I searched and every one of you, (even those who you usually have an answer), just said no. I have an add a tap already, that I told myself it was only going to be temporary. Now I have another small circuit to create in the engine bay, and I want to finally figure this out. I have several empty slots where a fuse can be added.







Top down
1. (Pink RUN Voltage) is a 30 amp RTD fuse. RTD is Real Time Dampening. I certainly don't have that suspension.
2, (Red on top Battery Voltage) is 25 amp RDO amp. Radio amplifier fuse. I don't have a factory one of those.
3. (Red on Bottom Battery Voltage) is RR wiper washer. I don't have a rear window wiper washer or motor.

Obviously they just used the same panels and connections for the SUVs. I checked the other side of where the fuse would mount, and I could not get ground or power (which is good). I only want to clean up the wiring, and I will use a factory style connector into the dead side, and then fuse it to the hot side.

I need a 10a and a 20a fuse, (both are under what the factory has these at). Here's the odd thing that has me puzzled; When I pull the fuse panel up, there is no wire under those hot pins. The voltage is running through the interior of the fuse panel and not from a wire.

I would love to add this to the list of regurgitated misinformation. This just seems too easy to me, yet I see where those of you who know what you are talking about have even said don't do it. Is there something I'm missing here?

 

EDIT: MAXI SLOT WON'T WORK HOW I THOUGHT IT WOULD. YOU CAN'T GET THE FAT PART SEATED IN.

So I've been having fun. Just since I didn't say it earlier this is for 99-02. I had a spare fuse block, so why not. I have small pieces of plastic all over my garage, but I did learn something. I could make this twice as long, but I'm going to stick with the underhood fuse panel. (If you want to know about the one inside the cab under the brake pedal, that is your MBEC, and I know there is plenty of info on that already).


(The red has two A6, the top right is supposed to be F1. I wasn't going to redo it).


So the three possible circuits I posted earlier, took me a minute to realize I had to probe a little deep. There is no terminal on the inside of where the fuse sits, and you can't get one in there. So if you really wanted to solder down in there, you could utilize them, but I think I came up with a better solution.













The first solution:
A9 IS IGNITION VOLTAGE... (and the only one you could add to the pin because it pokes out. You could utilitze others, but doing it another way would require you to create an all new circuit) You COULD pull this pin off. Its PINK A9 in the gray connector, and add an extra wire so you have two wires in one connector, then run it to another pin where there is an open slot. Wire your new circuit you want to the other end and your fuse in to create a fused circuit. WHETHER OR NOT YOUR NEW CIRCUIT WILL OVERLOAD THE WIRE IS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO FIGURE OUT.
B11 IS BATTERY VOLTAGE (ditto the rest).

OR YOUR OTHER AND BETTER OPTION IS TO WIRE IT TO ONE OF THE LARGE MAXI FUSE SLOTS.

The maxi fuse that is most forward, #1 Trailer wiring, automatic level compressor. Again, I think this is something on an SUV. I don't have it used, but it is hot, (on the interior side of the fuse. The other one that is open (for me) is #4. Air pump fuse - secondary air injection pump.. Huhhh??? So you connect the circuit you want to the outside connection of the panel, and you link with your fuse. Its literally the same circuit as the stud out the side, but it give you an option for a slightly cleaner install with a fuse. The only difference is the maxi slots are missing the ... tooth/pin that connects to the terminal connector that the fuse sits in. YOU CAN just pull a tooth out of another one, and install it into the missing slot.


The problem with the maxi fuse circuit is that there is no pin/blade/tooth coming off the fuse block. These are easily installed by just swapping them out and pushing them in.




So now all I need is a terminal connector that will fit that and connect it to my circuit. The factory connector has a 2 pin plug and is only using one of the pins. FOR NOW. I'm on hold. I am going to pull an extra connector and I need to track down the terminal connector that fits that. I'm going to pull a spare off one at the yard, next time I go, so I at least have one on hand.

