Distribution Blocks (Power, Earth, Switched, Etc)

[JH32]

Hey guys

I have a bunch of things (gauges, etc) spliced into power, switched power, illumination etc and saw Hanaldo's distribution block idea in his build thread.... great idea! I want to clean up the wiring behind my dash as it's such a mess and I'd also like to move my battery to the boot so I thought it would be a good time to set up these distribution blocks.

Obviously each block needs an "input" - so power, illumination, earth and switched power - but what's the best way to set up these "inputs"? I would imagine they'd need to be fairly hefty gauge wire to each to cater for a bunch of devices tapping in? And where is the best places to get the 'feed' for each of these i.e. where should I source the switched / illumination to feed the distribution block? Earth I guess is just a big earth to chassis and live power is to the battery?

Thanks in advance for the help

Here is a pic from Hanaldo's build thread so you get the idea:

[Hanaldo]

Hey mate,

Should have PM'd me! Haha.

Basically you've described what you need to do, so now it just depends what devices you are going to have running off this. For me it was mostly gauges, plus there were a couple of other things. Gauges use very little current, so they are easy to set up for. But I did still use 12ga wire to supply the distribution blocks, and that would be more than ample. No way you're gonna have over 50a of current draw unless you're rigging your fuel pump up to this as well

So what I did was 12ga wire from the source to the block, and to bridge each terminal on the block. Then from there you only need the correct gauge wire for the device, so whatever size wire your gauges or whatever run off. As for sources, earth is very easy, that's just any earth under the dash; there's plenty. Then for constant 12v, you can either run a wire from your battery, or you can locate your audio systems constant 12v supply. I preferred to do that, as I don't like having things coming off my battery. Especially when that is in the boot and this is under the dash, just unnecessary mess. You can get your ignition 12v from your audio as well. Illumination I spliced into the little ring of light around my cigarette lighter. Again, the things I'm running off it draw very little current so I'm not worried about overloading that circuit at all.

[JH32]

Cheers for the reply Martin Actually seems easier than I had originally thought! Did you buy your distribution blocks from anywhere in particular or are they just generic Jaycar-type ones?

[Hanaldo]

Nope, just the generic jaycar ones

Just make sure you get the ones with the plastic cover. Last thing you want is these terminals arcing out on something under there.

[JH32]

Indeed! Thanks