Van Diaries 7 – Revisit Electrical

We’re back!… from our overseas trip.

And now it’s time to start frantically preparing our van before we leave.

We are very excited to say hello to our friend we haven’t seen for six months!

IMG_0175

Just the way we left it 🙂

IMG_0177

The first order of business is to rewire the fuses for all our interior devices.

Ready to start!?!?

IMG_0185

Out with the old!

The way we originally wired the van is a bit of a mess…
Correcting the van’s original (fuseless) setup and inserting taps for our new devices left us with a tangle of wires.

IMG_0189

 

It’s a little time consuming to decode the jumble, but we begin snipping and reorganizing wires.

IMG_0194

In with the New!

We design the new setup using Digi-Key Scheme-it (a free online electrical schematic creator).

The “Ignition Power Devices” will all remain in the original fuse box because they’re either working just fine where they are or will need to turn on and off with the vehicle.

Everything within “Continuous Power Devices” we’ll move to a seperate fuse box to ease the craziness from all the excessive fuse taps.

IMG_0193

The upper piece is a ground block for easy ground connections.
The lower piece is the fuse box connecting to the battery’s 12V output.

Once complete, the fuse box will be togglable via a 3-way switch to connect to the back (deep cycle) battery, front battery, or be completely disconnected to prevent battery drainage.

We place the finished product under the driver seat.

IMG_0304

and admire the cleaner, easier to follow power distribution points.

Check out how much better the original fuse box looks!
IMG_0291

Spread the love