[Alan]

I orginally did this thread on the first incarnation of this site. But since a lot of members didn't see it there I'm copying it to hit board now.

The wiring for the plow on my 88 S10 has been in place since 1996. There was enough corrosion on all the connections that I thought it was best to pull everything off, clean the connecting points and put it back together with heavier and shorter cables wherever possible.

The S models have this bowling ball sized vacuum reservoir on the left inner fender. Right in the middle of the available space. I needed to have room for a serious junction post, two high amp circuit breakers, a solenoid and a ground junction. This is what I came up with.

From right to left there are mounts for the vacuum cannister, the plow solenoid, a 100 amp breaker for the spreader, a 150 amp breaker for the plows (this truck is wired to carry a pull plow as well) and a marine grade junction post. Near the top center is a stud where all the grounds will come together

 

[Alan]

I've got a major case of do-it-right-itis when it comes to my wiring. Battery cables are done with soldered connections and sealed with adhesive lined shrink tubing. Length is kept as short as possible and the wire is way oversized for the amp load. But once it's done it's usually done for good.

In this picture the wiring bracket is in place and everything is connected. That's #1 cable from the battery to the junction post. Then #4 from the junction to each breaker and breaker to solenoid. I've added a Boss style plow plug in addition to the stock Sno-Way harness, just to cut down on current loss to the plow motor. The difference in operating speed is noticeable.

I ran out of the smaller red boots before I got all the connections covered so I left the ones furthest from the engine bare for now.

Across the mounting pad from the right is a marine junction post, the stud is stainless steel. Then the 150 amp breaker for the front plow. Then a 100 amp breaker for the SnowEx hopper and vibrator. That is currently only being fed with a #10 wire. It's not enough and you can hear the vibrator slow down when you hit the spinner control. I'll be replacing that with a #4 to a firewall junction block and taking two #8 off that, inside the cab to the controls and then back to the spreader plugs.

The firewall junction is an insulated housing with a connecting stud passing through it. It eliminates needing to have grommets protecting the hole a wire runs through. It screws to the firewall and lets you make a nice safe and sealed cab access.

Next in line is the solenoid for the Sno-Way front plow. Hooked to the input terminal on that is the power out to a connector for a Snowman pull plow. This truck doesn't carry that plow but when I was building the body I added the wiring for it, just in case.

 

[Alan]

Since a large portion of 12 volt wiring problems can be traced to bad grounds I take a lead off the battery to a common point and bring all my accessory grounds to that. To the right of my hand you can see the ground stud and a mess of wires attached to it. Using a dual terminal battery I can run the stock wiring off the side posts and all the accessory stuff off the top terminals.

The unshielded terminal on the plow solenoid is dead until the plow is activated, so not having a boot on it is not a safety concern.

 

[HerkFE]

Impressive!

As someone who wires aircraft from time to time I must say that you have truly done a remarkable job!! Some people may not see the sense in all that effort but I would be willing to bet you aren't going to have to strip wires with your teeth in the middle of snowstorm to get your plows working!!! :notworthy

Nice job!!!

Pete

 

[GeoffD]

Great Job Alan.

Looks like a pro did the job. If only plow installers could produce the same quality, the world would be a perfect place.

Geoff

 

[Alan]

Pete, thanks for the compliment. And the idea of not having to fight electrical gremlins in the heat of battle is exactly why I spend so much time doing it this way.

A prime example of doing it right, once is way ahead of cobbing it several times is in trailer wiring. Every factory trailer I have seen, even the high end ones, have trash wiring. I've spent too much time working on lights on them for my level of patience.

I've built three equipment trailers since '96. Still have two of them and use them a lot. They were all wired with duplex wire from the lights to a junction box. Not more than 2 or 3 lamps per wire run so it's easy to isolate the problem if I ever need to. The wire is either in conduit or inside the frame is it's tube steel. Lights are all the sealed, grommet mounted type. Main cable is run in a conduit along the tongue to the junction box. All conections are soldered and sealed with heat shrink tubing.

Of the two I still have, one was built in '97, the other in '98. All I have done is repalce a couple bulbs. So, while it takes me two days to wire one like that I figure I'm coming out ahead in the long run.

If you don't have time to do it right how will you find time to do it over?

 

[HerkFE]

Very true... I used to help out with this landscaper who was always a "just make it work" kind of guy. One time when he was getting a new truck I offered to put in his brake controller for him. We're talking maybe an hour or two at most since I was going to replace the cheesey 6 pin plastic plugs with a nice metal 7 pin ones. I just love having reverse lights and 12v power taps. Anyway....he decided that it would better to let the "professionals" at the local You-Hall store do it. Mind you, he knew I was an aircraft mechanic and routinely rewire airplanes. Guess he figured I couldn't trace those sneaky four wires down before adding my own.....

Well, he got his truck back and me and my buddy (also an aircraft mechanic) happened to be there as he was hooking up his nice new truck to his nice new trailer. After he bragged about how cool all his new stuff was and how much money he saved by having those guys do it, (actually cost him more than it would of even with my upgraded parts, etc.), he left the driveway with us behind him in my truck, First time he went to turn and hit his directional.....EEEEKKK EEEEEKKK EEEEKK. :burnout The tires would lock up with every flash of the blinker!! Gotta give 'em credit...the controller did work.....

We almost ran into him we were laughing so hard!!!

Yeah, it was a verrrrryyy long time before he heard the end of that one.

Pete