I might have said a few things wrong about the smaller pins earlier, I did check where all those go, and they are unused or unavailable. I'm kind of tired of doing this today. I do know that I like the idea of using the maxi slot the best. Even if I were to add a separate smaller fused block for my extra circuits, at least that first maxi slot is fused at the start of the circuit. 95% of what I did today was the first part, and now that I've moved on, I want to stop for today, and get a fresh look at it later.

Suppose I could (maybe drill a small hole through it, and fit a 8ga or 10ga wire through, and) just solder it together and shrink wrap directly to the blade (/tooth). I'm wondering how hard it's going to be to find that connector.

Here is the maxi fuse with the connector that goes through the fuse block, and the tooth that comes out the bottom.



No reason, that can't just be soldered together. Would even be more secure than from the factory. Pull the connector out that sits in between, and solder your circuit to that, so there is a second one on the other side of that tooth, that starts the circuit. Just use the factory piece inside the block as the terminal connector instead of hunting for one online and buying one that is still new. At least that I know where I could find it, and it's still fresh to use.



Not going to accept this yet, but here is my backup plan.

 

Maybe they said don't do it because it's not worth it? Now if you just wanted to learn what the inside of the fuse box looks like then fine, but you could pull power from several places and run to your own small fuse panel super easily.

The only reason I see to do this is if you wanted to hide some circuit for security purposes, like part of an alarm system or kill switch.

It is kind of interesting to see, I like the pictures.

 

EDIT: MAXI SLOT WON'T WORK HOW I THOUGHT IT WOULD.

t was a really nice day outside today, and a great excuse to work in the garage all day. I spent most of the day figuring out what not to do, and when I went to the maxi fuse, it probably took all of 10 minutes. (My amazon package I was waiting on didn't arrive until late anyways. So it was this or sit inside and waste time on a screen).

Having a circuit fused where it starts is the safest way to do it. I like having the option and will use it. I just want to figure out a better way to connect it below the fuse. There is a factory waterproof connector that is only using 1 of the 2 slots. So if I can find the factory terminal connector it will go together like factory pretty easy. From there I think I might just run a small fused panel somewhere in the engine bay. #4 Maxifuse might not be able to connect the same way underneath. A panel is $10-$15 and I can do that clean and easy. I'm gonna call this day 1 on this, and feel like it's not finished, but it's already a success.




Yeah I could see that on the security. I still say you could pull the connector off one of about 5 fused circuits in there, pull it out of the harness a little so it's not obvious, use a factory wire out of the junk yard that will even look old, and add wire with a switch in line, and you could do it any length and hide it anywhere you want it to go.

 

I have to say, the maxi slot WON'T work. The blades are too wide in the middle to fit in without modifying them. The slots on the fuse block only have enough room to slide it in as far as the thing side goes.. IF you wanted to trim the sides so it wasn't fat in the middle, it would work. They are wider inside so they won't be able to come out. It would technically work, but I'm not comfortable doing that. Back to the drawing board.

I already have another possibility though. Going back to using the fuse block.

On my 02 pickup fuse block, you can see the circuits that are marked that are open and hot that I listed earlier The pink is ignition voltage, and the red is battery voltage. I had to stick a bare wire deep enough to make contact with the pin, that you can scroll up and see is pointing into the block. On every other circuit where there is a fuse seated, there is a small connector, (similar to what the maxi fuse has, but smaller) that connects the pin to the fuse, (just how I connected the blade to the fuse earlier. Those circuits are only going to be needed on an SUV, and those three connectors are missing internally on the pickup fuse panel. I looked today, and the SUV panel, does have those connectors in those slots where they are missing. Other than that they look identical (at first glance).




