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Install Hall of Shame...
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| medico816 Contributing Member Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 165 Location: Guaynabo, Puerto Rico |
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| IW RADIO Regular  Joined: 24 Oct 2006 Posts: 177 Location: Long Island, NY |
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| dustymedic Contributing Member Joined: 03 Feb 2007 Posts: 2627 Location: Columbus,OH-IO! |
That's not a McCoy-Miller by chance? We used to have one that looked like that inside... |
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Regular
Joined: 22 Jan 2007
Posts: 331
Location: Doylestown, PA
 Posted: Mon 4-Feb-2008 14:51 Post subject: Re: |
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[quote:3e1467f811=\"1989gtablown632\"]Here�s another one to add to the hall of shame. We ran into this while installing a new green command beacon. We are getting ready to outfit there new chiefs vehicle and will get pics up as soon as possible. I can�t tell you how many quick taps, incorrect wire sizes, circuits unprotected not to mention the main 2 gauge that ran across the engine bay and top of the engine with no main fuse. If you disconnect the main power there are still multiple cables that are still powered, the headlight flasher kept blowing its fuse and which power was taped into the car harness incorrectly, the radios were jammed and pinching wires in the console, we moved everything just to run a single wire into the console and stuff was shorting out. None of the wires were zip tied down anywhere in the vehicle. We pulled the headliner down and tons of cable just coiled and thrown up there. Panel clips were broken. It was a mess; we are working with the department to come up with a plan to fix this disaster.
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I saw the green and red switches and said I thought that it looked familiar-
Eric is right. This job is a complete MESS!!!
We got the contract for the 2008 Explorer and will be posting up some pics of the install as we go, and I can assure you that it will be MUCH better than this. What a nightmare!
Matt
Regular
Joined: 12 Nov 2006
Posts: 461
Location: Central Connecticut
| Posted: Mon 4-Feb-2008 18:01 Post subject: |
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| Dustymedic
Both squads are SWAB. The one pictured was originally all strobe and was converted to all LED as well as having more electronics installed so I'm not sure if it was always this messed up or if it was someone elses doing... I could see our current installer/maintanence company adding to this mess. Another guy and I are going to slowly fix things. We already have one squad to our liking, not the cleanest installation, but better than it was. Last edited by bigcat on Mon 4-Feb-2008 21:53; edited 1 time in total |
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Regular
Joined: 27 Oct 2006
Posts: 488
Location: East Tennessee / Smokies
| Posted: Mon 4-Feb-2008 20:23 Post subject: |
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| Mods,
Can this get sticky'd? It has grown and offers a lot to the community, IMO. Puh-leeeez? |
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Regular
Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 686
Location: Long Island, New York
| Posted: Mon 4-Feb-2008 20:43 Post subject: |
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courtesy of the michigan state police:
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Regular
Joined: 10 Dec 2007
Posts: 464
Location: Neptune, NJ
| Posted: Mon 4-Feb-2008 21:34 Post subject: |
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| The Department I am currently Interning with has their Radar cables run the same way on their 1-2yr old Impalas.. They are a mess inside (install job). | |
Regular
Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 686
Location: Long Island, New York
| Posted: Tue 5-Feb-2008 07:06 Post subject: Re: |
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| [quote:6181449d2e=\"fireandems13669\"]The reason I found why they dont want the radar wires hidden is because of service and some of the wires go bad .The radar units are suppose to be pulled out and serviced every so often | |
calibrated, too... i totally forgot about that, lol.
but you could still at least make an effort.
Regular
Joined: 17 Jan 2007
Posts: 141
Location: Northumberland Co. Herndon, Pa.
| Posted: Tue 5-Feb-2008 15:46 Post subject: Re: |
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| [quote:078150324a=\"Field79\"][quote:078150324a=\"1989gtablown632\"]Here�s another one to add to the hall of shame. We ran into this while installing a new green command beacon. We are getting ready to outfit there new chiefs vehicle and will get pics up as soon as possible. I can�t tell you how many quick taps, incorrect wire sizes, circuits unprotected not to mention the main 2 gauge that ran across the engine bay and top of the engine with no main fuse. If you disconnect the main power there are still multiple cables that are still powered, the headlight flasher kept blowing its fuse and which power was taped into the car harness incorrectly, the radios were jammed and pinching wires in the console, we moved everything just to run a single wire into the console and stuff was shorting out. None of the wires were zip tied down anywhere in the vehicle. We pulled the headliner down and tons of cable just coiled and thrown up there. Panel clips were broken. It was a mess; we are working with the department to come up with a plan to fix this disaster.
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I saw the green and red switches and said I thought that it looked familiar-
Eric is right. This job is a complete MESS!!!
We got the contract for the 2008 Explorer and will be posting up some pics of the install as we go, and I can assure you that it will be MUCH better than this. What a nightmare!
Matt
Looks like an electrician threw up in the console....
