AM Equipment Windshield Wiper Motor

Wipers

We get a lot of questions about wiring windshield wipers and washer pumps with our Infinitybox system.  There can be a lot of complexity with windshield wiper kits because of the functions that need to be managed.  There are multiple speeds, which are usually different windings on the wiper motor.  There can be intermittent features, which can be controlled by a separate module or by electronics in the switch.  There is the park function that is usually controlled mechanically by a cam inside the wiper motor.  To compound the complexity, different OEMs managed wipers differently.  To make wiring your windshield wipers as easy as possible, we encourage you to think of the switch, the motor and the washer pump as a single system.  You are going to power this single system from your Infinitybox system and let the switch manage the windshield wiper functions.

Almost all aftermarket wiper systems work the same way.  They include a wiper motor with two separate windings for low and high-speed.  The motor also includes a wire that manages the park position of the wipers.  These systems may include a washer pump that needs 12-volts to spray windshield solvent on to the window.  Lastly, they include a switch that turns on the different speeds, controls the washer pump and controls the park.  In general, all of these wiper systems wire the same way.  This post is going to look at a universal wiper system.  Please read the instructions that came with your kit and contact us if yours looks different.  This diagram shows a universal wiring schematic for a windshield wiper kit.

Picture of a wiring diagram showing how to wire a windshield wiper switch to the Infinitybox system.

Picture of a wiring diagram showing how to wire a windshield wiper switch to the Infinitybox system.

As we mentioned above, you need to think of this kit as a full system.  You are going to power it and let it control itself.

Your wiper switch is designed to take in power from the battery and route that to the different terminals on the wiper motor and the washer pump.  To start, there should be a terminal on the switch that connects to ignition or key-on power.  In most cases, it is identified with a “B” for battery.  You are going to connect this “B” terminal to your POWERCELL ignition output.  In most kits, this is the light-green wire on your front POWERCELL but check your specific configuration sheet.  You are going to tap into your ignition output to get this power for the wiper switch.  You can simply splice into the ignition output wire or you can use our Splice Saver to create an ignition buss bar.  Check out this picture to see how you would use the Splice Saver to get your ignition power for your wiper switch.

Wiring ignition key-on power with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

Wiring ignition key-on power with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

By using the ignition output on your POWERCELL, your wiper switch will have power when you key is in the ON position.  You wipers will not work when the ignition is off.  You can also use one of the OPEN outputs in your kit to create an accessory buss bar that would be separate from your ignition output.  Click on this link for more details on creating a separate accessory buss.  

Once you have the power wired to your wiper switch, follow their instructions for making the connections from the switch to the wiper motor and the washer pump.  There are usually connections for the low-speed and high speed windings plus the washer pump.  When you turn the switch to the low-speed position, the switch takes ignition power and directs that to the low-speed windings on the motor.  It does the same for the high-speed.  When you push in on the switch, it sends ignition power to the washer pump.

When you turn the switch off, it puts ignition power on the park wire that goes to the motor.  The wiper motor has a cam inside its mechanism that routes power to the low-speed windings until the wipers return to the park position.  When they get home, the cam in the mechanism opens a switch that stops the motion of the wipers.

You can download a PDF version of the wiper switch wiring diagram by clicking this link.

Give our team a call at (847) 232-1991 if you have any questions about powering your windshield wipers with our Infinitybox system.  You can also contact our team directly by clicking this link.

The Dakota Digital PAC-2800BT

Dakota Digital PAC-2800BT Cooling Fan Controller

This blog post is going to show you how to use the Dakota Digital PAC-2800BT to control your cooling fan with the Infinitybox system.  The PAC-2800BT is a powerful controller that lets you program the temperatures that turn on and turn off your cooling fans.  You have the flexibility to use any temperature sender, take in OBDII data from a modern ECU, even interface with the VHX & RTX gauges.  We’ve blogged before about wiring the VHX and RTX gauges with the Infinitybox system.  Click on the links to learn more.

