Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

[fishnut Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishnut]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

oldsalt,
I just put the 6 fuse version of that in my car less than a fortnight ago! I mounted it in the covered storage console in the cargo area - neat as a pin and easy to run cable to and from.

[oldsalt Member Find all posts View Profile Close oldsalt]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

I wanted a 6, however they are out of stock.

I have no idea what the size of the 12 is, I hope it fits in the engine bay somewhere?

[fishnut Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishnut]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

Remember it's not waterproof (or water resistant for that matter) and I wouldn't sit it too close to anything that gets too hot - it might just become a thermal circuit-breaker :lol:

[oldsalt Member Find all posts View Profile Close oldsalt]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

Remember it's not waterproof (or water resistant for that matter) and I wouldn't sit it too close to anything that gets too hot - it might just become a thermal circuit-breaker :lol:

Thanks for the advice.

The only space I have is here, the waterproof fuse with orange wires will be replaced by the fusebox.

It doesn't get too hot there and water should not get to it, I hope.



I have just done a search of the web and it seems I bought a marine Blue Sea Systems Fuse Block 12 Circuit.

Most of the hits I got were on Boat web sites that would suggest they should have some water resistance?

For those interested, here are the dimensions http://bluesea.com/files/resources/sale ... Blocks.pdf

[fishnut Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishnut]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

I assume you have bought it on-line and not seen it in the flesh, so to speak. The cover might prevent some splashes, and if you mount it high enough, you might just get away with it. I also think you might want to find a way to secure the cover better too. Given what I've done with the Prado, it would have fallen off and vanished by now. The sparkies on here might be better to ask than me, but since I have one, that's really my only experience. Wait til you see it and decide then. Leachy has put a fuse block/breaker inside a waterproof housing under the bonnet.

Perhaps I'm paranoid, but I wouldn't trust it under the bonnet when we were all doing this :wink: :

[Crammy Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Crammy]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

I think it probably depends what sort of driving you'll be doing. If you expect to be doing regular water crossings, or driving in dusty environments for long periods probably best not to put it under the bonnet.

Fishnut, you'd probably find that crossing that river wouldn't submerge the back of the engine bay, you may get a few splashes though. But probably nothing immediately detrimental to the fuse box.

I had a similar box under the bonnet up the rear of the bonnet and never had any problems with it. It's survived quite a few river crossings and even a trip to the cape and still looked in good condition when I removed it.

What will cause dramas down the track will be corrosion of terminals. So where the fuses connect to the bus and both the pos and neg terminals. If you look after it it should be ok. Clean it out with contact cleaner or similar after you've been in the rough stuff.

Here's my current setup in the back.


Cheers,

Crammy

[fishnut Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close fishnut]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

Well there you go... expected a sparky to have better advice than me ops:

Crammy, looks like you have enough wires to power a small village in Africa with that lot :lol:

[Crammy Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Crammy]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

Well there you go... expected a sparky to have better advice than me ops:

Crammy, looks like you have enough wires to power a small village in Africa with that lot :lol:

Haha good onya mate! I probably could too... There's all sorts of stuff running in the back now! I've even got 600w of chopped up 240v goodness ready to go.

Nothing wrong with your advice mate! You're pretty spot on, as I said just depends what you're putting in and how deep into the rough stuff you get. In your case it sounds as though in the rig is the go.

Cheers,

Crammy

[Golly Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Golly]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

Here's my current setup in the back.


Cheers,

Crammy

Crammy, what does this setup enable you to do ? What do you have running off it.
At the moment, I have my spots running off the main battery, but that can easily be moved to the dual later. I would like to have a setup for all the gear in the back, like fridge, 240v convertor, kids dvd players, phone chargers for kids etc (running off dual battery). In the front the GPS, our phone charger and uhf can run off 12v's plugs in the front (main). That would be ok wouldnt it ?

[dirttracker Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dirttracker]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

Golly Golly, (sorry),
read the threads on charging the dual battery and you may think twice about putting your spots on the second battery.

As to the fusebox, it is my assumption that a fusebox at the back of the engine compartment is as high and even further away from water than the factory fusebox at the front. It is also possible, ,like I have on both the main and aux batteries, to put a circuit breaker between the battery and the fuse box enabling you to totally disconnect the system and so not put the accessories at risk.

Martin

[Crammy Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Crammy]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

Crammy, what does this setup enable you to do ? What do you have running off it.
At the moment, I have my spots running off the main battery, but that can easily be moved to the dual later. I would like to have a setup for all the gear in the back, like fridge, 240v convertor, kids dvd players, phone chargers for kids etc (running off dual battery). In the front the GPS, our phone charger and uhf can run off 12v's plugs in the front (main). That would be ok wouldnt it ?

