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Mad Electrical

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shoudabinacowboy

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Has anyone ever made a purchase from Mad Electrical? The tech articles on the web site are very well done and it sounds like they know what they're talking about. I was just looking for an opinion from anyone with experience with them. Here's the site:

http://www.madelectrical.com/

Thanks.
Kenny
 
Just the guy I hoped would respond... I was actually looking at their "New System." My P.O. messed with a bunch of stuff and I would like to be able to replace a lot of it so that I know what is going on. Right now it's all just a mess of wires. Thanks.

Kenny
 
eh, honest opinion?

Those guys have some good tech articles and I'm assuming decent products over there, but I think my system is better... :wink1:

The first thing popping into my brain here is that if your just dealing with the start, charge, lights, fans circuits, that is probably the easiest area to correct.. Now, if it was the fuseblock and interior, tbi, etc wiring, than I would suggest to most guys, yes, a pre-made kit might be the best solution...

For that $130, you could easily buy better, beefier parts to do a comparable, but better imo, system... It seems to me, that kit is a compilation of the pre-existing kits, not designed as one app...

I guess I should bring up this too while I'm here... I'm very leary of many electrical "kits", etc as pre-terminated stuff may not be "just the right" length, etc... Throw in some companies don't always use the best terminals, etc..

Now, all that being said, stuff like this awesome for someone who feels they just can't wrap there head around designing a system, etc... If I can help, let me know... :D
 
(Because 14.2 volts is required to fully charge a battery—And so the voltage regulator for the alternator is pre-set to maintain system voltage at about 14.2volts.)
Click to expand...

the alternator on my yukon goes to about 16.5-17v when its cold and drops to about 15.5-16v after it warms up. any problem there, or am i ok?

sorry, hijack.

personally, when it comes time to build my 81, im going to painless for a complete wiring kit (unless ryoken naysays it:D) ive heard nothing but good about them.
 
Thanks for the input guys. It's not TBI so I don't think designing something would be too complex. I'm looking to do the simple upgrades that many have done.
-Headlight relays
-Starter solenoid
-Relocate battery

And basically just have a system that I understand so that when I want to add or modify something, I can do it the right way. Eventually I would like to have electric fans, a winch, and some other accessories.
 
Let me just preface this one by saying that I'm not intending to badmouth anyone.... Both Mad and 12voltguy appear to both put out some fine products.. I'm envious of 12volt's engraving/cutting capability. I've also personally installed a couple painless kits eons ago, and they where decent from what I remember... not perfect, but good...

Here's my thought process for that part of a system..

figure out where your batteries are going... decide if your doing the slave (ford :doah:) solenoid and where to put it.... nows the time to do it.. and whether you want to be fancy with a battery switch, isolator or ACR in that mix if your doing duals and how and if you want the batteries split... any component can be left out, you just want to account for it spacewise and cablewise if you plan to add it later...

leave yourself plenty of wire... cut stuff long.. it's much cheaper and easier to shorten and reterminate a wire than it is to replace with a longer.. worth the few extra lugs if need be..

headlights, fans, etc are all just individual circuits.... where you want to pick up power (bat switch, post, etc), circuit protection for that circuit, where and what kind of relays, how you'll fire them, a ground system, etc...

I'm all about simple design and overkill on materials... :wink1:
 
Is Mark Hamilton (MAD Electrical) back in business? It's been a couple of years since I bought from him. His booklets are priceless.
 
Thats right, I thought I remembered hearing something about they might be closed, maybe at Pirate... And yup, good tech writeups...
 
I called Mad a bunch of times today and it was busy every time. I'm not sure if that means he's in business still or if the listed number was just his home number or what. It would be nice to get one of those books.

Dumb question here: How does the slave solenoid work? How does it differ from a remote solenoid? Would that require two solenoids? Thanks.

Kenny
 
They are one in the same... slave is just a more appropriate term imo... it just moves the point of juice from down at the starter to up near the batteries... you wire a "crank" signal to it and a grd.. when you hit the key, it opens the solenoid allowing the juice down to the starter..

you only need the one solenoid... unless you decide to use one in a parallel configuration...
 
Awesome. I was looking at your build thread, and the link for your solenoid is old. Where did you guys get yours? Are they on any year of Furd? Anything specific to look for? Thanks.
 
12 volt continuous duty, highest amp you can afford... they run anywhere from $20 to $150.. 90 ampers can be had on ebay in the $25 to 40 range usually... i'd recommend a 90 minimum....

any autoparts store will usually have cole-hersee stuff.. well, real parts places, not autozone and the like...

here, this is the 200 amper I'm running now....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Pres...015QQitemZ250199558299QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWD1V

Ametek makes good stuff... eventually I'll upgrade to the sealed 450 amp bluesea ones.....

5301_182x182.jpg
 
Thanks for the link Ryoken. I bought that solenoid yesterday. I went to Lowes and bought a wire stripper/crimp tool also. I was looking at the wire that they had there and it looked pretty crappy. Where can I get good wire and terminals for automotive use? Also, what the consensus on crimping only versus crimping and soldering? Thanks.
 
shoudabinacowboy said:
Thanks for the link Ryoken. I bought that solenoid yesterday. I went to Lowes and bought a wire stripper/crimp tool also. I was looking at the wire that they had there and it looked pretty crappy. Where can I get good wire and terminals for automotive use? Also, what the consensus on crimping only versus crimping and soldering? Thanks.
Click to expand...
We subject our trucks to a lot of vibration. If you want to never be bothered with that terminal again, solder it.:wink1:
 
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