There are multiple advantages to using the Infinitybox system with the Dakota Digital PAC-2800BT controller.  First, you can eliminate the external relay and the fuse.  These are built into the POWERCELL.  Next, you can streamline your wiring.  The PAC-2800BT would be located behind your dash, near the MASTERCELL.  The power for the fans comes from the front POWERCELL, which is located strategically where you need it in the car.  Lastly, the POWERCELL has the ability to soft-start the cooling fan.  This decreases the in-rush current to the fan and lets you drive a larger fan with a smaller gauge of wire.  You can read more about this at this link.

As always, we strongly encourage you to read and understand the manuals for anything that you are installing in your car.  Dakota Digital has a very detailed manual for the PAC-2800BT.  You can access it by clicking this link.  Also, this blog post is going to cover the wiring between the Infinitybox system and the PAC-2800BT.  This includes ignition power, the cooling fan triggers to the MASTERCELL and the cooling fan output from the POWERCELL.  Follow the Dakota Digital instructions for wiring battery power, ground, the temperature sender and the other optional features of the PAC-2800BT.

The following picture shows the connections between the Infinitybox MASTERCELL and the POWERCELL for the PAC-2800BT.

Picture of a wiring diagram showing how to wire the Dakota Digital PAC-2800 BT with the Infinitybox 20-Circuit Kit

Picture of a wiring diagram showing how to wire the Dakota Digital PAC-2800 BT with the Infinitybox 20-Circuit Kit

First, you need to get ignition or key-on  power to the PAC-2800BT.  This is going to come from the POWERCELL output for the ignition.  This is output 3, the light-green wire on the front POWERCELL in most systems, .  Please check your specific configuration sheet to confirm.  You can going to bring this ignition power to the IGNITION terminal on the PAC-2800BT module.  You are going to tap off your POWERCELL ignition output to get this power.  You can splice into this wire or you can use our Splice Saver kit to create an ignition junction point.

Next, you are going to connect your MASTERCELL cooling fan inputs to the triggers on the PAC-2800BT.  In most systems, your cooling fan is input 10, which is the blue wire with the green tracer.  Check your configuration sheet to confirm.  If you are using only one cooling fan, Dakota Digital tells you to use the FAN LOW terminal on the PAC-2800BT.  We strongly recommend that you install a diode in-line between the MASTERCELL and the PAC-2800BT.  This should be a 1N4001 diode that can be purchased easily from Amazon.  The orientation of this diode is critical and the system will not work correctly if it is wired backwards.  The diode lead on the side with the stripe should be connected to the PAC-2800BT.

Lastly, you are going to connect your POWERCELL output for the cooling fan to the wires on the fan motor.  The other wire on the fan motor should be connected to a good chassis ground.   This link will get you more details on wiring the cooling fan with the POWERCELL output.

The PAC-2800BT gives you the option to control two separate cooling fans.  If you want to use a second cooling fan, you would simply repeat wiring an unused MASTERCELL input to the PAC-2800BT and an OPEN POWERCELL output to your second cooling fan.  In most of our kits, output 8 on the front POWERCELL can be used as an auxiliary output.  You can use this one to power your second cooling fan.  See your specific configuration sheet for more details.

Here is how all of this works.  The PAC-2800BT takes in the temperature data from the temperature sender, the Dakota Digital gauge controller or the ECU via OBDII.  If the temperature it reads goes higher than the value that you programmed in it, it grounds the MASTERCELL input for the cooling fan.  This turns on the cooling fan input.  The MASTERCELL sends a command to the POWERCELL in the front of the car to turn on the output for the cooling fan.  When the temperature drops below the set point that you programmed in the PAC-2800BT, it turns off the MASTERCELL input for the cooling fan.  The MASTERCELL sends a command to the front POWERCELL to turn off the fan.  It is that easy.

If you choose the option to use two cooling fans, the PAC-2800BT will manage both fans together to control the engine temperature.

There is a PDF copy of this wiring diagram available on our website.  Click this link to download it.

