Original thread located here- http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f157/auxilliary-fuse-box-solution-exige-63499/
Having just installed another electronic accessory, my Exige was tapped out of auxilliary power sources. The sub-woofer is wired to the C5 fuse using a Wirthco Tapa-Cicuit…my car does not have driving lights, so this circuit was unused. The rear camera / monitor set-up are wired to the C3 fuse also using a Wirthco Tapa-Cicuit. This left the oil and temperature gauges in need of a power source…they had been wired to C3 but were evicted by the rear camera set-up.
Tapa-Circuit: Wirthco Engineering, Inc. - Wirthco Engineering, Inc.
So I did a bit of research… reviewed LT postings and looked at after-market solutions...and chose to install a Painless Performance Products "Cirkit Boss" to provide an auxiliary power source that would not burden the factory electrical harness or require hacking into it.
The Painless Cirkit Boss comes in various configurations…three or seven circuits, always hot versus some or all switched to ignition, weather-proof versus not…so I chose the three circuit fuse box, switched by an ignition source, non-weatherproof; Painless part no. 70113. Summit Racing sells it for $42, but I found one on Summit's e-Bay store for $31. The kit comes with a three-circuit fuse box, relay, 40 amp circuit breaker, three 10 amp fuses, and all circuits pre-wired…ready for installation.
Painless "Cirkit Boss": Painless Wiring 70113 - Painless Performance Universal Fuse Blocks - summitracing.com
The Exige has remote battery posts located under the driver's side access panel (I don't know if the Elise model has this feature). My installation started at the remote battery post (positive side) and worked toward the cabin. I attached the power wire to the remote battery positive post and substituted a weather-proof ATO / ATC style fuse holder in place of the circuit breaker supplied by Painless. I'll discuss this substitution further, below. Also, I did not install the fuse into the fuse holder until I was all done and ready to test circuits...no need to fry myself or the car's electrics during installation.
The power line was routed across the front end under the access panels over to the passenger side wheel well, into the wheel well panel and through the chassis at rear of the dash, forward toward the passenger dash access panel, downward and out the front gap of the passenger side sill, and over to the upper left of the passenger side footwell.
As an alternative, you could route the power wire through the main wire harness grommet at the front of the passenger foot well. I tried this route at first but gave up on it, because my broad shoulder and stiff fingers (arthritis) made it tough for me to reach into the footwell and fiddle with the grommet. So for me, the wheel well route was the user-friendly way.
Upon removing the passenger side wheel well, you'll notice a blanking grommet at about the 10 o'clock position. Remove this grommet for the route inside the car via the underside of the dash. The wire must pass through the fiberglass body panel through a small air gap and into the chassis under the dash. I used a coat hanger, with the end back folded back to form a hook (with the power wire taped to the hook) to feed into the chassis. Make sure the power wire is NOT yet connected to the battery or REMOVE the fuse you just installed at the battery, if so! Angle the coat hanger wire up about 45 toward center of the dash, and feel around for the opening. When you poke through into the dash, you'll have to pass between a fold in the foam that insulates the back underside of the dash. Look into the passenger side of the dash with a flashlight, and you'll see fold or separation in the foam. That is where the wire will exit. It took a few times to locate the chassis opening given that I was doing it blind, but is became easy after I found the way and redid it to pull the power wire through.
While it is easy to install a grommet on the fiberglass, I found no way to get to the chassis (opening to the dash area) to install a grommet. The solution: slip a section (about nine to twelve inches long) of vacuum advance hose over the power wire and the feed it through both the fiberglass and chassis holes. Before doing so, whittle one end of the hose into a cone shape and liberally apply PAM (vegatable oil) for lubrication, and feed this end into the car and leave about one inch extending into the wheel well. The rubber hose serves as an extended grommet to protect the power wire from chaffing and abrasion at chassis entry….you don't want this wire to short! I installed convoluted wire covering over the entire length of the power wire from the hose piece to the remote battery post and secured it with wire ties and clips.
I located the auxilliary fuse box on the side ledge in the upper right rear corner of the passenger side footwell. My installation goals included: (1) attaching the fuse box without drilling holes; and (2) given the PITA location, improving access to the fuse box to make future electrical upgrades easier. I chose to use industrial grade velcro, because the stuff has crazy gripping power but still allows the installation to be removed. Instead, you could use 3M automotive double-sided tape to attach the fuse block, but then you will lose the ability to remove it for future servicing.
The base of the Painless fuse box is not flat…it has two long runners that protrude about ¼ inch…so to make it flat for attachment purposes, I fabricated a flat plate that clamps around the edges of the runners using some thin gauge aluminum (sheet metal will work). The fuse box attaches to the passenger side ledge with industrial velcro (swatch measuring about four square inches), and this allows the fuse block to be removed for servicing…replace relay, fuses, and wire in new accessories. The velcro provides incredible grip especially for such a light-weight plastic piece like the fuse block and requires a lot of tugging to move or even pull loose; it is extremely unlikely the fuse block will be knocked loose in a severe accident (maybe when T-boned, but the fuse box could be ripped loose if screwed down instead of velcro'd).
