[oldschoolrods]

Hey guys, could use a little electrical advise here. I picked up a second fuse panel from the store yesterday for about $5. I plan on using this to properly wire up my cd player and some guages, instead of the other way i rigged it which we wont discuss
Heres what Im wondering, to get power to this fuse box can I just run a piece of maybe 10ga wire from the battery to one spot on the block, then put a fuse in, and still use that for maybe a guage? Also will just having one wire off the battery power the whole block? I would appreciate any insight to this and any suggestions on what guage wire etc to use. Thanks.

 

[poncho62]

You could do this, but you wouldn't be able to swith off your accessories when you turn the key off. Your original fuse box should have an accessory terminal, that shuts off with the key. Conect into there.

 

[docvette]

Fuse block

Doc here imp:

Power from the accessory Side of the Cars fuse buss is the way to go...for Key operation....You don't want to forget and leave it on overnight and have a dead battery in the morning.

The gauge wire depends totally on the amount of draw the new fuse sub-panel is expected to draw...If your just going to run a CD and gauges, 10 gauge is more than enough to handle the draw.

The Buss Side (common terminal) of the fuse panel SHOULD be all tied together by means of a Brass buss bar inside the fusebox. You can test that with a meter, or self powered test light, all the fuses on ONE side will be tied together, common to each other and the main feed wire, they will Peg the test meter or light the light, This means ALL fuses will be hot with the main wire feed...

If this does not occur, You will have to Daisy Chain the high side of the fuse holders so they are all on the main wire feed, the other side of the fuse holder will go to your devices...

Doc imp:

 

[Stinkin_V8]

I have two remote 6-fuse panels wired into my vehicle. One (6 circuits) is hot at all times, the other is switched accessory power via a Bosch relay. I can elaborate more on the hookup if you like, lemme know. Total cost was about $15.

The only thing to note here is that the sum of the load of each circuits on the switched block is restricted to the amperage that the relay can handle. I'm not sure if you could double up on the relays to increase the amperage available to the block, but a 30 or 40A relay isn't too restrictive. The relay will draw negligible load from the main fuse panel, too - the power for the remote panel is drawn directly from the battery.

 

[VWFan]

Doc's post is great! Stick with his advise and you'll be fine!

 

[oldschoolrods]

Thanks for the help guys, sorry it's taken me a while to get back to this, I've been busy with my new job and haven't had a chance to do much - hopefully tuesday afternoon or so I can get started.