Give our team a call at (847) 232-1991 if you have any questions about wiring the Dakota Digital PAC-2800BT with our Infinitybox system.  You can also contact our team directly by clicking this link.

Unisteer Electra-Steer Controller

Unisteer Wiring

Unisteer has been selling easy-to-install electrical power steering systems since 2004.  They sell bolt-on replacement rack & pinion kits for classics, restorations, custom cars, muscle cars and resto-mods.  They have an innovative line of electric power steering kits that are powerful and easy to install in any car or truck.  This blog post is going to show you how simple it is to wire their Electra-Steer electric power steering kit with our Infinitybox system.

Before we get too far, it is important that you always read and understand the instructions that come with anything that you’re going to install in your car.  You can get to the Unisteer documents and instructions by clicking this link.  They have detailed instructions showing you how to mechanically install their power steering kits and how to wire them.

There are two main parts to the wiring.  The first is getting the main power and ground to their controller.  Follow their recommendations carefully.  There is a large red cable that needs to go directly to the battery.  This provides primary power to their module and does the heavy lifting for the power steering motor.  They recommend fusing this primary power feed at 30-amps with a slo-blow fuse.  You want to keep this fuse as close to the positive terminal on the battery as possible to minimize the length of unprotected cable.  You also need to ground the large black wire in their harness.  They prefer a direct connection to the negative terminal on the battery but a good metal-to-metal connection to the chassis will work too.

There are several other wires in their harness that are used for troubleshooting and diagnostics.  Please follow their instructions for more details on these wires.

This wiring diagram shows the connections between the Infinitybox POWERCELL and the Unisteer Electra-Steer controller.  Please note that the power, ground and diagnostic wiring is not shown.  Please see the Unisteer instructions for these connections.

Picture of Infinitybox wiring diagram showing how to wire the Unisteer Electra-Steer with the 20-Circuit Kit.

Our Infinitybox system is going to provide the key-on power to the Electra-Steer controller.  This is what turns on their controller when you turn on your ignition.  The small red-wire in their harness needs to connect to your key-on power source.  With our Infinitybox system, this is the ignition output.  In most of our systems, this is the light-green wire on your front POWERCELL but check your configuration sheet for the specific wiring details.

Your Ignition output is going to be used for several different things in your car.  You are going to use it to power your ignition or EFI system, your gauges and other accessories like your Unisteer.  You can create an ignition buss bar behind your dash to make this junction point or you can use our Splice Saver kit to make a clean, sealed and reliable connection.  This picture shows an example of how to create an ignition junction point with the Splice Saver.

Wiring ignition key-on power with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

Wiring ignition key-on power with the Infinitybox Splice Saver Kit

The last connection required is for an indicator LED.  This is used as part of the diagnostics that are built into the Electra-Steer.  The LED goes between the ignition power fed to the small red wire and the orange wire in their harness.  The orientation of this LED is important.  If it is backwards, it will not work correctly.  See the orientation in the wiring diagram above.

Also note that you will need to add a resistor to limit to current flowing through the LED.  As an example, most LED’s should be current limited to 10 to 20 milliamps.  More current than this limit will damage the LED.  Assuming that your alternator is charging up to 15 volts, this puts this resistor value in the range of 1,500 Ohms.  (Divide the maximum voltage by the maximum current to get the resistance needed.)  Check with the specs on your LED to determine the maximum current allowed.

Outside of that, your wiring for the Unisteer Spectra-Steer is easy with the Infinitybox system.  You can download a PDF of this wiring diagram by clicking this link.

If you have any questions about wiring your Unisteer with the Infinitybox system or anything else, you can contact our team directly by clicking this link.  

 

Floor dimmer switch

Floor Mounted Dimmer Switch

When it comes to controlling lights with our Infinitybox system, you have many different options.  This is especially true for your headlights and high-beams.  You can see earlier blog posts about wiring headlights and high-beams by clicking these links.  In most cases, you are going to use the headlight and high-beam outputs on the front POWERCELL.  These are controlled by their own inputs connected to different switches on your dash or the steering column.  You can also use a floor-mounted headlight dimmer switch to switch between the headlights and high-beams in your car.  This blog post will show you the details.

