Truck Power Distribution

[Completed Project]

This project was done because I can never find ACC power or Battery power inside the truck. Well time to fix that. I created a power block that has both on it. It took some modifications to a 12vDC fuse block I bought from Princes Auto. Right now I have way to many wires running to my battery and through the firewall. And if I have to find a fuse, ugh. Nothing is centrally located. This new block will be behind the console on my 2012 Dodge ram. you could hide a body back there, its crazy.

This little guy sells for $28cad. The bolt on the bottom there is the only input for power. That's going to change.

The plan here is to take this power bus, cut it in too two sections, on ACC one Battery. I did this by opening the bottom half of the fuse block.

now unfortunatly I did the whole project, THEN decided to take pictures... oops. So above is the base opened up, but if you look to the left there is a hole, but no bolt. thats becasue I already cut the bus bar.

I decided to buy two of these units and combine parts. its not the cheapest way thats for sure, thankfully everything was on sale (15$ each). So I opened up both and cut the bus bar like this:

The two heavy red wires are both 10awg. One goes through the delay (this will provide ACC at up to 40amp) the other connects directly to the battery.

Note that in this picture the relay coil leads are not attached and the main battery wire is not attached. Also you see a small black wire on the left side in the background.

This small black wire is actually the "common" removed from the bus inside the unit. The reason I did that is becasue it relyed on the loads attached to the fuse block to allow power all the way through it. This was fine for LEDs and what not, but if I powered a micro processor then the led would not indicate the fuse was working. I want light on to show no issue. light off to show blown fuse. I moved the black wire to a ground inside the chassis of the truck.