Q. What is the SOURCE anyway??

A. It's an electrical center that is used with or without the sPOD. It cleans up the wiring associated with switchs and relays needed to run accessories in a TJ.

It provides a clean and simple way of mounting fuse blocks and relays, eliminating a huge amount of wiring that is normally used to go from battery to fuse blocks and to relays.

It simplifies the process of wiring our accessories because it incorporates relays and fuses in one location.
One of the things that plagues nearly any add on electrical gadget is the need to have a clean and simple way of using fuses and relays. Prior to the SOURCE, we'd have to install an aftermarket fuse block, usually inside the the vehicle, then run wires from it to a power source. Most fuse blocks have their connections to accessories along the sides, and using them usually ends up with a mess of wires looking like a plate of spaghetti on the dinner table. The we'd have to buy relays and find someplace to mount them. Next we needed to wire the whole mess together while trying to keep things as clean as possible. If we didn't methodically document which wire went where, troublshooting the mess became a disaster, especailly if something quit working out on the trail.

Where can I get an sPOD and a SOURCE? Here: http://www.4x4spod.com/

Here's a close-up of the mounting area. To mount it, remove two large bolts from the firewall that are used to secure grounding cables and straps to the body. See arrows.

The bolts are hidden from view but are easily accessible.

After fighting with two large plugs and wire bundles on the passenger side while trying to thread the bolt back in the hole, I finally decided to unplug these to connectors.

They have a little red locking tab. Slide the tab (up unlocked them on my Jeep)

Press the release clip on the small connector (the one with the lock mechanism). See arrow

Notice also that I removed relay #1 - doing so makes it easier when mounting the SOURCE to the firewall. My ratchet and tools kept hitting the relay.

First I needed to remove the wiring from the existing termial block and relays. I had done a pretty neat job of doing the wiring on the terminal strip and relays. I use pre-fabbed relay plugs, but the wires weren't quite long enough so I didn't install relay numbers 5 and 6.

My Jeep is in its early stages of buildup so out of the four relays shown here, only two are in use.

I removed the circuit board asssembly from the mounting plate. The wiring needs to be routed up through the slots cut in the circuit board holder. Like the instructions outline, wire routing and making the connections is far easier to accomplish with the circuit board assembly off the mounting plate because it's closer to you.

Just be sure to route the sPOD harness up through the slot in the mounting plate before routing it through the slot on the circuit board mount. If you forget, and install it on the circuit board first like I did, and then attempt to manuever the wire around through the front slot in the mounting plate, it won't reach because there isn't enough length in the harness to allow this to happen. See pic below for a better understanding of this.

This shows the circuit board reattached to the plate with one accessory connected to relay #4.

I've also reconnected the OEM harness
plugs I disconnected earlier.

Here's a closeup. The only accessory connected so far is on relay #4 and it's my OBA system. Each terminal is labeled to a corresponding switch number and has a B+ and B- connection.

The OBA system gets it's ground through chassis ground so no additional ground connection at the terminal strip was required.

Be sure to change out your fuses to a smaller size if required, to appropriately match your wire size running from the terminal strip to your accessory. I still need to change out the fuse on #4 for a smaller size for the OBA compressor.

General rule of thumb:
14 AWG = 10-15 AMP
12 AWG = 20 AMP
10 AWG = 30 AMP

To connect my accessory wires to the terminal strip, I use "fork" terminals instead of "ring" terminals. I hate ring terminals because using them requires completely removing the screw from the terminal strip, and about every fourth time we remove a screw, it drops into some unaccessible location never to be seen again. Fork terminals only require a slight loosening (one half to a full turn) to allow the fork to be slid under the screw.

Cable routing and connection to the battery.

Notice the circuit breaker. The little black
dot on the side of it is the reset button.

Side view of cable connections.

Once all cable ties were installed and the wires were routed to their final destianation and position, I tightened all the cable ties and cut the tail flush with the lock mechanism.

Out with the old... this is everything I removed
to make way for the SOURCE.

My Jeep is in its early stages of the build up, so at the time I upgraded to the SOURCE, only two accessories are connected to the sPOD - the OBA system and the CB. If I had more acessories being switched by the sPOD, a lot more wire would be piled up here.