power wire fuse question

[geonfreaq 10+ year member]

Lemme start out by saying that I normally do my own work and I put the inline fuse about 1-2' from the battery. Now a friend of mine needed some parts for his car. I told him I didnt have much time to run my own wires for my amp and that if he did it I would give him the parts. He took the fuse and has it tucked up under the dashboard. There is about 6-8' of power wire before the fuse. That doesnt seem too safe to me. Is that ok? Could I put another fuse closer to the battery instead of running a whole new wire?

This is 4 guage wire on a 700 watt amp.

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[lbridges 10+ year member]

the fuse is generally placed within 18" of the battery, but in any case it should be inline before the wire touches a place it could rub and eventually short-out, especially where it goes through the firewall, etc.

Also, a fuse has a voltage drop associated with it - it would be best to have a fuse near the battery and remove the one under the dash.

 

[geonfreaq 10+ year member]

Would it hurt to leave the one under the dash too? I really dont wanna take that one and move it then have to crimp the conection where it was or run a new wire again.

Where it goes through the firewall there is a super thick gromet too so I know it wont rub there.

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

The main thing that fuse is for is to protect your car's interior in case of an accident. A live wire sparking from being pinched could set your car on fire with you in it. Closer to the battery the better as there is less unprotected wire that way. As mentioned after the firewall is not great since if it should rub there, the circuit is not protected by the fuse.

Adding a second fuse is not a good idea if it is not required. Normally you will have a voltage loss from the fuse itself (about 0.3V sometimes higher) SO by having the second fuse you are also lowering your total voltage

I would leave the fuse where it is instead of adding another fuse. Its not the best option, but think its better then the second fuse

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

I would leave the fuse where it is instead of adding another fuse. Its not the best option, but think its better then the second fuse

Thats crazy.

Take out the fuse inside the car and buy a coupler from sounddomain to join the pieces together.

http://www.cardomain.com/item/STISCOUP4

Put the fuse where it belongs.

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

If he is going to fix the problem correctly, he should run new wire. I think the coupler is a band aide and why I suggested to just leave the fuse where it is. Why remove the fuse holder to install $5 coupler, do you think moving the fuse 6' closer will impact performance? It is there for safety.

 

[geonfreaq 10+ year member]

cool thanks guys. Guess Im re running th whole thing //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif