Date:         Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:41:55 -0500
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: GBC 10A Fuse?
Comments: To: Jay Brown <badkarma@TTLC.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <PNELLDJMDAENDKODABPCKEFDDJAA.badkarma@ttlc.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

Dear Jay,

At 06:07 PM 1/11/2010, Jay Brown wrote:
>Does anyone know where I can find GBC 10A fuses (ceramic or plastic) like
>the ones used in the 80-85 Vanagon?

Where are they used?  I can't find any on the Bentley diagram for '85
and I don't remember any on my '84.


Try http://www.guideline-autoparts.com/info/view.asp?id=531
.  Neither Bussmann nor Littelfuse make GBC-10, so I don't know who
made these, but they claim to have them.

Remember, though, that the fuse is meant to protect the wiring, not
the load; so circuits *should be* (not necessarily are) already fused
at a safe maximum for the wires downstream of them.  That being said,
the wires downstream of the GBC-8 headlight fuses are all 1.5 mm^2
which should be good for seventeen amps at 50C/122F, so the circuit
is considerably under-fused unless the headlight connector has a
lower rating.  This refers to how much current the wire can carry
safely, *not* to whether there's excessive voltage drop along the
length of wire which steals too much from the load.

FYI, DIN continuous ratings for automotive wire @ 50C, wire size in
square mm of cross-section with roughly equivalent AWG:

mm^2/AWG     Amps
1/17               13.5
1.5/15            17
2.5/13            22.7
4/11              29.8
6/fat 10         38.3
10/7              51.8


Yours,
David