Really...when they put the cover on that, did someone have to sit on it and push wires under the lid before they taped it closed? Wow. I am no professional, but I can go back to my wiring jobs years later and know what everything is for. YIKES.
Senior Member
Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Posts: 1892
Location: East Kingston, NH
| Posted: Tue 5-Feb-2008 16:27 Post subject: Re: |
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| [quote:604c3295bd=\"TNYankee\"]Mods,
Can this get sticky'd? It has grown and offers a lot to the community, IMO. Puh-leeeez? |
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Why not? Done.
Regular
Joined: 12 Sep 2007
Posts: 300
Location: Cape Cod, MA
| Posted: Wed 6-Feb-2008 20:22 Post subject: |
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| The local PD has the radar wires in split loom, with one of those sticky wire tie anchor things on the dash. It keeps it neat, but they're still able to pull them out and service them. | |
Manufacturer Representative
Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Posts: 648
Location: Indianapolis, IN
| Posted: Tue 19-Feb-2008 19:49 Post subject: |
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| Ok I have a comment for here finally. I got stuck driving a pool car the other day. I was a little less than ecstatic, especially when I ended up getting dispatched on a pi crash as soon as I logged on in it. Barely had time to finish moving my gear over. For one I hate being in a pool car because you don�t have it set up the way you want and all the stuff you are used to having are not there.
So here is what happened, as I am pulling out of the parking lot, I turn on the lights. First thing I notice is that some jack has added an oooooold fedsig halogen rearview mirror flasher that isn�t supposed to be in the car. Not a big deal in itself, however the jack mounted it BEHIND the RVM!!! Half of the light was flashing right into the rvm and back into my eyes, and this was about 8pm. And I couldn�t turn it off because they hooked it into the 2nd stage of the pursuit switch. I ended up bending the bracket on it and pointing it into the ceiling so I could at least see where I was going. Even then I had to point the rvm down so that it was basically useless. I will try and get some pictures of it tomorrow night if it�s still like that. It may not be because I called the Sgt and went off. Who ever hacked the install on that thing really messed up some stuff. The siren box isn�t even mounted correctly in the console any more; it�s just sitting loose in there so the wires keep getting ripped out of the bottom. The rear flashers don�t work, wires all over the place. Burns my butt a little more because I did the original install on that car 4 years ago. The modifications were done by the same genius who tried to criticize my install job by giving me crap saying that I messed it up and the corner strobes were no longer working. I had to inform him that I never installed strobes on that car, so that would be the reason they didn�t work. |
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Manufacturer Representative
Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Posts: 648
Location: Indianapolis, IN
| Posted: Sun 2-Mar-2008 09:31 Post subject: |
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| Ok so I acquired a mastercom a week ago to replace the interceptor 400 that I didn�t like. Then Hugh hooked me up with a console so that lit my fire to redo my car a little bit and since my daughter was at the in-laws for the weekend I had time to do it finally.
Now, mind you this is my car, I own the car, how ever I did not do the original install on this thing. When I got the car it came with everything because the guy needed money fast. Well I opened up the console and what do I find to my surprise, a rats nest. I think it took longer to unknot all the wires and clean out the wires that went to nothing than anything else. I also got quite a bit of magic smoke when I was moving them around before I even disconnected anything. Apparently there were a few loose power wires that took it upon themselves to look for an easy ground. Take note of all the green wires, they are ignition power wires and go to absolutely nothing. Anyway here are some pics 
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Regular
Joined: 11 Dec 2007
Posts: 129
Location: Stillman Valley IL
| Posted: Thu 13-Mar-2008 13:53 Post subject: Absolutely shameful |
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We just put a new Chiefs vehicle inservice and when the radios came out of the old one............ Yep, rats nest!  I thought this would have been better, but just because someone is a good Firefighter, does not mean they are a good electrician............ 
Nice nuts.............................. 
Pull the green wire..... 
 Last edited by firehouse92 on Sat 19-Jul-2008 08:31; edited 1 time in total |
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Regular
Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 147
Location: Hampshire IL.
| Posted: Thu 10-Apr-2008 02:26 Post subject: |
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| I love the wire nuts in a car with stranded wire LOL
I thought I've seen some bad ones but some of these just insane don't ever fix a rats nest>>>>remove it and start over LOL |
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Regular
Joined: 22 Dec 2006
Posts: 147
Location: Hampshire IL.
| Posted: Thu 10-Apr-2008 02:31 Post subject: |
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| I'll never forget about a guy that bought some power supply's from me.
