Mid week electrical project

05infernoCRDL · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:48 am

Tuesday I decided, eventhough I have not had to do it for a few months, that I no longer wanted to open and close my hood to plug in my block heater. As I thought more, I didn't want to open my hood to jump start anyone either.

My solution... A 7 prong trailer plug. 3 prongs for the block heater, 3 prongs for power and the center pole for the ground. Located on the drivers side in the grille next to my fog lamp.

For the block heater, I cut an extention cord so if I for some reason am not at home I can still plug it in normally.

The power and ground are 4 AWG going to the battery.

The nice thing about this mod is if I added a winch all I have to do is convert the ends to the power outlet that I already have there.

I posted this here cause the original intent was only for the block heater(CRD specific), but I had 4 extra spots so I used them.

Goglio704 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 9:54 am

7 way trailer plug won't handle the amperage for a winch. They are also not rated for the 120 volts that the block heater needs, but that part should be OK. I like the idea, but the hardware just isn't up to the job.

05infernoCRDL · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:22 am

Matt,

Thanks for the heads up on the amperage. I plan on testing to see what the plug will handle...

I have no doubt the block heater will work, the jump starting I dunno about, I have to find a test subject.

UFO · **Posted:** Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:57 am

My heater cord is in the grille. Easy to route, and supported with a tie-wrap. If you want to route jumper cable connections, I've seen some pretty trick setups on patrol cars.

rpapkey · **Joined:** Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:48 pm **Posts:** 39

Kindof a neat idea. I think you have the right idea about using more than one of the contacts for your high load stuff, but i still don't think it'll be enough. And i really don't reccomend wiring your block heater through it. I'm not sure if i read your post right but thats the way it sounded. While theoretically it should hold up i really don't think it's worth the risk of fire.

I do agree with above though about the winch drawing too much. I mean if you used all the contacts as direct from teh pos of the battery but at that point why not actually buy one of these.
http://www.jeepdoc.com/catalog/partframe.asp?id=6785
I've seen them ALOT cheaper than this but for some reason it's the only one thats popping up for me right now.

Good luck and keep us posted.

05infernoCRDL · **Posted:** Fri Jun 20, 2008 2:20 pm

so today i tested out the jump starting capabilities....

completely dead battery on our full sized van...
connected the cables... of course the lights and
buzzers cam on immediately, about 3 min of
having them hooked up and it fired off... nothing
melted so far...

next i have to find time to plug the block heater in and
keep an eye for melting there... however i don't think
the block heater will be a problem at all.

i have a pic of the outlet in the front of the truck but i
seem to have forgotten my password to image shack. :lol:

Mid week electrical project

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