The floor dimmer switch is designed to toggle between the headlights and high-beams.  The headlight switch brought power to a common terminal on the switch.  The headlights and the high-beams wired to their respective output terminals on the switch.  When you turn on the headlight switch, power is applied to the dimmer switch on the floor.  Pressing this switch with your foot toggles between the headlights and high-beams.  When you turn off the headlight switch, there is no power at the switch so your headlights and high-beams turn off.

Floor dimmer switch

Picture of a floor headlight dimmer switch

Wiring a floor dimmer switch is simple with the Infinitybox system.  First, you are going to wire your headlight switch to the headlight input going to the MASTERCELL.  Remember that the MASTERCELL inputs are ground switched.  When the headlight input is switched to ground, the MASTERCELL will tell the front POWERCELL to turn on the output for the headlights.  We have many different wiring diagrams showing different how to wire different headlight switches in the Resources section of our website.  This link will take you to the wiring details for the most common GM-style headlight switch.

If you are going to use a dimmer switch on floor to switch between headlights and high-beams, you will not need to use the high-beam output on your front POWERCELL.  This opens up this output to be used for other accessories or auxiliary functions.

Next, you are going to connect the headlight output from your front POWERCELL to the common terminal on your dimmer switch.  In most cases, this is the center terminal on the switch.  It may also be labeled as “From Headlight Switch”.  Check the wiring diagram for your specific switch.

Next, you are going to connect the output terminals from your dimmer switch to your headlight bulbs and high-beam bulbs.  The terminals on your switch should be labeled for the headlights and high-beams.  Check the wiring diagram for your specific switch for more details.

Lastly, you can tap off the high-beam terminal on the dimmer switch with a wire for the high-beam indicator on your dash.

This wiring diagram shows the connection from the MASTERCELL to the headlight switch, the headlight output from the POWERCELL to the dimmer switch, the connections from the dimmer switch to the headlights & high-beams and the connection for the high-beam indicator on the dash.

Floor dimmer switch wiring diagram image

Picture showing wiring diagram for a floor mounted headlight dimmer switch.

You can download a PDF version of this wiring diagram by clicking this link.

Reach out to our team if you have any questions about wiring a floor dimmer switch to control your headlights and high-beams with the Infinitybox system.  You can call us at (847) 232-1991 or click on this link to contact our team directly.

New Infinitybox Website

Okay Folks,

We doing a complete overhaul to the Infinitybox website.  Most of the improvements are in the background and will improve speed and responsiveness.  We’re also going through all of our documentation and blog posts to clean up and organize.  Please be patient with us as we make this transition.  If there is content that you don’t see, give our team a call and we’ll get it to you.  You can contact us by clicking this link.

Thank you

The Infinitybox Team!

Jeep CJ7 Wiring Series- Mounting MASTERCELL

We’re progressing on wiring our 1979 Jeep CJ7 with our Infinitybox system.  We spent some time this weekend fabricating the mounts to hold the MASTERCELL.  In a previous update, we found the best location for the MASTERCELL.  We wanted it in a location that was close to our switches.  That makes the input wires short and easy to run.  We also wanted it located in a place that was easy to access for troubleshooting.  Locating the MASTERCELL behind the glovebox door was the ideal location.  You can catch that earlier video update at this link.  

Location of MASTERCELL behind dash of 1979 Jeep CJ7

Location of MASTERCELL behind dash of 1979 Jeep CJ7

The glovebox is small and generally useless in the Jeep.  It is also unsecure.  We’re going to be installing a locking center console for security later in the project.  When you take out the plastic glovebox, there is a good amount of space between the dash and the heater box.  That is a perfect location for the MASTERCELL.  We can simply open the glovebox door to access the MASTERCELL for troubleshooting and any updates that we’d want to make.