So now I'm thinking I can swap a fuse block from a 99-02 SUV, and those circuits will be available (just because they have the internal connectors). I know my PnP, gets vehicles in a few days ago, and by today they are already cut and all the fuses are pulled. I want to get out to the yard when the vehicle is fresh, and pull out an untouched, panel before the vultures get to it. I want to be able to compare a full one to mine, (with the blocks underneath and I'll cut the harness wire to have a way to verify wiring). Everything should just about line up. The top sure does. I want to see which wires are different and verify every circuit before I try swapping em.

PICKUP


SUV

 

What happened with the Maxi fuse slot? Are the connector's that are missing the pin blocked off on the other side?

 

No the connector is there, and you can get to it, but the blade is the problem. That wide section in the middle of it sits interior of a non-removable plastic cover. If you were to trim the wide sides off that blade so it was one big rectangle, then you could still get it to work. The only thing holding it would be it being crammed in the slot, (which would hold if there was nothing acting on it). The factory way is that wide part keeps that blade from coming out. You could TECHNICALLY still do it by trimming the blade into a rectangle, but then it wouldn't be secureiy in there. It would be pretty sketchy, and definitely not worth the risk.

Maybe it's just ridiculous how I'm looking at it, but that first slot is the fuse for the stud. So connect to the stud, and it's fused at the start of the circuit.... If you connect to the stud it's fused at #1, and you can run your own mini block and it's doing the same thing I want it to. I thought I was trying to see if it could be done, but that seems like it should be good enough.

The #4 is for the air injection pump. Those were on 99-01, and this fuse panel is for 99-02. A 99-01 panel MIGHT have the pin to use the #4

I really wanted to find a ignition voltage circuit, but I think I am just going to use what is there: I definitely went a long way around, and I'm sure some of you are laughing, but I really wanted an ignition circuit. That slot #1 is the fuse for that stud. I think I'm just going to get an aftermarket block so I can just finish this and move on. I'm sure I could find a block with a relay built in or space for one, and then just wire up an ignition circuit that way.

 

Ok I think I understand what you are describing. Those fuse blocks are so strange with the pins molded into them, but I guess it works for mass production.

Easy way to get to where you want to is a Fuse tap like you already have into IGN wire, that triggers a relay that will power your fuse block. You can probably just hide the relay and wiring under the OEM fuse cover, it has enough room under there and relays don't fail very often.

Here's the auxiliary fuse panel I put under my hood. Uses the factory fender brace bolts to hold one side, and a wingnut with a through bolt to hold the other side. The whole thing is removable and has connectors so I can wire it from bench.

 

The relay part I can do no problem. I am trying to figure out the right little block and place to mount it. I'm tempted to take the factory starter cable off, and make one long cable instead of having it connecting at the red plastic cover box. Then getting rid of that box, and using that as a mount or fabricating a little mount so it can sit there. That box is for the fusible link which I don't have, so there is no real need for it anymore.

I want something small like this for now, but no way am I going to pay $90 for this.
$140

I just want something that will hold 3-6 fused circuits and two relays that I can wire into any of the circuits if I want to.

I'd go with this if it could handle 40amps, but 25a only is too low for what I want.

I keep thinking there has to be a motorcycle type panel or some interior panel from an older honda or an older budget american car that would be a good shape to mount somewhere. My circuits are wired up to the battery for now, so I'll probably give one go around the pull yard before I buy something off Amazon, (would also rather reuse an older item instead of buying it if possible). I'll give myself a few days to see if something stands out, or I'll get something in a week.

 

The older Jeeps have a pretty nice fuse block, but they may be a bit to large for what you want. Almost all the wires come out one end.

See an example here, https://www.ebay.com/itm/325486363351

You need 40 Amps total and just a few circuits?

If you want a fully customizable fuse/relay block that is waterproof the Littelfuse HWB60 is a super compact and nice one, that's the one I'm using. https://www.littelfuse.com/products/.../hwb60_al.aspx

Just buy some terminals and micro relays and build it how you want. You can find pretty much anything 12v hardware related on Waytekwire https://www.waytekwire.com