[DeTomaso] Pantera circuit to fuse missmatch?

[B Hower]

Guys, 
 
FWIW --  In the real world a fuse should be rated to protect the wire it feeds. A 14 awg copper wire should not be fused at 20 amps. And three 14 awg wires feeding three items through a single fuse doesn't allow you to increase amperage rating of the fuse. The rating of the fuse should match the smallest wire size it feeds. When the current rating of the wire is exceeded and the fuse doesn't blow is when fires are possible. Just my 2 cents.
 
Bud #3400
 
 
 
 
 
--- On Wed, 1/25/12, MikeLDrew at aol.com <MikeLDrew at aol.com> wrote:


From: MikeLDrew at aol.com <MikeLDrew at aol.com>
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Pantera circuit to fuse missmatch?
To: kenn_green at yahoo.com, detomaso at realbig.com
Date: Wednesday, January 25, 2012, 4:50 PM



In a message dated 1/24/12 22 14 9, kenn_green at yahoo.com writes:


> Looking at Bill's circuit diagrams on Pantera Place, some of the fuses 
> appear to feed circuits with much lower current requirements.  Specifically, 
> 25 amp fuse 12 feeds the stop lamp switch and back-up lights.  If there is 
> a short in either of these in the rear of the car, it seems like thing 
> could get pretty hot before the fuse goes?  The headlight fuses are only 8 amp.
> 

>>>You're not paying attention to the top item that he lists.   Fuse 12 
ALSO feeds a radiator fan, which is why the amperage rating is so high.

Plus it feeds a bunch of other, smaller things.   Fuse 11 is only rated at 
15A and it feeds the other fan, plus fewer, smaller things.   Since 25A 
fuses basically don't exist anymore, most people run 30A in both of those, I 
think.

I can see your point though--ideally I would imagine that you would want 
high-amperage things with a high-amp fuse, and low-amperage things with 
low-amperage fuses.   With the stock setup, a short in one of those low-amp 
systems could easily result in an electrical fire, while the fuse sits there doing 
nothing except continuing to feed the fire.

Yet another good reason to rewire the fan circuits and give them their own 
dedicated fuses.   I must admit that while I have done that, I haven't then 
readdressed the stock fuses 11 and 12.   Logically, since the heavy load has 
been removed from those circuits, I should be able to step them way down, 
to either 8 or 16 amp fuses.   Good point!

Mike

P.S.   And then there are British cars to consider.   Many British sports 
cars in the 1950s and 1960s used only one or two fuses to power the entire 
car!
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