Welcome to the Nissan Patrol forum. To post a question and to see less adds on the forum then you will have to register
first. We are an easy going friendly forum so join in the conversations and feel free to ask any questions.
Become a forum sponsor for only $20 and see no adds with faster page loading times and many extras benefits.
Hey guys, here's a little project I did to get more light + some 12v outlets into the back of my shorty GQ. I'm very happy with the amount of light and how neat it turned out. I also left myself options to add more LED strips if I really want the Christmas tree effect.
All up it took about 2 hours and I used about $30 worth of stuff I already had lying around. I also ran a single 110 amp 4 gauge power cable with a 60 amp fuse (for now all I need) down the back to run all this stuff plus some reverse lights I am putting in. You can see the thick 4 gauge cable coming into the terminal block behind the jack cover in the photo's. By keeping everything clean, separately fused and accessible I'm hoping it'll be some hassle free electrics.
If anyone wants more details on cable sizes / lengths etc let me know cause I'm repeating the whole setup for a mates shorty next weekend and can measure it all then.
First pics are the before / after with the light installed. The LED strip is part of one of those 3528 SMD 5 meter rolls available on ebay. Warm white.
The rest of the photos show where I ran the cables etc and where I installed the terminal block, light switch and 12v output in the jack cover.
Really helps when running cable if you use sticky tape to attach the end of the cable to a straightened coat hanger so it's easier to push through.
I just used silicon to glue the 12v socket cause the one I had didn't have screws etc and I wanted it to mount as flush as possible. Notice that every accessory has its own fuse so the system has lots of protection.
Proud former owner of a 1997 White GQ TD42 Patrol Cab Chassis with an after market turbo, now with over half a million k's and still going strong, that's had a heart transplant and now not owned by me
Hey taslucas. I'll take some photo's from the battery all the way back and post em later to make this more obvious.
Basically I ran a thick 2 gauge cable from the battery across the firewall to a quality fuse holder (epoxy'd onto the firewall) from Jaycar that will support fuses from 30 - 110 amp. The cable then continues into the car through the rubber plugs at the passengers feet then runs up behind the aircon inlet stuff to a x4 port terminal bock epoxy'd to the outside of the aircon inlet (below / behind the glovebox). From this terminal block runs the 4 gauge cable down to the back of the truck inside the left hand side panel ending at the jack cover. Also from the front terminal block I have run a permanent power supply to a dual in-dash 12v power supply.
All this minimises accessory add-on mess at my positive battery terminal, plus reduces fire risk from a road accident or just swinging spanners under the bonnet. Another side benefit is that I can plug a solar trickle charger ($30 from Jaycar) into my 12v socket and it will maintain the battery cause I only use the truck on weekends.
Anyway I'll post some photo's of the rest of the cabling later.
Reply With Quote
