Back side of the toolbox, showing the connector that the electrical cable will pass through. Also, you can see the small stainless steel, "marine vent," near the top.
Angle iron frame.
Angle iron frame- you can see how the side pieces sit on top of the front and back pieces, which are then drilled, and bolted together. 1/4 inch bolts hold the angle iron to the Apache frame, in 4 different places. The plastic electrical fitting (scroll up for the details,) are used for the following: the red circle shows the fitting which the electrical cord from the 2 batteries will pass through, into the interior. The blue circle shows the fitting which the trailer lights pass from the interior to the exterior. You can see the trailer lights then go to a weatherproof junction box, where the splices are made up. The cord then exits the junction box, and continues to the front of the trailer, where it terminates into the trailer connector.
The 2 battery trays mounted inside the box. Because the box is tall enough, I elected to add a piece of 3/4 inch plywood, as well as some old rubber matting, for cushioning.
Make sure you get the tray that is sized for your battery/ batteries. I have 2 larger batteries, so I bought the 7" X 13" trays.
This is the power cable coming in to the battery box, from the interior. I chose a pretty thick piece of 3-conductor cord. This appears to be the same size as what you would use to hook up to shore power. The wires are color-coded green,white and black. The two negative terminals are tied in together, with a scrap of the same wire, then connected to the main negative lead going back into the interior. The positive from one battery gets a white wire, and the positive from the second battery gets a black wire, which then go back into the interior, and terminate into an appropriate battery disconnect.
Here is how I have my battery power hooked up: both leads from the positive terminal of each battery, come in to the red disconnect, on the left side. From there, one lead leaves the disconnect, and goes to the manual reset (in the middle of the photo,) circuit breaker. The red disconnect allows you turn it to the #1 battery, or #2 battery. You could even turn it to Battery #1 and #2, if you needed 24 volts, for some reason. From the manual reset circuit breaker, a single lead goes into the fuse box, on the right side. On the negative side of the fuse box, the single lead, which goes back to the negative terminals on battery #1 and #2, is attached. Now I have power to my fuse box, and all of my outputs are protected. I currently have the following being powered from the fuse box: 12 volt, interior lights, an inverter for 110 volts ac, 12 volt galley water pump, and a bank of three, 12 volt cigarette lighter sockets.
Model 6007 is the switch that is pictured. This is the one that I recommend.
You can find these anywhere on the web. They are just a generic, 100 amp, manual reset circuit breaker. The claim is that they are waterproof.
There are many different models of fuse boxes made by Blue Sea. I chose model 5025, which can provide fused-power to 6 different items.
Not a very good picture, but this shows where I have my inverter and bank of 3 cigarette lighter sockets. If I choose to reinstall the original refrigerator, these will both need to be relocated, as there is not enough clearance. The inverter is just big enough to power laptop and phone chargers.
All mounted, and ready to go! The important thing I wanted to show in this picture, is the 1/4" mounting bolts, which secure the box to the angle iron. 2 bolts and nuts on each side. They are a little tricky to keep the wrench on the bolt head, while you tighten the nut, but persistence is the key to success.
