Wiring in an additional fusebox?

[EgoTrippin]

I want to wire in a new fusebox near the glovebox so that i can connect a 12v socket and my electric washer.
I would like to connect it to my main battery. I am assuming I need a long wire with an inline fuse near the battery, running the wire under the bus all tied up properly, and up to the new fuse box.
Is it really this simple, or is there anything obvious that I have missed?
Thanks for looking

 

[67panel]

take the feed to aux fuse box from main feed into main fuse box from non fused side ,thick red wire.

 

[dubdubz]

take the feed to aux fuse box from main feed into main fuse box from non fused side ,thick red wire.

I was going to do this but was concerned about the integrity of the original 40 yr old cable....

 

[EgoTrippin]

Thanks for the replies.
Yes a bit concerned also about connecting in to the old wire. If I did do it this way, would it only be live when the ignition is on?

 

[Pete B]

It's not just the integrity of the old cable that should be the main concern, but the load put on that cable. It was rated (chosen)to supply a feed to the standard fuse box and the potential total current draw from that fuse box. In my opinion the best and safest method would be to run a new 4 square mm cable direct from the battery + terminal to the common rail of the new secondary fuse box. This will obviously be permanently live unless you chose to route it via the switched side of the ignition switch. Hope that helps.

 

[Haveacamper]

i can vouch for overloading wiring.

without thinking about overloading the wires when i put my porsche engine in the bus i powered the fuel pump of the ignition live fuse as well as the reverse lights - reason being, that the coil on the porsche engine doesnt behave like a normal coil.

i increased the standard continental fuse to a a red 16A fuse and still blue this. it was only on reflection that i realised that this was a stupid thing to do, as i was not only drawing the standard power for vw ignition live i also was drawing the power for reverse and the fuel pump, that should have been rated with a 25A fuse.

my solution was to use the ignition live from the vw fusebox as the source to latch a relay that had a permanent 12V supply. this means i have an ignition live that i can fuse seperately.

 

[67panel]

depends what your taking with aux box,if its radio ,fag lighter socket,and interiour light then thats fine cos thats no more than you might wire into original fuse box,yes if you are drawing loads of currant then put in new feed ,its about the amount of currant used at any one time as in will every thing be turned on at the same time?think its called diversification,in my old unit had more sockets than the load rating but it was impossible to use them all at same time ,just in handy to reach positions so never triped the rcd.

 

[Ginger's VW]

Just for simplicity of future problems or additions I would run a seperate feed straight from the battery.

What we do is run a 25A or 33A wire from the battery out the back of the engine bay, safely attached to the chassis up in to the cab with an inline fuse each end (inline fuse rating will depend on the total ampage of the equipment running). We run the wire in a PVC sleeve all the way.

Then attach the aux fuse box.

 

[EgoTrippin]

Thanks for the info chaps!
Will be getting it sorted this weekend

 

[sparkywig]

depends what your taking with aux box,if its radio ,fag lighter socket,and interiour light then thats fine cos thats no more than you might wire into original fuse box,yes if you are drawing loads of currant then put in new feed ,its about the amount of currant used at any one time as in will every thing be turned on at the same time?think its called diversification,in my old unit had more sockets than the load rating but it was impossible to use them all at same time ,just in handy to reach positions so never triped the rcd.

Almost right Dave, diversity is the term you're looking for.

 

[james_stan]

Fuses must relate to the current carrying capacity of the cable it feeds not what the 'appliances' can draw.
No-one cares (too much) about a blown fuse but you don't wnat your wire/cable to overheat/burn-out.

JS