> > I agree with you that electrical protection is a good thing. I am > planning to add a separate feed and relays to the headlights. I will > branch off the positive terminal with a fuse rated at about 25% more than > all four lamps draw. Then I will fuse each light 10% over. > Drive Safely & Good Luck > Ken Lewis<Kernersville,NC>86 VW crewcab;60 T-5 Coupe
You'll have problems with nuisance blowing if you only go 25% over capacity. Typical sizing is 1.5 to 2.0 times the rated current. Some loads, such as motors, have fuses that are sized to take the turn on current, which could be several times higher than the running current. As an example of what I'm talking about, your headlights are probably 45 W low beams. They have a 10A fuse, which translates to a load of 10 * 14 = 140 W at 14 volts. As you say, there's really no good way to fuse the battery lead. You'd need a 400 A fuse or so, and that really wouldn't do any good unless the power lead fell off and touched the frame. Joshua Van Tol -- jjvantol@uswest.net |
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