DIY: Adding the 12V Power Outlet Option in the Bed

[VegasRanger]

Any comments on that power station? I’ve had a Jackery 300 in my wishlist for a while, but yours is a bit easier on the wallet.

I wanted a Jackery also, but the price was just too good on this unit. Works great. Zero complaints. The only downside is that the 12V outlet is not regulated.

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[mark_anderson_us]

Ok for the install you will need a 2-1/8” hole saw, 5/16” drill bit, flat and round file, Rust preventative paint of your choice.

Drill a 2-1/8” hole in the side bed wall near the left rear cleat. (See photos below) Use caution when drilling or you will end up with dings protruding from your outer fender. You can position a block of wood or stuff a bunch of rags up into the cavity from below to orevent damage.

Insert the power port body into the opening and mark the location of the 4 screw holes. Drill 4- 5/16” holes. Debur all holes using a round file.

Using a flat file, in the large opening, create 4 flat areas adjacent to the 5/16” holes. Insert the 4 captive nuts into the body with the threads inboard the fender. Paint all exposed metal with rust preventative paint.
Install the sub-harness onto the socket and feed the wire down the inner fender well. Install 4 retaining screws.

Under the truck, remove the dummy plug from the body harness and insert the power port sub-harness. There is one large hole on the sheet metal pillar opposite the tail light cavity for the “christmas tree style” zip tie retainer that is included on the sub-harness.
I ended up adding a few extra zip ties to secure the wiring.
Thats about it. Time-about 30 minutes.
Pics below...

what material is the inner of the bed made from?

 

[fusseli]

Did mine today with all Ford parts. I only had a 1-7/8” hole saw and it worked fine with some filing and tin snips to cut the notches for the speed nuts.

 

[fusseli]

This will be tremendously useful for both airing up the paddle board and for the air compressor for airing up and down. This really should have been a factory or an encouraged dealer or aftermarket option, the harness is right freaking there!!!

 

[BCRanger]

This is great! Had no idea there was a power tap back there, I was getting ready to run my own line all the way from engine bay back to bed and not looking forward to it. I need up to 25a 12v for my National Luna DC-DC system but 20a works to.

I don't even need the harness, presuming I can just tap directly into the wiring already there and route a Anderson 50a coupler from it up to my system in bed.

I'll write that up once I finish it.

Only issue I'll have now is ensuring that I'm not still trying to charge my AUX after the truck shuts off. Would pretty much suck to be out in the bush, happily making food from my fridge for a few days and then go to start the truck and... The National Luna system detects voltage, but w/ Ranger smart alternator that apparantly doesn't work right off battery so thinking I'd have to disable it and use a tap from ignition source instead.

But someone mentioned a voltage drop when the truck wasn't running. Perhaps that will be enough to safely detect.

Or ... I could use Forscan to change the settings to have it turn off when no ignition altogether. Has anyone actually done this?

 

[SVTPaul]

Or ... I could use Forscan to change the settings to have it turn off when no ignition altogether. Has anyone actually done this?

That is an easy change to make in Forscan. I haven't altered mine but saw it when in there to do other things. I guess you are familiar with the Forscan thread?

 

[BCRanger]

That is an easy change to make in Forscan. I haven't altered mine but saw it when in there to do other things. I guess you are familiar with the Forscan thread?

I'm not. I'll check it out. Actually there are a lot of Forscan threads. This one?

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/forscan-crowdsourced-wiki.2008/

 

[SVTPaul]

I'm not. I'll check it out. Actually there are a lot of Forscan threads. This one?

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/forscan-crowdsourced-wiki.2008/

You got it! I read the whole thread twice and watched a few useful tutorial videos on youtube before getting into it and finally got to it when I swapped to larger tires last week, to recalibrate speedo. Once I was in there, I completed my wishlist of edits without issue.

