Proper Fusing??

[87gnblackdemon]

Me again, I rely on you guys..

Two Questions.

I have my power wire to my battery fused with a 80 amp fuse the wire is 4g. It goes to a dist. block that has two 50a fuses in it and then two 8g wires come out and go to each amp. Aren't the fuses in the dist.block protecting the 8g wires?, or do I need to add inline fuses to them as well?

I am going to power my a amplifier fans that I am going to install by going to one of the amps power wires in the dist.block. I am going to fuse that wire, but won't the 50a fuse that is already in the dist.block be a problem?

[mcss383]

well one thing, what is the recommended fuse ratings for the amplifiers that you are using? Second, does the fuse block have only have 2 outputs and both fused?

If your amps are rated for less than 50A or even 50A then hooking up a fan to one of those fuses will be fine. fan's don't draw but a couple of amps at most and your amp will hardly ever draw its max current.

Now if your wanting to compete then you will want to have each power wire fused with the proper fuse size, but there isn't much point in doing that for a daily. As long as you have a fuse somewhere between the battery and the amps your safe.

[GNandTTA]

In general, the purpose of a in-line fuse with a wire is to protect the wire NOT the amplifier. Very similar to your home electrical panel. The circuit breakers protect the wire, not the load. Almost every amp I've seen has it's own fuse on the chassis (except for my series VII HiFonics, why they use external fuses I will never understand??) So, provided your amps have fuses already on them, I would put the correct fuse to protect the 8g wire. For example, if you had no fuse in the distro block, then the only protection for the wire would be the 80A fuse you have by the batery. If for some reason the 8g wire gets shorted to ground, the 8g wire will burn before the fuse does. When that happens, better have good insurance. High current electrical fires get out of control real fast.

Most fans I've ever seen or used only draw about 1/2 an amp each.

[87gnblackdemon]

Don't know what each amps recommended fuse size is, but they both have their own fuses, and both outs of dist. block have fuses as well. I saw a drawing while looking for info. and the drawing showed two amps hooked to a dist. block with each out wire to amps having a fuse, so I was curious. Thanks

Is a 80amp fuse in the 8awg power wire to battery good enough?, and is 4awg out of dist. block to both amps good or should it match the 8awg? And , I read that the main fuse should total the two in the dist.block, true?

Last, running another 24awg wire from fan to the same out of one of the amps, will the 50awg fuse power that or does the 24awg wire need it's own fuse??

[GNandTTA]

Add up the total amperage of the 2 amps. It's been a while but I thought the max fuse size for 4g wire about 15ft long was 120a. I used to have a listing of the ratings for gauges of wire. Maybe some else here can give you the exact size. You can be under the max size, just not over. So your existing 80a fuse may be fine, provided the 2 amps do not add up to over 80.

For the fan(s) are you using a relay to control the fan? If so, you can just tap into the 4 ga to power the fans and use a relay (w/diode) to control it. I'd put the correct fuse on the wire.