Hey Golly,

The fuse boxes are for my dual battery setup. The box on the right fuses "Main Battery" supplied items, and the one on the left supplies "Aux Battery" supplied items. The relays just switch the supply to the rear plugs from the Aux Battery to the Main Battery when the car starts. This is all a part of a Ranox charging system. The main fuse box also supplies a 600w 240v inverter.

You need to have a think about how you want to run all these items... So what I mean by that is, when will you be running these items... Generally when the car is running? or sometimes when the car is off for longer periods? For example, will you run the kids DVD player when the car is parked up or only when travelling? Once you do this you'll be able to work out how you should approach it.

Here's a few Ideas:

Spots: - No need to supply your spots from your auxiliary battery unless you'll be running them with the car off.

GPS & Phone: - You'll have no probs running your GPS and phone charger from the plugs... You could always hard wire your GPS if it were to stay permanently in your car from an accessory supply.

UHF: - The UHF I would hard wire also rather than plug into a 12v socket, this can also come off your accessories unless you plan to run it for long periods with the engine off.... In which case probably run off your aux battery supply.

DVD Players: - Supply from acessories(need to check current draw) unless using with car off, in which case run of aux battery.

240V Inverter: - Depending on size of the inverter, I would probably recommend coming straight off the main or aux battery. This is really dependent on what you want to do with your inverter.

Fridges camp lights: - Aux battery.

Of course it all depends on who you will be using everything. What I've written above won't be suitable for all setups/needs.

Hope this helps.

Crammy

[Golly Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Golly]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

Crammy, what does this setup enable you to do ? What do you have running off it.
At the moment, I have my spots running off the main battery, but that can easily be moved to the dual later. I would like to have a setup for all the gear in the back, like fridge, 240v convertor, kids dvd players, phone chargers for kids etc (running off dual battery). In the front the GPS, our phone charger and uhf can run off 12v's plugs in the front (main). That would be ok wouldnt it ?

Hey Golly,

The fuse boxes are for my dual battery setup. The box on the right fuses "Main Battery" supplied items, and the one on the left supplies "Aux Battery" supplied items. The relays just switch the supply to the rear plugs from the Aux Battery to the Main Battery when the car starts. This is all a part of a Ranox charging system. The main fuse box also supplies a 600w 240v inverter.

You need to have a think about how you want to run all these items... So what I mean by that is, when will you be running these items... Generally when the car is running? or sometimes when the car is off for longer periods? For example, will you run the kids DVD player when the car is parked up or only when travelling? Once you do this you'll be able to work out how you should approach it.

Here's a few Ideas:

Spots: - No need to supply your spots from your auxiliary battery unless you'll be running them with the car off. (Main as are now)
GPS & Phone: - You'll have no probs running your GPS and phone charger from the plugs... You could always hard wire your GPS if it were to stay permanently in your car from an accessory supply. (Perfect)

UHF: - The UHF I would hard wire also rather than plug into a 12v socket, this can also come off your accessories unless you plan to run it for long periods with the engine off.... In which case probably run off your aux battery supply. (Main)
DVD Players: - Supply from acessories(need to check current draw) unless using with car off, in which case run of aux battery. (12v socket off main )

240V Inverter: - Depending on size of the inverter, I would probably recommend coming straight off the main or aux battery. This is really dependent on what you want to do with your inverter. (Auxillary)
Fridges camp lights: - (Main for now, not camping, running with vehicle on, will set up to Auxillary once installed sec battery)

Of course it all depends on who you will be using everything. What I've written above won't be suitable for all setups/needs. Suits mine !

Hope this helps. Very much, thanks mate !

Crammy

[oldsalt Member Find all posts View Profile Close oldsalt]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

Here is a picture of my fusebox installed.

I put a strip of bluetack over the top to hold the cover more securely and to waterproof it.

[Crammy Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Crammy]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

Looks the goods old salt. If you're going to load up the box with more items down the track, I would probably recommend upgrading the wire size of both +ve and -ve wires feeding the fuse box. Should be ok for now as you've got pretty low current draw items connected and a short distance to your aux battery.

Cheers,

Crammy

[oldsalt Member Find all posts View Profile Close oldsalt]

Re: Custom Circuit Breaker & Fusebox Setup

The fusebox instructions suggested size 4 or 6 wire, I used size 6.