We bought a new dash panel from Quadratech.  They’ve been a great resource for a lot of the Jeep-related parts that we’ve needed over the project.  We have the dash on a bench in our lab and we’re going to do most of the wiring remotely.  Once the dash is done, we’ll drop that into the Jeep and make the connections to the POWERCELLs and other things with simple connectors.

Infinitybox MASTERCELL temporarily mounted behind dash in 1979 Jeep CJ7

Infinitybox MASTERCELL temporarily mounted behind dash in 1979 Jeep CJ7

We fabricated a few simple straps from 1/16″ low-carbon steel.  The two vertical straps bolt into the existing dash holes for the deleted glovebox.  The two horizontal straps are riveted to the vertical straps.  The MASTERCELL mounting plate will be riveted to these horizontal straps.

Mounting bracket to hold Infinitybox MASTERCELL behind dash in 1979 Jeep CJ7

Mounting bracket to hold Infinitybox MASTERCELL behind dash in 1979 Jeep CJ7

Mounting bracket to hold Infinitybox MASTERCELL behind dash in 1979 Jeep CJ7

Mounting bracket to hold Infinitybox MASTERCELL behind dash in 1979 Jeep CJ7

For now, we have the MASTERCELL mounting plate held to the horizontal straps with double-sided tape.  We’ll permanently mount these parts together after we paint the straps and double-check the clearances behind the dash.

The end product is clean, rock solid and will properly support the MASTERCELL under all driving conditions.  All of the dash and switch wiring will be clean and short.  The MASTERCELL will be accessible for anything that we need.  Keep checking back for updates.  In our next steps, we’re going to be wiring the rest of the things on the dash.  This includes the headlight switch wiring, the gauges and the wiring going to the steering column.

You can catch the entire Jeep wiring series by clicking this link.  

You can also contact our technical support team with any questions by clicking this link.  

 

Example of an IDIDIT steering column with turn signal stalk.

IDIDIT Mustang Steering Column Wiring

Wiring turn signals, 4-ways and the horn to the MASTERCELL in your Infinitybox system is very easy.  Our inputs can connect to the connectors of any steering column.  This blog post is going to cover the IDIDIT Mustang Steering Column wiring.  Specifically, this is for their 1965 & 1966 columns.

Before you go too far, be sure to read and understand the instructions for installing your column.  You can download the IDIDIT instructions for this Mustang column by clicking here.  IDIDIT gives you the connector components to plug directly into the original harness in your Mustang.  The difference with our Infinitybox system is that your MASTERCELL inputs are going to wire to the switches on the column.  The switches on the column become triggers to the MASTERCELL.  Our Infinitybox system takes care of the rest.

This diagram will show you which MASTERCELL input wires need to connect to the terminals on the IDIDIT column.

Picture of a wiring diagram showing how to wire the IDIDIT Mustang steering column to the Infinitybox MASTERCELL

Picture of a wiring diagram showing how to wire the IDIDIT Mustang steering column to the Infinitybox MASTERCELL

Please note that this diagram does not give you the MASTERCELL input wire colors.  You need to line up the function on the column to the wire color on your configuration sheet.  Depending on your system and your accessories, you may have different wire colors for your inputs.  Click on this link to learn more about your configuration sheet.

The connections between the Infinitybox MASTERCELL and the connector on the column are easy.  Essentially, you only need to connect the inputs for your left turn signal, right turn signal and the horn.  Then you need to ground two of the column wires to the chassis.  That’s it.

You can download a PDF version of this wiring diagram by clicking here.  

Click this link to contact our technical support team with any questions.  

Picture of a Spal Cooling used in our 1967 Mustang wired with Infinitybox

Cooling Fan In-Rush Current

We get a lot of questions about cooling fans and whether or not you can drive them directly from a POWERCELL output without a relay.  In this post we’re going to talk about cooling fan in-rush current and show you what this looks like.

