I got all kinds of good stuff I've been meaning to do done today.

Optima Battery!!!
I used the top posts for the OE battery terminals and nothing else. I picked up some side-post terminals and used those for the accessory power wires. This made it much neater and much easier to work with. I can disconnect accessory wires without messing up vehicle power. Plus the optima batter just kicks ***. I could notice the difference the moment I turned the key.




AC Mod
Now I can run any position and turn off the compressor at will. The LED will light up green anytime the AC is on.




Little red button for the airhorn
I've been putting this off since the day I got the truck. Little push button to sound the Whelen airhorn.



And I made a little video of the AC Mod and airhorn button in "action"

http://www.kb1fpd.com/files/videos/ac-ah-buttons.avi

 

damn man, u're catchin up with john as far as "**** in your truck" goes...

cool little mods...u guys know u're electronics!

 

I think he's still got me beat.

 

i love my red top. i never thought of the side post on them for use as accessory. ill have to get some side post terminals. great idea.

 

Looks good...

I like the battery...

 

hah COOOL.

i like the battery too, i didn't know batteries like that existed!! That's awesome. My new car, i'll definitely do that.

The AC switch is cool. I would like to do that.. How'd you do that?

DOOT DOOT!

 

You put a switch inline on the purple wire from the HVAC controls. Switch off prevents the AC compressor from running. Switch on will allow the compressor to run. So, this lets me us the defrost, defrost/floor, vent/floor. AC, & MAX AC settings without having the compressor running. Saves gas, less wear & tear, less drag on the engine.

 

Not by much, if at all, lol! I was just thinking more or less what Brent posted: that your dash was getting as crowded as mine.

Good deal and a very productive day, I'd say.

 

anyone know the wire for the AC mod in the 04 F150

 

i want that horn lol

 

I'm surprised you didn't wire the AH into the horn-ring, If you still have the 295 in there, I love that feature when available.

 

One of these days, I will tackle that. Unfortunately, to do it requires one of two things:

1. Take the ground signal off the steering column which requires taking that all apart. Taking that apart will make the remote starter fall down and require an additional 3 hours of shoving it back up.

2. Tap into the horn output of the GEM which requres disassemling the entire dashboard. Not today.

I used to have to reach down to the 295 control head and hit the button. At least now I don't need to reach for it. That's a *real whelen button* too! I salvaged it off of an old alpha control head.

 

I was going to say, it looked like a Whelen button, but wasn't sure.

 

I just ordered a 130 amp alternator. I think my current stock 95 amp one is about toast. When I turn the high beams on with the wipers and blower going, everything dims and the gauge drops. When he AC compressor turns on, it dims even more. They tested it at the store where I got the battery and it was only showing good up to 42 amps. Yea, 42 amps on a 95 amp alternator sucks.

Found a 130 amp alternator on eBay for $50.00. Can't beat THAT!

 

Federal Q here you come! (HA!)

That sucks, only 42 amps on a 95 amp alt? I should probably go have mine check while I think of it.

 

You can also tap into it behind the passenger airbag, at the security module. Drop the glove compartment door by pushing the sides in, take out the two bolts holding in the passenger airbag, unplug it and there's the module. It come out with two screws and the GEM's output is an input to this module. May be an alternative to the center console since thie wiring is less "crowded" going to the security module.

 

griggs...what do you not know? every time i see a picture of you i think of some adventure guy on a documentary channel. kinda like that guy on national geographic(i think thats the channel) that goes around trying and showing different things. today i saw him doing an episode on how far metal working has come.

 

nice!!! I almost got one about a year ago but dont have enough money now...

 

Something about rainy days that encourages truck moding no? (It was raining in CT yesterday, right?) I was out there myself yesterday. Myself, I completely rewired my accessory switches yesterday. Fixed my non-functioning KCs, that turned out to be a fuse, probably blown while I was monkeying w/ this stuff last. I now have three illuminated switches on the inside of my dash cubby. All drive relays and have a nice common fuse. One enables the KCs, which now come on w/ the high beams only (when enabled). The next enables the AC, via the so called 'AC mod'. The last switches the stereo to an accessory circuit so that I can run the stereo w/o the key while cleaning and such.

I upgraded the wiring to 14 gauge and replaced the plethora of wiretaps w/ a properly soldered and head-shink insulated custom harness.

John, Bob, the rest of you w/ extensive mods of this nature, you must have a rats nest of wire-taps and relays impregnated in your dash. W/ just three 'accesory circuits' I find myself running out of space behind the head unit in there!

 

I have been wanting to do the airhorn mod. That is awesome. Where did you get your horn?

 

Here in lies the advantage of the extended cab....

With all my crap in the back


Without the crap in the back


Inside the box

 

Ha ha! With the voltmeter, it looks likes Hollywoods idea of a terrorist time bomb!

Looks nice though! My setup is more the rats nest of taps and extra wires. The EATC mod is real bad that way since you have a ton of splices in a complex wire harness coming out of the EATC.

 

Hmm, thats not a voltmeter... it's a countdown :)

This afternoon, I permanently mounted my inverter to the back of the center console so now I have full time 120vac in the truck whenever I need it :)

 

That's in my future also -- but I've been too cheap to buy the inverter yet.

 

that Optima set up is sweet
the rest of your work looks very professional too Matt
a nice tight, clean set up

I need to up grade for winch power
are there Optima Red Top model numbers and if so what one is that?
are the side posts regular over the counter stuff at auto parts stores or are they Optima specific?

good horn!