Outer Limits 4x4 Board

currently got 2many cables hooked up to the positive terminal and im looking at condensing it to a location further away from the battery but easily accessible.

have the idea of running some 100amp (to be determined after deciding what will run off it but theres no harm in overkill is there?) cable with an inline 100amp circut breaker to one of those car stero gold plated fuse boxes to inside the car, then have each appliance run into the fuse block.


is this the correct way to go about it or is there a better / safer way?
while the earth wont need fusing obviously, would it be best to run the same set up so its all earthed to the battery of can each appliance be earthed to the body?
will the earth still work thru a fuse block, i cant see why not but you'll sort me out i believe?

im keen to do it the best way possible as safty and reliability is everything.

thanks in advance.

regards,
nathan

For a start I'd recommend not using a circuit breaker! They will supply their rated current (and often way above it) for a certain time period before tripping. A fuse is a safer option IMHO.

Also 100Amps fuse/ breaker seems way too high- what loads are you planning on hanging off the other end? The higher the fuse rating the less protection you will have if the main cable rubs through, so work out the max load for all devices and put that value fuse in line. The largest sized cable (like you said) is a good idea to minimise voltage drops.

Narva and Hella websites have lots of good fuse boxes that might interest you. www.whitworths.com.au is another good place to look.

murcod wrote:For a start I'd recommend not using a circuit breaker! They will supply their rated current (and often way above it) for a certain time period before tripping. A fuse is a safer option IMHO.

And a 3AG fuse may carry a 30% overload for more than one hour. But I'd still go the fuse over a breaker.

I've got something similar in the Paj, using Maxi-fuse blade fuses. Don't do this! The fuses are too expensive, and the contacts quickly go high resistance. In a previous car I did something similar using 5AG (?large gold glass?) fuse and splitting to two standard blade fuse boxes - one under the bonnet, one in the cabin. Never had trouble with this setup.

Depending on the distance and cable routing between battery and fuse box you could consider omitting the first fuse - if you can secure &/or double insulate the cable from battery to fuse box it probably doesn't need to be fused.

Cheers,

Scott

NJ SWB wrote:Depending on the distance and cable routing between battery and fuse box you could consider omitting the first fuse - if you can secure &/or double insulate the cable from battery to fuse box it probably doesn't need to be fused.

Cheers,

Scott

Unless it is part of the battery terminal/ lead assembly (like some factory fuse blocks are) it should always be fused. It's just not worth the risk for a couple of dollars- you could have a major accident and that new cable could get sandwiched/ sliced and short out. Before you know it it will have started a fire!