battery relocation and fuses

[Godzilla311]

So after reading more about alternators, amps, watts, the big3/4, etc., I'm questioning my fuse locations. My battery is relocated to my trunk with ~15' 0g knu, has a 300 amp fuse 12" from battery from positive to under hood to a distribution block; not fused after block as wires were

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[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

do not fuse the ground. do NOT fuse the ground, EVER. if you ever need to fuse a ground you will know, and you will be pulling thousands of amps - not hundreds. did i say never fuse the ground? yeah dont fuse the ground.

you need a fuse within 18 inches of the battery on every positive wire you have except MAYBE your alternator (this will depend on your goal). add a fuse from the battery to the amp - even if it is 2 feet.

what kind of distribution block are we talking about under the hood? it's always best to use a fused distro block or fuse the wire when you split it down to a smaller gauge. i.e. 0 gauge to 2x 4 gauge.

if you want to learn more here's a great article - it's a little long but the first few paragraphs are the most important part http://www.bcae1.com/fuses.htm

 

[los33]

do not fuse the ground. do NOT fuse the ground, EVER. if you ever need to fuse a ground you will know, and you will be pulling thousands of amps - not hundreds. did i say never fuse the ground? yeah dont fuse the ground.
you need a fuse within 18 inches of the battery on every positive wire you have except MAYBE your alternator (this will depend on your goal). add a fuse from the battery to the amp - even if it is 2 feet.

what kind of distribution block are we talking about under the hood? it's always best to use a fused distro block or fuse the wire when you split it down to a smaller gauge. i.e. 0 gauge to 2x 4 gauge.

if you want to learn more here's a great article - it's a little long but the first few paragraphs are the most important part http://www.bcae1.com/fuses.htm

You dont have to fuse the ground on a single battery setup, but with a multiple battery setup and having distance between each battery then fusing the ground would be potential towards not causing a fire even after fusing twice between the 2 long distance batteries.

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[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

I'm not sure what you mean by that, even in a dual battery setup I don't see how fusing the ground would be necessary or a good idea when you have your positive wires fused properly.

 

[los33]

I'm not sure what you mean by that, even in a dual battery setup I don't see how fusing the ground would be necessary or a good idea when you have your positive wires fused properly.

Because fuses are not 100% effective. An arc can happen in many ways and if it is not stopped at the ground wire then it can cause a large ground loop and catch your battery on fire.

But this is mainly an issue in large battery banks. 2 batteries should not have this if you fuse the positive wire.

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[Godzilla311]

do not fuse the ground. do NOT fuse the ground, EVER. if you ever need to fuse a ground you will know, and you will be pulling thousands of amps - not hundreds. did i say never fuse the ground? yeah dont fuse the ground.
you need a fuse within 18 inches of the battery on every positive wire you have except MAYBE your alternator (this will depend on your goal). add a fuse from the battery to the amp - even if it is 2 feet.

what kind of distribution block are we talking about under the hood? it's always best to use a fused distro block or fuse the wire when you split it down to a smaller gauge. i.e. 0 gauge to 2x 4 gauge.

if you want to learn more here's a great article - it's a little long but the first few paragraphs are the most important part FUSES

Good link. Thanks. That answers that! As you and the site it say, every time you reduce wire size you must add a fuse to protect that size wire. So there's a couple places after my block that should be fused as I went from 0 to 4. I'll be getting a fused block.

You mention the alternator wire though? Haven't messed with that. Guys fuse that?

 

[wew lad 5,000+ posts]

If you want to be safe, you should fuse your alternator at the lowest amperage rating of the following a) wire ampacity or b) max alternator output. I don't have my alternator fused, a lot of people dont. if you're more worried about voltage drop or you're pulling huge amounts of current leave it unfused to avoid voltage drop, if you're concerned about a wire getting pinched or shorted in an accident then i would fuse it.