fuse holder question

[muskymatt913 10+ year member]

Is there a certain type of fuse holder and fuse i should use in the wire from my battery to my amp? Should it match the one in the amp?

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[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

Fuse should at least equal the fusing in the amp or be higher. Holder doesn't really matter as it's under hood and exposed to high heat, oil, etc...

 

[XanderMoser 10+ year member]

Fuse should at least equal the fusing in the amp or be higher. Holder doesn't really matter as it's under hood and exposed to high heat, oil, etc...

2k posts, and you still haven't learned...pity.

Okay, fuses in power wires are there to protect the wire in case of an accidental ground. So the fuse should be a size that will fry before the wire does and starts a fire. For a 0 gauge wire, that is about 325 amps. For a 4 gauge wire that is about 125 amps. For an 8 guage wire, 50 amps is the highest you should be using.

Read for more info:

http://www.bcae1.com/fuses

Now about the actual fuse holder, some brands have been known to tend to melt...Scosche being one of them. Knukonceptz is a safe bet, as is Kicker or most mainstream brands.

 

[btlking 10+ year member]

Fuse should at least equal the fusing in the amp or be higher. Holder doesn't really matter as it's under hood and exposed to high heat, oil, etc...

lol wow

 

[blackbonnie 5,000+ posts]

fuse to the size of the wire

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

i only have a 150a ANL on my 0/1ga. never blown it

 

[blackbonnie 5,000+ posts]

so you not pulling anything over 150 amps to blow it, for people with high current applications it is needed. with 1/0 wire it usually can handle around 300-325 amps of current. so you fuse to the wire specs, which most people fuse 300amps, because the fuse will blow before the wire catches fire. now when you only have an amp pulling 125 amps, it is unneccesary to fuse that high because you will never come near to pulling 300 amps. so you fuse 150 amps, and your good. it will still blow way before the wire catches fire, and in some case may protect your amp to. but the fuse is used to protect the wire, and the fuses on the amps are used to protect the amp, but sometime the fuse that protects the wire will protect the amp, but it will never be the other way around

 

[jco1385 5,000+ posts]

reason i only went 150a is my amp says "use 150a external fuse". it doesnt have one on-board

 

[XanderMoser 10+ year member]

reason i only went 150a is my amp says "use 150a external fuse". it doesnt have one on-board

Your current setup (haha, bad pun...) is fine the way it is, but if you add another amp you would want to add a larger fuse in your main power wire (might as well go to 300 amps), and then you'd need a 150 amp fuse on the wire very close to the amp. If you had a distro block you'd probably still want 1/0 wire going to the amp, since it wants a 150 amp external fuse (you could use 2 gauge, but 4 gauge can only handle 125 amps safely). So you'd have a 150 amp fuse on a wire close to the amp going from the distro to the amp. And if you used any other wires smaller than 1/0 from the distro block to amps they would need separate fuses that are for that specific wire size.

You can always use a smaller fuse than maximum for wire size if you want to conform to amp current pull, but never a larger fuse.

 

[05AztecRed 10+ year member]

reason i only went 150a is my amp says "use 150a external fuse". it doesnt have one on-board

Than you are correct. You would fuse the wire per your equipment manufacturer's recommendations.

If your amp DID come with fuses, you would fuse for the wire.