 

[micl9]

@BCRanger
As above you can change how long the aux pwr tap stays active after shutting off the truck. You can also make it never shuts off. If set with the later there is already battery drain protection logic that will shut this off if battery drains too low(not sure what it considers too low!). I had mine set this way and it does work, but that was in my driveway! Out in the bush is a different story and you might do as you mentioned and shut off at a higher (safer) voltage.
Good Luck
and get FORScan set up if you haven't already! Its handy and anothjer thing to play with.

 

[BCRanger]

Thanks to both of you. I don't see the actual option in the table on thread..but I'm sure I could find it and yeah maybe I don't need to change this at all which would be awesome.

A bit off topic, but the DC-DC already detects input voltage and stops drawing below a threshold, but the issue there is that apparently with the Smart Alternator sometimes it doesn't take power when it should because the voltage will drop down into the 10+ range. But that may be just the case when coming right off main battery. It all doesn't quite make sense to me tbh ... if you're tapping directly into the battery and the battery is charged to say 12.5v, I can see how the alternator alone could be putting out 10.5v but how would it cause voltage from main leads to drop to 10.5v? Wouldn't it reflect the voltage of main? Falls into the category of electrical stuff I feel like I should know but don't, lol.

 

[BCRanger]

I completed mine today. Best of all, it was free since I had all the parts already from a previous project I never completed. Works great. I just tapped into the existing wiring. I did cover the wire taps with electrical tape after the picture was taken. Easy job.

So looks like you just tapped in before the outlet. I was thinking about rigging something to use the existing pins, but your approach is simpler. Something that threw me is that the wires look like they are 14 gauge or there about. For reference, my aux battery box came with 6 gauge and my solar input is 10. (It's becoming clear that my overland battery setup is probably waaay overkill, lol.)

Anyway, the chart below seems to indicate that for that length of run you'd want 10-12 gauge.

http://www.offroaders.com/technical/12-volt-wiring-tech-gauge-to-amps/

 

[BCRanger]

Sorry to spam, but DRAT, realized this won't work. My DC-DC draws 25a constant and no way to set it to take less. And putting a larger fuse in even just an extra 5 amps doesn't seem prudent.

Back to the drawing (pun intended) board..

 

[RoadBoss]

Thanks to both of you. I don't see the actual option in the table on thread..but I'm sure I could find it and yeah maybe I don't need to change this at all which would be awesome.

A bit off topic, but the DC-DC already detects input voltage and stops drawing below a threshold, but the issue there is that apparently with the Smart Alternator sometimes it doesn't take power when it should because the voltage will drop down into the 10+ range. But that may be just the case when coming right off main battery. It all doesn't quite make sense to me tbh ... if you're tapping directly into the battery and the battery is charged to say 12.5v, I can see how the alternator alone could be putting out 10.5v but how would it cause voltage from main leads to drop to 10.5v? Wouldn't it reflect the voltage of main? Falls into the category of electrical stuff I feel like I should know but don't, lol.

Voltage is the same across the whole system, minus the voltage drop due to wire length/resistance. you can't have a different voltage at the battery than at a different part of the 12v system.

 

[RoadBoss]

Sorry to spam, but DRAT, realized this won't work. My DC-DC draws 25a constant and no way to set it to take less. And putting a larger fuse in even just an extra 5 amps doesn't seem prudent.

Back to the drawing (pun intended) board..

For my DC-DC, I ran 10 gauge from the battery (through a fuse) straight to the DC-DC. I tapped into the outlet in the bed just to get the switched 12v signal to turn the DC-DC on and off. This switched input wasn't necessary for mine, but without it I found that sometimes even after the truck was off it would continue charging the aux batteries until the voltage dropped to a certain point.

 

[BCRanger]

For my DC-DC, I ran 10 gauge from the battery (through a fuse) straight to the DC-DC. I tapped into the outlet in the bed just to get the switched 12v signal to turn the DC-DC on and off. This switched input wasn't necessary for mine, but without it I found that sometimes even after the truck was off it would continue charging the aux batteries until the voltage dropped to a certain point.

Yeh I was thinking same, use the posi lead as signal for DC system and then do 10 gauge (or 6 since it came with system). What route did you use from engine bay to back of truck?

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