To attach the ground wire of the fuse block, I drilled a hole and attached a screw on the dash aluminum sub-frame under the passenger side dash access panel (upper left, just below the left plastic dash fascia tab).
I used a mirror placed in the footwell during installation of the fuse box...it was a big help in keeping body contortions to a minimum while locating the velcro base and positioning the fuse box.
Power to the fuse box circuits is activated by a relay. I ran a tee off the power side of the DRL (day-time running light) wire to the relay, so the fuse box is activated whenever the ignition is turned on. This made sense for me to do (but may not for you), because I made the prior mod of installing a DRL disable switch in a center gauge console when installing oil pressure and oil temperature gauges. So, the DRL hot wire was a very accessible choice. The Painless kit provides fuse taps, so you could instead tap into fuse C3 (for example), which is also located under the passenger side dash.
I rewired the oil gauges to the new fuse block and now have two remaining unused circuits to power future accessories, like a V1 or some other goodies that I have yet decided are essential to Lotus life.
Note: I did some research about relays, fuses, and wiring before the installation (I am a banker and not an electrician) and concluded the Performance Products kit was optimistic in supplying a kit that has a 40 amp circuit breaker given the 12 gauge power wire and 10 amp fuses given the three 16 gauge circuits. Apparently, 12 gauge wire is rated at around 20 amps, and 16 gauge wire rated at around 7.5 amps.
The whole point of fuses is for the fuses to be sacrificed and fry…not the wiring harness and perhaps car. So, to make sure the new wiring circuit installation was within safe electrical specs, I substituted a 15 amp ATO / ATC fuse (although a 20 amp fuse could probably be used) in place of Painless' 40 amp circuit breaker and 7.5 amp fuses for the three circuits in place of Painless' 10 amp fuses. I left fuses out of the two fuse slots for the circuits that are not presently in use.
Yeah, yeah..."where are the pictures"...my digital camera is away for the weekend. I'll snap one of the fuse box in the footwell. Otherwise, below are pictures of Exige remote battery posts (credit to Westrock, at
http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f13...rums/f133/stereo-install-wire-harness-diagram-focal-alpine-ipod-pictures-38747/), the inside of a wheel well panel / driver's side and passenger dash access panel (credit to sandmuseum, at Lotus Elise Modification, Index and Contents).
Having just installed another electronic accessory, my Exige was tapped out of auxilliary power sources. The sub-woofer is wired to the C5 fuse using a Wirthco Tapa-Cicuit…my car does not have driving lights, so this circuit was unused. The rear camera / monitor set-up are wired to the C3 fuse also using a Wirthco Tapa-Cicuit. This left the oil and temperature gauges in need of a power source…they had been wired to C3 but were evicted by the rear camera set-up.
Tapa-Circuit: Wirthco Engineering, Inc. - Wirthco Engineering, Inc.
So I did a bit of research… reviewed LT postings and looked at after-market solutions...and chose to install a Painless Performance Products "Cirkit Boss" to provide an auxiliary power source that would not burden the factory electrical harness or require hacking into it.
The Painless Cirkit Boss comes in various configurations…three or seven circuits, always hot versus some or all switched to ignition, weather-proof versus not…so I chose the three circuit fuse box, switched by an ignition source, non-weatherproof; Painless part no. 70113. Summit Racing sells it for $42, but I found one on Summit's e-Bay store for $31. The kit comes with a three-circuit fuse box, relay, 40 amp circuit breaker, three 10 amp fuses, and all circuits pre-wired…ready for installation.
Painless "Cirkit Boss": Painless Wiring 70113 - Painless Performance Universal Fuse Blocks - summitracing.com
The Exige has remote battery posts located under the driver's side access panel (I don't know if the Elise model has this feature). My installation started at the remote battery post (positive side) and worked toward the cabin. I attached the power wire to the remote battery positive post and substituted a weather-proof ATO / ATC style fuse holder in place of the circuit breaker supplied by Painless. I'll discuss this substitution further, below. Also, I did not install the fuse into the fuse holder until I was all done and ready to test circuits...no need to fry myself or the car's electrics during installation.
The power line was routed across the front end under the access panels over to the passenger side wheel well, into the wheel well panel and through the chassis at rear of the dash, forward toward the passenger dash access panel, downward and out the front gap of the passenger side sill, and over to the upper left of the passenger side footwell.
As an alternative, you could route the power wire through the main wire harness grommet at the front of the passenger foot well. I tried this route at first but gave up on it, because my broad shoulder and stiff fingers (arthritis) made it tough for me to reach into the footwell and fiddle with the grommet. So for me, the wheel well route was the user-friendly way.
