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- #21
This is all very helpful, I'm thinking I'll just have to wire these small things together in the console then in the dash and just run a few main lines to the fuse box which will be near the battery like I planned on.
How would you wire this up? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter wsudu
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C6H12O6
SILVER Star
Depending on where you put the fuse block, you could probably use that 10-ga. wire for the main wire from the battery to power all of that. The fridge only pulls like 2.5A at peak draw. LEDs hardly draw anything, but you should still base your wiring off the size of the fuse recommended for each accessory. If you figure you might someday want to fill a six-fuse panel full of stuff, the main wire should probably be good to handle the draw of everything on at once, even if you're unlikely to ever do that. I went with 8-ga. wire to my fuse panel for my fridge and amp. I'm planning on running a USB charger and maybe some LEDs in the back down the road, but I should still be good as I'd never run them all together. My run to the panel was a shade over 15' when routed cleanly, so I probably will need to up the wire someday if I go nuts, but I had a bunch of 8-ga. left over from another project and it's plenty for now.
The cost of 20' of big wire isn't really that expensive compared to a $1000 fridge. Probably worth future-proofing your set-up with wiring sized for anything you might someday want to run. Inverters take a LOT of power and need big wires. Fridges and LEDs? Not so much, but it adds up. I think the ARB cigarette lighter plug has an 8A fuse. Your small LED panels probably have 5A fuses.
Find a balance. Running 1-ga. wire sucks. 4-ga. is still tough to stuff in the channel under the door frame. 8-ga. is a piece of cake.
This is the Blue Sea wire gauge recommendation chart. They list panel main feeders (the wire from your aux. fuse box to the battery), electronics, and navigation lights as "critical" circuits. General lighting (small LEDs?) and general appliances are categorized as "non critical."
The cost of 20' of big wire isn't really that expensive compared to a $1000 fridge. Probably worth future-proofing your set-up with wiring sized for anything you might someday want to run. Inverters take a LOT of power and need big wires. Fridges and LEDs? Not so much, but it adds up. I think the ARB cigarette lighter plug has an 8A fuse. Your small LED panels probably have 5A fuses.
Find a balance. Running 1-ga. wire sucks. 4-ga. is still tough to stuff in the channel under the door frame. 8-ga. is a piece of cake.
This is the Blue Sea wire gauge recommendation chart. They list panel main feeders (the wire from your aux. fuse box to the battery), electronics, and navigation lights as "critical" circuits. General lighting (small LEDs?) and general appliances are categorized as "non critical."
C6H12O6
SILVER Star
Oh, and because I told you I'd check, I did leave the HAM radio on the DS rear panel wired by itself, just because I already had an 8-ga. wire run for it. The wire wouldn't reach to where I wanted the fuse panel, so I just left it and ran another 8-ga wire to the fuses. I was trying to get the wiring done for a big road trip and ran out of time, but if I had had the time, it probably would have made more sense to run a single bigger wire from the battery to the fuse panel, then run smaller wire to the HAM, fridge and amp off the box. Eventually, I'll probably just add another fuse panel for the HAM and any other DS panel accessories I might add down the road and leave the fridge and amp on the PS.
I don't listen to my own advice, sometimes. I have a big box of wires and I sort of just run what I have sometimes. I have 10-ga running from my fuse panel to my fridge and amp. Way overkill, but the only thing I'm wasting is money.
I don't listen to my own advice, sometimes. I have a big box of wires and I sort of just run what I have sometimes. I have 10-ga running from my fuse panel to my fridge and amp. Way overkill, but the only thing I'm wasting is money.
