If you’re looking for a waterproof, rugged, and easy to install auxiliary fuse box for your rig, you should probably take a look at what Skygear has to offer.
So who is this Skygear guy and where can I find him? Mike AKA Skygear is pretty famous on the Tacoma World and Expedition Portal forums. He’s earned a reputation for building top notch fuse boxes, custom wiring harnesses, and for having a ticked out Tacoma. He’s also the type of guy that would give you the shirt off of his back and is an enthusiast in the community.
When I started seeing how exposed the SPOD was in my truck, I realized that I needed something a little more rugged for my style of driving. The thousands of miles of dirt road I had traveled had definitely exposed the SPOD unit to the elements. In come’s Mike who unbeknownst to me, lived just 20 minutes down the road. So after linking up at a few happy hours and me drooling over his wiring setup we set a date and I headed over to his house to check out his custom Bussman fuse box setup.
Going forward from here things might get a little confusing, I’m not an engineer or electrician by any means so needless to say my mind was blown during this process.
Skygear’s Bussman Fuse Box is a 100% waterproof and shockproof unit. It’s enclosed entirely by a weather proof lid, and would probably survive being submerged underwater (just remember that your truck won’t). The standard box features 5 relays, and also has 10 fuses (5 for the relays and 5 that can be set as “always on”). It all ties into a color coded wiring harness that makes the install of all your accessories a breeze.
One of the options I decided to go with were the auto-reset mini fuse breakers. These nifty little fuse breakers combine a fuse with a circuit breaker, so you theoretically you never have to worry about blowing a fuse ever again. They’re available from 10-30 Amps and take the place of a traditional fuse. All you have to do to reset them is turn the car off and then on again.
Now there are a few caveats, the first is that Mike is a one man shop that works out of his basement. He’s also insanely popular so you’ll have to get on a waiting list in order to get one of his Bussman setups (wait times can be in excess of 30 days). I’ve seen a lot of the negative press he’s gotten on the web, but in every thread you’ll also find plenty of happy customers including myself. The other thing to be aware of is that you’ll most likely have to build a custom mount for the unit, he does have one that fits the Tacoma, but us Jeep guys are out of luck. Both of these issues were not a problem for me, I’m used to waiting for quality equipment, and I was able to re-purpose my SPOD bracket for the fuse box.
Overall I’ve been very happy with the system, and the quality of his product is leaps and bounds better than anything else I’ve seen on the market. Keep and eye out for the install which we’ll be posting later next week.
Some photos courtesy of Skygear
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