Upon removing the passenger side wheel well, you'll notice a blanking grommet at about the 10 o'clock position. Remove this grommet for the route inside the car via the underside of the dash. The wire must pass through the fiberglass body panel through a small air gap and into the chassis under the dash. I used a coat hanger, with the end back folded back to form a hook (with the power wire taped to the hook) to feed into the chassis. Make sure the power wire is NOT yet connected to the battery or REMOVE the fuse you just installed at the battery, if so! Angle the coat hanger wire up about 45 toward center of the dash, and feel around for the opening. When you poke through into the dash, you'll have to pass between a fold in the foam that insulates the back underside of the dash. Look into the passenger side of the dash with a flashlight, and you'll see fold or separation in the foam. That is where the wire will exit. It took a few times to locate the chassis opening given that I was doing it blind, but is became easy after I found the way and redid it to pull the power wire through.
While it is easy to install a grommet on the fiberglass, I found no way to get to the chassis (opening to the dash area) to install a grommet. The solution: slip a section (about nine to twelve inches long) of vacuum advance hose over the power wire and the feed it through both the fiberglass and chassis holes. Before doing so, whittle one end of the hose into a cone shape and liberally apply PAM (vegatable oil) for lubrication, and feed this end into the car and leave about one inch extending into the wheel well. The rubber hose serves as an extended grommet to protect the power wire from chaffing and abrasion at chassis entry….you don't want this wire to short! I installed convoluted wire covering over the entire length of the power wire from the hose piece to the remote battery post and secured it with wire ties and clips.
I located the auxilliary fuse box on the side ledge in the upper right rear corner of the passenger side footwell. My installation goals included: (1) attaching the fuse box without drilling holes; and (2) given the PITA location, improving access to the fuse box to make future electrical upgrades easier. I chose to use industrial grade velcro, because the stuff has crazy gripping power but still allows the installation to be removed. Instead, you could use 3M automotive double-sided tape to attach the fuse block, but then you will lose the ability to remove it for future servicing.
The base of the Painless fuse box is not flat…it has two long runners that protrude about ¼ inch…so to make it flat for attachment purposes, I fabricated a flat plate that clamps around the edges of the runners using some thin gauge aluminum (sheet metal will work). The fuse box attaches to the passenger side ledge with industrial velcro (swatch measuring about four square inches), and this allows the fuse block to be removed for servicing…replace relay, fuses, and wire in new accessories. The velcro provides incredible grip especially for such a light-weight plastic piece like the fuse block and requires a lot of tugging to move or even pull loose; it is extremely unlikely the fuse block will be knocked loose in a severe accident (maybe when T-boned, but the fuse box could be ripped loose if screwed down instead of velcro'd).
To attach the ground wire of the fuse block, I drilled a hole and attached a screw on the dash aluminum sub-frame under the passenger side dash access panel (upper left, just below the left plastic dash fascia tab).
I used a mirror placed in the footwell during installation of the fuse box...it was a big help in keeping body contortions to a minimum while locating the velcro base and positioning the fuse box.
Power to the fuse box circuits is activated by a relay. I ran a tee off the power side of the DRL (day-time running light) wire to the relay, so the fuse box is activated whenever the ignition is turned on. This made sense for me to do (but may not for you), because I made the prior mod of installing a DRL disable switch in a center gauge console when installing oil pressure and oil temperature gauges. So, the DRL hot wire was a very accessible choice. The Painless kit provides fuse taps, so you could instead tap into fuse C3 (for example), which is also located under the passenger side dash.
I rewired the oil gauges to the new fuse block and now have two remaining unused circuits to power future accessories, like a V1 or some other goodies that I have yet decided are essential to Lotus life.
Note: I did some research about relays, fuses, and wiring before the installation (I am a banker and not an electrician) and concluded the Performance Products kit was optimistic in supplying a kit that has a 40 amp circuit breaker given the 12 gauge power wire and 10 amp fuses given the three 16 gauge circuits. Apparently, 12 gauge wire is rated at around 20 amps, and 16 gauge wire rated at around 7.5 amps.
The whole point of fuses is for the fuses to be sacrificed and fry…not the wiring harness and perhaps car. So, to make sure the new wiring circuit installation was within safe electrical specs, I substituted a 15 amp ATO / ATC fuse (although a 20 amp fuse could probably be used) in place of Painless' 40 amp circuit breaker and 7.5 amp fuses for the three circuits in place of Painless' 10 amp fuses. I left fuses out of the two fuse slots for the circuits that are not presently in use.
Yeah, yeah..."where are the pictures"...my digital camera is away for the weekend. I'll snap one of the fuse box in the footwell. Otherwise, below are pictures of Exige remote battery posts (credit to Westrock, at
http://www.lotustalk.com/forums/f13...rums/f133/stereo-install-wire-harness-diagram-focal-alpine-ipod-pictures-38747/), the inside of a wheel well panel / driver's side and passenger dash access panel (credit to sandmuseum, at Lotus Elise Modification, Index and Contents).
