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Fuse block install |
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Coldwater 
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Joined: 04 July 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 134 |
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 Topic: Fuse block installPosted: 22 July 2015 at 8:35am |
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I have a 6 circuit fuse block under my dash on the fire wall. Each circuit is capable of fusing up to 30 amps. It is fed by a 6 gauge cable direct from the battery. The block is used to fuse wiring to my electric wipers, horn, blinkers, and dome light for the hardtop. Would there be any drawback to also feeding and fusing the ignition wire and headlight switch (both presently fed from the amp gauge) from that fuse block as well? Attached is a rough plan to open a discussion with. I do have a quick disconnect knob on the ground post of the battery for when the Jeep is stored or being worked on.
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Coldwater
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TERRY
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Sponsor Member Joined: 22 May 2007 Location: BOULDER COLORADO Status: Offline Points: 3400 |
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 2:45pm |
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I would feed the fuse block through the ammeter so its reading has value. Then fuse any circuit you want, keeping the fuse rating in line with the size of wire you are running in the circuits.
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BOULDER 48 2A
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Coldwater
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 5:11pm |
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That does make sense. The unfused Amp meter feed from the starter switch would then be removed from the circuit. The feed for the amp meter would instead come from the fused 6 gauge through the amp meter then feed the fuse block and it would then read the all current flows correctly.
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Coldwater
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Coldwater
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 5:56pm |
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So the corrected diagram would look something like this? I have attached a stock wiring diagram for comparison.
 
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Coldwater
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BrianJ
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Joined: 06 Oct. 2014 Location: Hagerstown, MD Status: Offline Points: 564 |
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 7:27pm |
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I went a bit above and beyond with my rewire - I used relays for the lights and accessory circuits. You can see the details here:
I do not know what your abilities are but I took the 12 space fuse block apart, separated it 6/6 and used one of the 6 slots of the powered side to feed the accessory relay enabled by the key. They make a split bus setup but it was more expensive. The relays I had laying around, but Advanced sells 'Horn' relays which are rated for 40 or 50 amps which are the exact same. About $5-6/each. For wire - make sure you use 'Primary' wire and NOT THHN. Lowes has some, Advanced has some, and Autozone has some. All in different colors and gauges. It was hard to find enough colors. If your not in a hurry, look on Amazon. They had rolls of 100' of 14 AWG (6 or 7 packs) for about $45 - but a two week delivery time.
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Brian Jenkins
1946 CJ2A - SN: 12275 |
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BrianJ
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Joined: 06 Oct. 2014 Location: Hagerstown, MD Status: Offline Points: 564 |
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 7:30pm |
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PS - Mine is 12v, with a Delco 10si 3-wire alternator ($45 domestic reman, again Amazon).
If you have any questions about my setup, post it in my thread and I'll answer them there. That way in searches it stays in the same place. Searching here gets frustrating when it's scattered around.
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Brian Jenkins
1946 CJ2A - SN: 12275 |
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Coldwater
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Joined: 04 July 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 134 |
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 7:53pm |
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Wow! That is an elaborate setup, much safer than the original install. I am capable of designing what you did but I am capable of installing something like that. Been trying to find that happy medium between staying stock and being at least reasonably protected from a short circuit. I rewired using a stock wiring harness and kept the 6 volt system. I added the fuse block just for wipers and blinkers then, as an after thought, figured it might be safer to run most everything through it. I am trying to achieve a fused system while remaining as stock as possible but that's a lot to ask.
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Coldwater
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Coldwater
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 7:55pm |
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Correction to my previous post, I left out the word "NOT": "I am "NOT" capable of designing what you did but I am capable of installing something like that".
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Coldwater
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pjensen641
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 8:33pm |
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Adding a large fuse between the ammeter and the battery as you have shown will be a huge safety gain!
My other advice is that you should lower the fuse rating to 15-30% over the maximum value of the load for all the devices on each circuit if you aren't using up the full current. 30 amps is huge. For example: lights. (check the wattage of the bulbs you are using.) 60 watt headlights X 2 8 watt tail light x1 27 watt brake light x1 =155 watts divide by 12V (V=IR) = 13 amps. An appropriate fuse would be a 15 or 20 amp. Obviously, If you do this calculation and you are close to 30 amps, you will need the full fuse. |
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Coldwater
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 8:48pm |
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Very good advice! Wattage is everything when it comes to fusing especially when you are talking 12V vs 6V systems. In military electronics school we were taught "E=IR and P=EI". Never understood why it wasn't "V=AO and W=VA" since we are talking in Amps, Volts, Ohms & Watts. Must have been some good reason for that.
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Coldwater
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BrianJ
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 8:56pm |
I buried all of the 'new' stuff under the dash with the exception of the headlight relays - they're buried by the horn though. Covered everything exposed in cloth electrical tape (friction tape) to give it an old look. If you're keeping the 6v system, your amperage will be higher (2x) than a 12v system, therefore your wire size will also be larger (lower gauge). So don't go by my wire size unless you do your own calculations. You'll also have to change the generator setup since mine is an alternator. But if you're ever thinking of going to 12v, now is the time since you're wiring. Here's the pre-made split bus fuse box: Like I said, I used a regular 12 space version and cut it inside and re-assembled it. I got it on sale for $30, so it was cheaper for me. |
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Brian Jenkins
1946 CJ2A - SN: 12275 |
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Coldwater
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Posted: 22 July 2015 at 10:39pm |
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Sounds like you gained the best of both worlds, safety and at least visibly stock. I do want to stick with the 6 volt system and yes it does need twice the amperage so I bought the heavier wire harness. One concern I have with that corrected diagram I attached earlier is that the generators output would be fed back to the battery through the line that is Maxi Fused. Wonder how many amps that stock generator might put out since I would need to up the Maxi Fuse to handle the generators max output assuming I had a very low battery if not dead battery being charged by it.
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Coldwater
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BrianJ
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Joined: 06 Oct. 2014 Location: Hagerstown, MD Status: Offline Points: 564 |
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Posted: 23 July 2015 at 12:44am |
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The yellow wire?
What's the stock AMP gauge rated for? 50? Size it based on your lowest component. On mine I used two 50 amp fuses and ran #8 CU - but that's 12v with the 10si Alt, which is capable of putting out a hair more than 50A I believe, but my gauge is rated for 50A @ 12v so that's the limiting factor I went with. |
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Brian Jenkins
1946 CJ2A - SN: 12275 |
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Coldwater
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Posted: 23 July 2015 at 1:23am |
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I agree, fuse to the lowest rated component rather than just fusing the maximum amount based on the gauge of the wire feeding the component. If I have this correct, the yellow wire output from the voltage regulator would be charging the battery through the fused red wire I show feeding the amp gauge. One site said these stock generators only put out 35 amps. If so, it may be that the maxi fuse can be slightly above that and not blow even when charging up a low battery. The fuse blocks total maximum draw based on the existing loads might be close to that so I may need about a 40 amp maxi fuse in there anyway. I haven't put an amp gauge on anything as yet to compute total and then individual draw of each component in order to determine that.
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Coldwater
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Coldwater wrote: