Anyone have a power source installed in their bed?

Last summer I installed this in the rear of the wife's 4Runner:




Will be doing the same panel for my Tundra (switched panel, 12v DC socket x2, voltmeter) but I'm going to use the below panel from Rago to minimize how much I have to cut/drill through the bedside. It'll be much easier to drill holes for the wiring harness and some self tapping screws than to cut out a whole rectangle for the panel itself.

 

Did you ever do this? I'm looking to do something like this.

 

Not yet. I only got my Tundra back from the body shop on the 20th, and then immediately went on a trip out to PHX, and then came back and have been on-call for work lol might go ahead and knock it out this upcoming weekend, I've got everything ready to go for it. The only possibly tricky thing I foresee is choosing a good spot on the bedside for it since the side's design has lots of uneven surfaces.

 

Interested to see how it turns out. That mount costs more than the panel that goes in it lol. It will look nice though. I wonder if you can mount it to a plate or something like that and attach it to the bedrail instead of drilling holes. I was sketchy about drilling holes for the swing cases but I couldn't pass up that deal.

 

If you post the dimensions of the flat mounting surface of the Rago mount, I'll see if I can come up with some ideas.

 

When I get ready to do it, I'm also going to do a final evaluation WRT mounting it on the lip of my bed shell, where it sits on the bed. I'm concerned though that my current harness length will be a limiting factor; it's 20' long. 10ga, which works just fine for the 4runner and Tacoma setups I did, but if I were to go longer, I'd want to scrap it for 8ga.

That mount from Rago is definitely expensive, but I'd bought it because drilling the holes to mount it on the bedside along with one hole for the harness to slip through will be significantly easier than cutting an entire big hole for the whole Blue Sea panel to sit into.

 

I'll take measurements in a bit and post them

 

Yes, I was just thinking about a hole that size. It would be alot easier if it was in plastic like the one that you mounted in the 4Runner.

 

Exactly. Dremel made quick work of that, at just the size I needed.

 

Flat face, bottom

Length, 8"







Width, 5"







Depth/height from base to tallest point of mount, 2.5" - 2 5/8"?

 

Thanks for the measurements. I'll make a cardboard template and see if I can come up with something before I order one.

 

So I held up the mount to the bedside and the bed rail. See below.








The area I'm pointing to in the first photo is likely the best place for the 20' harness to reach rather easily. I won't know for sure though of course until trying it, but that's what I'd think.

My slightly hesitation towards placing it there is just if my dogs bump anything that's plugged in there, or somehow hit the fuse switch and turn it on and result in a drained battery. I'm less concerned about that second thing though since it's easy to just check if it's powered on or not, and I have a Cascadia hood mounted solar panel.

The second position is a pretty nice spot, assuming the harness reaches.

Below shows using the bed rail:



This is pretty nice and conveniently has that hole already drilled, perfect for the harness to be ran through. I believe that's being used by the loom for my bed shell brake light, but I'm an idiot and didn't think to just look and check when I saw it. Bonus points if the hole is there from factory.

Lastly is an option for inside the cab, assuming the back of the center console tower isn't used by something inside. This is really only if you need multiple 12v-powered items receiving power though, since at least in mine there's already a 12v plug at the top-rear of this console tower

 

Nice....can't wait to see how it turns out. I'm going to order the mount and panel tonight.....Amazon has both. Are you running the ground from the engine compartment as well? I will have to experiment on where to mount mine.....I have swing cases mounted. I might try to mount it in the front corner of the bed...there is a hole there as well.

 

Yes, running the ground from the engine bay as well.

I'm less likely to use my bed rail just because I've nothing readily available to slot in there and use to mount it.

 

Gotcha. Does the panel have studs for power and ground or is it 2 wires that you splice together? I see the ports are pre-wired but I couldn't see the power and ground inputs in the pictures online.

 

It's got studs on the fused switch, and then poles so that the pre-wired harness can deliver power to each successive port. Having done this twice before, the panel usually comes with a dual USB in place of one of those two 12v sockets, so I always order an additional socket to swap in, and on one of them I needed to order the voltmeter separately to swap in.

In the past (and what I ordered for this), I've used the 20' 10ga ARB fridge harness and I just wire strip the ends and add on terminal pieces that will fit onto the studs included on the pieces for the panel.

I would really like to use the bed rail out of convenience if the harness reaches, if I can find anything that would work for mounting...means less energy spent drilling through the bedside lol

 

I got the panel and mount ordered. They will be in tomorrow. Mine will be used for an IceCo fridge. I'm going to get wire from the local marine store. Is 10 gauge sufficient or should I go with 8 gauge?

 

10ga has been sufficient for my uses, with that pre-made harness, but if I were to make it myself I'd personally go for 8ga.

I use mine for a Domestic CFX3-45

 

Copy that. Mine is the IceCo VL45. West Marine has Ancor 8 GA marine wire for 1.39 per foot. 10 GA is 0.89 cents per foot. At the length of the truck, 8 GA would most likely be better.

 

Yeah personally I think that ARB is pushing the limits by doing their harness at 20' with 10ga. It's not at all bad, just could be better.

 

Ran 8 gauge wire from the bed to the engine compartment yesterday. The panel and mount are in the Amazon locker....I'll pick them up this afternoon. I took the T bolts out of 2 of the tie down anchors. I cut down the sides of fender washers and will install the mount on the bed rail and see how I like it. That will make it a no-drill install. I used the bed hole up front since I have swing cases.

 

I completely forgot about those bed cleats, I think I still have them somewhere...

Didn't have the opportunity to get around to installing this project this weekend

 

So the bed cleat bolt is just a tad too big to fit in the holes on the mount. I'm trying to do a no-drill install if possible.

 

My panel is the 4366. There is only 1 open terminal on the switch, which I assume is the positive. Where is the ground supposed to connect? I'm assuming that it splices into the yellow negative wire on the switch?

 

I'm not at home to put eyes on it, but you should have a dual pole where a yellow is attached and an unused additional stud coming off where you can connect

 

I see it now. I went out and looked at it. Positive goes to the switch and negative goes to this one. I didn't even see that pole yesterday lol.

 

Sorry, I'm so sorry. Couldn't help it. Flame away and then carry on.

 

Lol easy to miss for sure

 

I'm stuck. I ran 8 gauge to the panel but can't find a connector big enough to attach it. Am I going to have to drop down to a 10 gauge wire from the battery to the panel?

 

@mZiggy it's all done. I ended up using 12 gauge.