A Guy A Girl and a Trail: Adventures in a 4Runner Limited

I started planning and purchasing for my electrical build. It's not going to be crazy elaborate, but if you haven't picked up on it already, I'm pretty detail oriented. I want to get all my thoughts and ideas down so I can plan out wire sizes, terminals, connectors, all the the individual pieces and components. The easiest way to plan this out, in my opinion, is to just make a wiring diagram. I started from scratch this morning and made some pretty good progress, I more or less have the details of the power distribution module itself planned out.

Here's the progress

 

Nice

 

Some more progress on the power distribution module build plan, it’s coming along nicely.

 

I really like what I see, although I have no idea in HELL what I'm actually looking at!

 

Well there’s still more to add, but it’s basically my blueprint to get everything planned and built - wiring diagram, connectors, which wire goes to which terminal, what each wire does, what color wiring each system uses, relay pins, the parts and pieces I’m going to use for assembly, the max current each piece is rated for so I can fuse each circuit appropriately (fuses are NOT to protect the electrical component, they are to protect the physical circuit from catching fire. You always fuse to the physical weakest link.)

If I just wing the install, it would come out fine, but it would either be expensive and time consuming from redoing branches of the harness over and over as I add and tweak things I hadn't planned for, or sloppy from not redoing them. Plus if I ever have an issue down the road it’ll be quick and easy to diagnose with a properly diagram giving me all the info. If I ever get rid of the vehicle it’ll be a neat clean plug and play setup I can swap to any other vehicle, or sell because it won’t be a rats nest disaster of wires and it’ll be fully mapped out and planned for the potential next owner.

Planning and making the diagram is tedious and time consuming now, but it’ll pay off in the end.

 

Well, if I ever pull the trigger on a second 4R then I'll plan a trip out to CO and you can wire it for me

 

I'm always willing to lend a hand.

 

Ok, this one is about 95%, I need to comb over it again and double check everything is accurate and I'll have to update it once fuses actually get installed.

 

I got started on wiring today.

 

Alright since I kinda jumped right in and I’ve only explained things in bits and pieces, here’s a recap of the whole project.


The side rails on my Southern Style Offroad roof rack has cutouts for flush mounted lights. The main use of the roof rack is for the an iKamper Skycamp roof top tent. Having scene lights installed on the sides would be perfect for camping. I already have a grill mounted light bar using an OEM style push button switch and the Baja Designs fog pocket kit using the OEM switch. I’m not liking to OEM push button switch so I thought I’d just move all the aftermarket lights over to a switch panel. I started planning out switches and mounting and this project just keeps growing and expending from the original plan.


Here’s the entire plan (subjectbto change lol)... I want any and all added electronics and accessories as separated from factory electronics as feasible. I want a clean install that looks like it could have come that way from the factory. I want modularity in the installation and design so I can remove, change, add or disconnect things as my needs evolve. I want something physical that can be worked on/fixed if there’s an issue - I don’t want the big price tag of a SPOD or Switch Pros, plus the thought of just throwing it away and buying another one if something ever goes wrong isn’t appealing.


The plan is to tie in fog lights, ditch lights, light bar in the grill, left side camp lights, right side camp lights, solar charge controller & solar panel, USB charging ports, dash cam and an electrical box for in the roof top tent that that can turn the left or right side camping lights on and off independently from the inside the tent, plus I want power outlets. Other than tying into the dash lighting circuit for the switch backlighting and a main power and ground cable to the battery, it will be a fully standalone electrical system with a low voltage disconnect that will cut power to everything on the panel except the solar if the battery discharges past a preset level. I don’t want the weight or expense of a dual battery setup at this point, but I want this to easily adapt to a secondary battery IF I eventually go that way. In the mean time I want to make sure I don’t discharge the starter battery to the point of being stranded.


This is where I’m at with the planning and wiring diagram.

 

Wow! I like it. Having the ability to troubleshoot problems, and repair them without replacing the whole thing, Priceless.

 

You want it all!

 

just about lol

 

Friday's progress

 

Power Distribution Module finished up.

 

Battery cables made and the module installed, now to start on all of the accessory wiring.

 

Today's updates.

I got the first part of the switch harness done. The wiring is ran into the cabin but just tucked away under the floor mat and coiled up on the floor of the back seat. I’m going to wait to get my airbag recall done before I do the interior wiring and switch panel install. I got my Baja Squad Pro fog lights and Rago behind the grill light bar all wired up to the power distribution module today.



Passenger side fog light harness.


The harness runs right through the radiator support over the to drivers side.


The drivers side fog light and the light bar harness.


Fog light wiring spliced together and harnesses routed around the battery back to the PDM.


I took the connectors from the Baja fog pocket kit. I pulled the terminals out, put a dab of sealant and stuck terminal plugs in them. These plug into the OEM fog light wiring and keeps it all sealed up water tight since those harnesses are no longer in use.




The last thing I had to do before getting the bumper back on was cut the connectors off the Baja lights and repin them to use the connectors for my setup.

 

Yeah that's above my pay grade...nice work!

 

Thanks!

 

Cali Rasied low profile ditch mount brackets with Baja Designs S2 Pro wide cornering amber lights.

I depinned the connector in order to route the harness through a small hole I drilled in the trim.


Pretty clean install


Harness routing


Passenger side light wiring


Drivers side light wiring and the harness to the PDM


Done. A small discreet setup with a ton of light output.

 

I go my Blue Sea 1039 dual USB fast charger today so I mounted that up and wired the switch panel.

 

I got my airbag recall completed yesterday so today I got the switch panel installed and the interior harness built and routed. I did some messing around with it and changed up the switch lighting. The original plan was to have the LEDs on the dimmer, I temporarily tied it in and tried it, it worked but what I didn't anticipate was the inability to make out the emblems on the switch. Since the text is not backlit and the logo is but not clear enough to see what it says I decided to not wire them to be backlight at all when off. I set it up so the switches are totally dark when off and the upper LED comes on when the switch is on. I kept the extra wires in the harness though in case I change my mind down the road.

 

Just make two of everything and I'll let you know when I'm on my way to CO!

 

If you buy everything and have it shipped to me I could build it all out and install in for a large fee lol

 

I'm sure!

 

So the rack is predrilled for the side lights, but SSO drills them for Baja S2 lights or some Rigid flush mounts. I don't see the value in buying Baja Designs or Rigid for camping lights so I went with some Aurora LED flush mounted scene lights. The bolt pattern was just slightly narrower than the Rigid lights so I used a file and slotted the mounting holes on the rack inwards to fit the new lights and painted the inside of the slot with a black tractor and implement paint but before that, I just looped a zip tie to hold the light in so I could get a visual of the layout and take some measurements for the harness.


Mounted


I don't that most roof rack light setups are messy and covered in zip ties so I made sure to make this as clean and hidden as possible.






No visible zip ties or wires


Wiring from the power distribution module up to the rack.




Wiring completed and 100% functional.


It came out really clean, everything is hidden behind the lower solid portion of the rack.






This is where the roof top tent electrical box will plug in. Disconnect that connection, hook up the wiring from the box inline and there will be a second switch wired in series controlling the side lights. Leave the dash switch activated and then the switch in the tent takes over control of the system.


More of the completed wiring










Now I have to duplicate a mirror image of it for the other side, I'm not really looking forward to that. I probably won't touch it again until next week.

 

That turned out great. Very clean! Interested to know what style roof top tent?

 

iKamper Skycamp

Posts 71, 74, 85, 86, 95

 

Ah, sorry didn't remember

 

That is very clean. I am very jealous of the setup, in case you couldn't tell that before!