Any motor has an in-rush of current that flows through it upon start up.  To keep this simple, the windings of the motor look like a short circuit until they start to turn.  At start up, the current flow through the windings is high but settles down to a steady-state current level when the motor gets to its operating speed.  This peak in-rush current can be 4 to 8 times the steady-state current, depending on the motor.

When you buy a typical cooling fan, the manufacturer will tell you that you need a high-current relay to switch the fan on and off.  Typically these relays are 40 or 70-amps.  You need to use a relay with contacts that are sized to handle the in-rush current that flows to the motor.  With our Infinitybox system, we don’t use relays.  We use MOSFETs designed to control inductive loads like motors.  The point of this blog post is to show you what the in-rush looks like on a typical cooling fan.

We used the cooling fan in our 1979 Jeep CJ7 to get a real-life example of what this in-rush looks like.  The fan has a 16″ diameter and we powered it directly from the Jeep’s battery.

Here’s how we collected the data for this graph.  We used a precision current shunt in series between the battery and the cooling fan.  We used a Keysight DSOX1202G Digital Storage Oscilloscope to measure the voltage drop across the current shunt.  The shunt that we used was calibrated to 100 mV per 1 amp of current.  The battery was fully charged to 12.7 volts and the fan was mounted in the radiator shroud against the radiator.  We used a switch to trigger the fan and captured the waveforms.  This picture shows the current flowing to the cooling fan motor over time.

Example of the start-up current flowing into a engine cooling fan

Example of the start-up current flowing into a engine cooling fan

You can see that there is an in-rush of current flowing to the cooling fan motor when it starts.  This in-rush peaks at about 43 amps then settles down to a steady-state current flow of 12.3 amps.

Our POWERCELL outputs are designed to carry a steady-state current of 25-amps.  The MOSFETs that we use have surge current rating of over 100-amps and the terminals that we use have surge current ratings of 70-amps.  Running a cooling fan like the one in our Jeep is very easy for our POWERCELL to switch directly from an output without a relay.

Our Infinitybox system has an added feature that you can’t get from a relay.  Since we are using MOSFETs, we can do something called Pulse Width Modulation or PWM.  This lets us turn the POWERCELL outputs on and off thousands of times each second.  Using PWM lets us efficiently control the flow of current from a POWERCELL output.  For fans, we do something called soft-starting.  This lets us gradually ramp up the current to the fan to smooth out the in-rush current.  We’ve blogged about this before.  You can read it here.  

Stay tuned for a follow up post that will show the effect of PWM on the in-rush current flowing to our Jeep cooling fan.  Click here to contact our team if you have any questions about this post or anything else related to wiring with the Infinitybox system.

Wiring Tilt Sensor

This blog post will give you the details to wiring a tilt sensor to your Infinitybox system.  Our system has very powerful security and immobilizer functions.  When you add inLINK to your 20-Circuit Kit, you get piece of mind built into your car’s electrical system.  We’ve blogged about the power of our security system previously.  You can read that at this link.  For an added level of security, you can wire a tilt sensor to your system.  This will trigger an alarm if someone tries to tow your car when you have inLINK security enabled.

You can set any MASTERCELL input to be an alarm trigger.  Most commonly, customers elect to use the inputs for the door pin switches to also act as alarm triggers.  Your horn will honk if someone opens a door when you have security enabled from the inLINK key fob.  You can also use any MASTERCELL input and wire that to a tilt-sensor.  Most tilt-sensors close their contacts when the angle of the vehicle exceeds a set threshold.  This would trigger when someone tries to tow the car or if they shake it.  The most popular tilt sensor that we’ve seen is the DEI 507M sensor.

This sensor is smart.  When you turn off the ignition, if learns the angle of the car.  If you parked on a hill, it knows how much the car can move before it will trigger the alarm.  To make this work correctly, you need to add a relay to the 507M module that grounds a signal wire when the ignition is turned off.  This diagram will show you the details.

Picture of Infinitybox wiring diagram showing how to wire a DEI tilt sensor into the Infinitybox system.

