Mazda BT 50, Ford Ranger electrical set up
Submitted: Tuesday, Jul 10, 2012 at 22:01
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JP25
I have just purchased a new 2012 Mazda BT 50. Great truck so far!
I am soon going to deck it out with many extras such as:
UHF radio, Scanner, Spotties, Fridge, GPS, interior map lights, phone charger, inverter etc etc etc... I will be installing a dual battery system in the near future to run the heavy duty stuff like the fridge, but for now, I will be running most of it off the cars system.
There has been plenty of talk about the electrical BUS systems in these cars, and some horror stories if you tap into the existing wiring to run radios etc...
My question is, has anyone properly wired one of these to supply decent loads to accessories?
I am thinking I need a main heavy duty cable (fused of course) directly to the battery. This will feed 2 fuse boxes inside the cab. 1 of these boxes being relay triggered by accessories power.
Can anyone tell me if this will affect the system?
Also, is there a good place I can take accessory power from? There are plenty of 'spare' slots in the main fuse box under the hood. Would these suit?
Thanks in advance.
Reply By: olcoolone - Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 09:05
Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 09:05
The BT50's aren't any worse then any other modern vehicle but there are a few things you need to follow.
The dual battery isolator has to have a switching ignition feed wire to control the on and off function and it would pay to use one of the DC-DC chargers as the battery charge rates on them are very low and lower then most...... as low as 12.5v
The positive and earth feeds down to the second battery has to come of the starter battery terminals them selves and no where else.
As for Can-Bus.... the Can-Bus is made up of low, medium and high speed communications and the faster the communications the more critical it is, there are about 15 different types of Can-Bus and protocols used in a modern vehicle, a body control module will run at high speed as it needs big bandwidth and speed.... a fan control will run at a lower speed as the communications is very basic is not as important.
Not every thing in vehicles run on the Can-Bus, Can-Bus is used to communicate between nodes, ecu's and bcm's..... the main light feed to the lights are still done conventionally but the communications to the light control module that controls the lights may be on the Can-Bus.
The best place for accessory power is from the cigarette feed.
Always
check power and earth with a multimeter and not a
test light and try to obtain a wiring diagram.
When using relays make sure they are a low resistance (140 ohm coil vs 340 ohm coil) one as to not overload a circuit.
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Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 10:56
Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 10:56
Gday Richard,
Someone on another BT50
forum has said that power to the two accessory sockets is on permanently - not just when the IGN key is in. If that is the case, it's worth knowing if one is relying on power from the ACC circuit to switch relays or isolators.
FollowupID:
765984
Follow Up By: olcoolone - Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 14:17
Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 14:17
Phil.... not the power sockets, cigarette socket.
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766004
Follow Up By: JP25 - Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 22:31
Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 22:31
Yes I noticed this the other night. I had a lead light plugged into one of the sockets & when I roomed the key, the light stayed on. I didn't leave it long enough however to see if it is on a timer. (like a lot of things in the BT, interior lights, radio etc)
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Follow Up By: V8 Troopie - Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 23:20
Wednesday, Jul 11, 2012 at 23:20
olcoolone wrote: "When using relays make sure they are a low resistance (140 ohm coil vs 340 ohm coil) one as to not overload a circuit."
That's the wrong way round, the relay with the highest coil resistance requires the lowest power (amps) to turn on. I would favour the 340 Ohm coil in the quoted example.
FollowupID:
766075
Follow Up By: olcoolone - Thursday, Jul 12, 2012 at 08:40
Thursday, Jul 12, 2012 at 08:40
Yep should of been the other way round.....
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766080