he came back to the shop about 6 months after he bought the last one and told me the power supply is bad. So I tested it and it worked perfect. So I asked him where he grounded it (4 4 head power supplys) he told me he grounded everything to his DOME LIGHT WIRE I told him hes lucky to still have his truck |
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Contributing Platinum Member
Joined: 19 Mar 2008
Posts: 604
Location: Phoenix, AZ
| Posted: Wed 30-Apr-2008 16:24 Post subject: Re: |
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| Man, I wish I had taken some pictures from the past. We had a van come in once that had 9 power wires coming off the battery, all with their own in-line fuses, no wire loom was used anywhere, even under the hood. That thing took hours to re-wire...man that day sucked. |
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Regular
Joined: 09 Mar 2008
Posts: 680
Location: Bethel Springs, TN, USA
| Posted: Mon 5-May-2008 17:32 Post subject: |
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| Ok guys, this may seem like a grade school question to some of you but in Firefighter_2000's pics of his reinstall on page 1 of this thread he used a continuous duty selenoid under the hood off of the circiut breaker and relays inside the console box. What are these items for? And please be kind, I am trying to expand my installation knowledge, not get my cojones busted! LOL! Thanks! | |
Contributing Member
Joined: 27 Aug 2005
Posts: 693
Location: Bauxite, AR
| Posted: Mon 5-May-2008 18:00 Post subject: Items |
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| This was posted to me by a very wise and very experienced installer:
Switching this type of load requires the use of a solenoid as well as a manual resettable breaker. The power for this system comes directly from the battery positive post. As you can see from the under-hood pictures, the solenoid and breaker are within inches from eachother. Moreover, the breaker is located within several inches of the battery. For safety sake it is critical that an appropriately sized breaker be place before the solenoid as close to the battery as possible. Obviously the solenoid's coil is grounded on one side, however, the orange switched lead runs inside the vehicle towards the factory fuse panel. In order to locate a switched ignition source I use to owner's manual to identify non-critical electrical systems that are factory switched ignition systems. Examples of non-critical switched systems include power seats, power window wash, rear window wiper, sun roof, AM-FM stereo, etc... More importantly, critical system which must remain undisturbed by aftermarket modifications include, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, air bag and srs systems, fuel pump, front wipers, defrost, headlights, computer (ecm or pcm), traction control, A.B.S. etc. . . Once a safe circuit is identified, an atm fuse tap is installed thereby providing power to the solenoid's coil through the motion of the ignition key. Finally, a diode is installed between the switched source and the coil. As you may already know, the collapse of the magnetic field within a relay or solenoid coil can release a significant spike of transient voltage. The diode prevents this voltage spike from entering the vehicles electrical system, thus avoiding other complications. Hope this helps brother. Craig |
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Regular
Joined: 09 Mar 2008
Posts: 680
Location: Bethel Springs, TN, USA
| Posted: Mon 5-May-2008 18:30 Post subject: |
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| So basically the solenoid is used as the main under hood \"hot point\" when you run power to the console, siren, toggle box, etc. Right? The solenoid protects the vehicle electrical system from surge or power drain by keeping the \"gadgets\" on a different/separate \"circuit\", so to speak, but pulling from the same power source(battery). Please correct me if I am misunderstanding this.
Now, what were the relays in the console for? Thanks for the input so far... |
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Regular
Joined: 27 Jul 2006
Posts: 81
Location: South Bend IN
| Posted: Fri 18-Jul-2008 07:46 Post subject: |
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Had to take the car to the radio shop yesterday for a new antenna thanks to the car wash and this 2006 Impala specimen was in for something else. While waiting I noticed this fine sealant install of the cable from lightbar through roof!!
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Frequent Poster
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 1195
Location: Edinburg, Rio Grande Valley, Tx
| Posted: Fri 18-Jul-2008 08:23 Post subject: Re: |
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| [quote:c624a0d4a1=\"eako2107\"]Had to take the car to the radio shop yesterday for a new antenna thanks to the car wash and this 2006 Impala specimen was in for something else. While waiting I noticed this fine sealant install of the cable from lightbar through roof!!
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that's the \"professional\" kind of hack job I was talking (ranting) about in the ELBs longest thread,
go ahead use a whole tube of brown silicone its ok... it looks good like that on your white car
Frequent Poster
Joined: 27 Dec 2006
Posts: 1195
Location: Edinburg, Rio Grande Valley, Tx
| Posted: Fri 18-Jul-2008 08:26 Post subject: Re: |
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| [quote:cbc9371296=\"eako2107\"]Had to take the car to the radio shop yesterday for a new antenna thanks to the car wash and this 2006 Impala specimen was in for something else. While waiting I noticed this fine sealant install of the cable from lightbar through roof!!
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that's the \"professional\" kind of hack job I was talking (ranting) about in the ELBs longest thread,
go ahead use a whole tube of brown silicone its ok... it looks good like that on your white car
Regular
Joined: 10 Dec 2007
Posts: 464
Location: Neptune, NJ
| Posted: Fri 18-Jul-2008 11:46 Post subject: |
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| hmm... i should go take some pics of the wire job MONOC(the paramedic service here) did on the special operations truck we got from them... Its horrible!! | |
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