Picture of Infinitybox wiring diagram showing how to wire a DEI tilt sensor into the Infinitybox system.

Once you have the relay installed, you will need to wire the blue wire in the 507M harness to the MASTERCELL input that you’ve chosen to be your alarm trigger.  You’ll need to work with our application engineering team to get this set up for your system.

Click here to download a PDF version of this wiring diagram.  

Click this link to contact our team with any questions about wiring a tilt sensor to your Infinitybox system.

Jeep CJ7 Wiring Series- POWERCELL Locations

Over the next few videos, we’re going to continue our theme on good planning.  Specifically, we’re going to talk about picking the best locations for the major components that come with your Infinitybox system.  We’re installing our 20-Circuit Kit with inLINK and inRESERVE in our 1979 CJ7.  To get the most out of our install, we want to pick the best locations for the MASTERCELL, the front & rear POWERCELLs, the MEGA fuse holder and the inRESERVE solenoid.  We’ve broken this up into 5 different videos, talking about what you need to consider for each part.  This video covers picking the best locations for your front & rear POWERCELLs.

Side View of the Infinitybox POWERCELL

Side View of the Infinitybox POWERCELL

You get two POWERCELLs in your 20-Circuit Kit.  One for the front of your car and one for the rear.  The POWERCELLs are the remote fuse & relay boxes for your system.  They get commands sent to them from the MASTERCELL and they do the actual switching for all of your lights, ignition, starter, fuel pump, cooling fan, horn and other accessories.  You can learn more about the POWERCELL by clicking this link.

There are two important things to consider when you’re picking the best locations for your POWERCELLs.  First, you want the POWERCELLs as close to your electrical loads as possible.  This keeps the wiring short and makes it easy to install.  Your front POWERCELL is going to power your headlights, high-beams, turn signals, parking lights, ignition, starter, horn and dash.  You want to keep the front POWERCELL close to these loads to keep the wiring short.  Your rear POWERCELL is going to power your brake lights, turn signals, reverse lights, running lights, fuel pump and any audio that you have in the back of your car.

The other thing to consider when you pick your POWERCELL locations is that your POWERCELLs are the remote fuse boxes.  You need to have reasonable access to the POWERCELL to remove the protective cover and change the fuses.

In our 1979 Jeep CJ7, we’re going to mount the front POWERCELL on the inner driver’s fender.  There is a nice flat spot there to make mounting easy.  It is accessible for maintenance.  The 8-AWG power cables can be easily routed across the firewall to connect to the battery and the runs of wires to the loads are all relatively short.  Check out more detail on the location in this video.

We’re going to mount the front POWERCELL inside the rear passenger fender.  We will fabricate an enclosure inside the fender that is outside the travel for the suspension.  We’ll make a sealed cover over the enclosure so we can get to it easily for maintenance.  We can easily run the 8-AWG power feeds and the CAN cable down the passenger side of the Jeep.  Finally, the runs of wires to the brake lights, turn signals, running lights, reverse lights and fuel pump are all relatively short.  Check out more detail on the location in this video.

We created this simple diagram to show the POWERCELL locations in the Jeep plus the primary power cables from the battery, through the inRESERVE solenoid and through the Mega fuse holders.  You can download a PDF copy of this diagram by clicking this link.

Infinitybox Jeep CJ7 Wiring Diagram- Cell Locations and Primary Power Routing

Infinitybox Jeep CJ7 Wiring Diagram- Cell Locations and Primary Power Routing

Picking the best locations for your POWERCELLs will make your wiring simple and efficient.  It will also make troubleshooting and diagnostics easier.  Keep watching for more in our 1979 Jeep CJ7 Install Series.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel and click the bell icon so you get notified when we post new videos in the series.

Click on this link to get to the main page for the 1979 Jeep CJ7 wiring project.  You can find all of the videos on one place there.  

You can also click here to contact our technical support team with any questions about your car or truck wiring project.