten to know well). When minimum lengths to purchase are 100' and you want color coded (vs. all white with labels), that is serious $$ for just the wire. Well, not just wire, connectors, switches, you name it. It adds up.
So my biggest beef with the Trail Rocker is the size. It's huge, and our Monty's are pretty compact, which is good in the woods. Fitting under the hood was a major challenge. It possibly could have fit near the ABS controller passenger side, but I would have spent two weekends mocking up and building a complex mounting bracket. Tried under the passenger seat and was really too big. Similar for the passenger floor kick panel area. I thought of behind the center console in the rear seat, but I would have messed up folding seats forward. As my vehicle is not a daily driver and I'd removed the rear interior panels, it was able to attach in the area where the old third row attached.
Traile Rocker has 8 power legs, more than I need for sure but you get what you get. I ran 4ea. to the rear (air locker, power port, future lights, and spare), 4 ea to the front (currently just coiled up by air cleaner; lights, future electric fan, winch control, and two spares). The wire barely fit under the stock interior trim panels near the rockers on the floor. I went with 6 ga. positive and 8 ga. ground. Ground somewhat less critical as the loads will access grounds in other areas. I just ran some grounds while at it. Maybe 4 ga. positive and 6 ga. ground would have been better given the length of run, but they would not have fit. The Trail Rocker has 8 30 amp circuits. I do not need 30amp. 20 would be plenty. The ARB Compressor itself only needs 15 amp. I'm probably going to put in smaller fuses. I had to buy a bunch of that braided split wire loom stuff, particularly as I no longer have the interior trim panels installed. Looked bad with the exposed wire.
Carling Contura rocker switches fit OK in the lower front panel. It's tight but they do fit. I cut out the entire wood grained panel and a bit more. I had to make a panel out of lexan into which to mount the rocker switches. I will double side tape the lexan panel in place, which is an OK way of doing it. The whole panel will pop out. Once the Carling switches are in their Carling mounting panels and clicked into the lexan panel I made, they are not easily removed. My entire lexan panel pops off giving access to the switches. The labels you see in the pics are just temporary. The open switch location is for a DPDT on-off-on switch i need for winch control. I have that one on order.
The red switch is there to energize the ARB switches in the center console by the storage bin. I did not want someone "accidentally" pressing those while driving. They are so tempting right there. So to get the compressor to turn on you must first flip the red switch. The stock switch panels can be enlarged pretty easily to accept the Carling mount into which the switch attaches. I wound up buying a pneumatic jig saw to enlarge the panels. Maybe a Dremel would have worked, but I had neither.
I ran my power wiring and one switch leg (future electric fan) to the engine bay by removing the fender and drilling a 1" hole about 2" below the big bung for the antenna. All the wire runs under the fender support and exists near the air cleaner. Best way I could figure out how to do it. Wrapped it in wire loom. Don't want any positive arcing on my. That would ruin a day fast.
I also finally installed a switch to the power antenna (not pictured), so you can keep the antenna down. That was an easy job. Wire was not hard to locate behind the radio. With so much music these days from Pandora, etc. the antenna can be down most of the time anyhow. I've replaced too many of those already.
For those of us who are not expert 12v wiring is a huge PITA. I thought I'd share these pictures if they might be of help to anyone. The Trail Rocker is handy because it already includes the fuses and relays in a pre-built panel along with all of the wiring. Power wiring legs were easily 22' long and color coded. Switch legs something like 14" long, similarly color coded, so there was plenty of wire. Guys have built there own panels using products from Blue Sea. I might go that way were I to do this again. This just all winds up very expensive when you go shopping for the wire (see Waytek Wire, a catalog I've gotten to know well). When minimum lengths to purchase are 100' and you want color coded (vs. all white with labels), that is serious $$ for just the wire. Well, not just wire, connectors, switches, you name it. It adds up.
So my biggest beef with the Trail Rocker is the size. It's huge, and our Monty's are pretty compact, which is good in the woods. Fitting under the hood was a major challenge. It possibly could have fit near the ABS controller passenger side, but I would have spent two weekends mocking up and building a complex mounting bracket. Tried under the passenger seat and was really too big. Similar for the passenger floor kick panel area. I thought of behind the center console in the rear seat, but I would have messed up folding seats forward. As my vehicle is not a daily driver and I'd removed the rear interior panels, it was able to attach in the area where the old third row attached.
Traile Rocker has 8 power legs, more than I need for sure but you get what you get. I ran 4ea. to the rear (air locker, power port, future lights, and spare), 4 ea to the front (currently just coiled up by air cleaner; lights, future electric fan, winch control, and two spares). The wire barely fit under the stock interior trim panels near the rockers on the floor. I went with 6 ga. positive and 8 ga. ground. Ground somewhat less critical as the loads will access grounds in other areas. I just ran some grounds while at it. Maybe 4 ga. positive and 6 ga. ground would have been better given the length of run, but they would not have fit. The Trail Rocker has 8 30 amp circuits. I do not need 30amp. 20 would be plenty. The ARB Compressor itself only needs 15 amp. I'm probably going to put in smaller fuses. I had to buy a bunch of that braided split wire loom stuff, particularly as I no longer have the interior trim panels installed. Looked bad with the exposed wire.
Carling Contura rocker switches fit OK in the lower front panel. It's tight but they do fit. I cut out the entire wood grained panel and a bit more. I had to make a panel out of lexan into which to mount the rocker switches. I will double side tape the lexan panel in place, which is an OK way of doing it. The whole panel will pop out. Once the Carling switches are in their Carling mounting panels and clicked into the lexan panel I made, they are not easily removed. My entire lexan panel pops off giving access to the switches. The labels you see in the pics are just temporary. The open switch location is for a DPDT on-off-on switch i need for winch control. I have that one on order.
The red switch is there to energize the ARB switches in the center console by the storage bin. I did not want someone "accidentally" pressing those while driving. They are so tempting right there. So to get the compressor to turn on you must first flip the red switch. The stock switch panels can be enlarged pretty easily to accept the Carling mount into which the switch attaches. I wound up buying a pneumatic jig saw to enlarge the panels. Maybe a Dremel would have worked, but I had neither.
I ran my power wiring and one switch leg (future electric fan) to the engine bay by removing the fender and drilling a 1" hole about 2" below the big bung for the antenna. All the wire runs under the fender support and exists near the air cleaner. Best way I could figure out how to do it. Wrapped it in wire loom. Don't want any positive arcing on my. That would ruin a day fast.
I also finally installed a switch to the power antenna (not pictured), so you can keep the antenna down. That was an easy job. Wire was not hard to locate behind the radio. With so much music these days from Pandora, etc. the antenna can be down most of the time anyhow. I've replaced too many of those already.
