Is there any advantages/disadvantages of placing the inline fuse closer to
the battery or closer to the radio in a direct wire to the battery
installation?. Thanks

"Cired" wrote in message
lkaboutelectronicequipment
..com...
Is there any advantages/disadvantages of placing the inline fuse closer to
the battery or closer to the radio in a direct wire to the battery
installation?. Thanks

The function of the fuse is to protect the wiring in the case of faults etc.
So you should put it as close to the battery as possible/practical.

--
Regards ........... Rheilly Phoull

Thanks for the quick reply!

I have read somewhere before that the fuse closer to the battery is
better. My thoughts in the vhf installation is that since the batteries
are in the back of the boat, in an emergency and the boat starts taking
water is that fuse going to fail if submerged in water and kill my vhf
communication?. Thanks

On Sat, 01 May 2004 22:11:13 -0400, Cired wrote:

Thanks for the quick reply!

I have read somewhere before that the fuse closer to the battery is
better. My thoughts in the vhf installation is that since the batteries
are in the back of the boat, in an emergency and the boat starts taking
water is that fuse going to fail if submerged in water and kill my vhf
communication?. Thanks

The it's doubtful that the fuse would fail simply by becoming submerged.
If the battery is sealed, nothing will happen at all. If not, there might
be some degradation of battery voltage and capacity, but that won't blow a
fuse either. What everyone has told you is correct - the fuse belongs
close to the battery to protect both the wiring and the radio.
--

Larry
email is rapp at lmr dot com

"Cired" wrote in message
lkaboutelectronicequipment.com...
Is there any advantages/disadvantages of placing the inline fuse closer to
the battery or closer to the radio in a direct wire to the battery
installation?. Thanks


Try to avoid running anything "direct to the battery".

Here's a quote from some reading material you might begin with, and
hopefully avoid problems from following:

Circuit Protection
Adding in-line fuses to a newly installed piece of equipment is a terrible
way to add circuit protection. First of all, these devices trap water and
corrode internally. Secondly, you end up with two more splices in a wire
circuit that shouldn't have any. Third, you usually forget where they're
located, and if you've got ten of them on your boat . . . well, you get the
picture. Jury-rigged systems are just that; a temporary, unreliable system.
A boat full of in-line fuses is a boat full of short cuts and amateur
installations.

Follow this at: http://marinesurvey.com/yacht/ElectricalSystems_DC.htm

Best regards,

Jack
Virginia Beach, VA

Put it where it is easy to get at and the elements won't attack it.
There is no electrical reason to put it close to the battery.

Doug
s/v Callista

"Cired" wrote in message
lkaboutelectronicequipment.com...
Is there any advantages/disadvantages of placing the inline fuse closer to
the battery or closer to the radio in a direct wire to the battery
installation?. Thanks

On Sunday 02 May 2004 4:21 am in rec.boats.electronics Doug Dotson wrote:

Put it where it is easy to get at and the elements won't attack it.
There is no electrical reason to put it close to the battery.

BLOODY DANGEROUS ADVICE.
The fuse protects the wiring, all circuits should be fused as close as
possible to the battery to prevent the wiring burning in the event of
a short.


--
My real address is crn (at) netunix (dot) com
WARNING all messages containing attachments or html will be silently
deleted. Send only plain text.

On Sun, 02 May 2004 10:30:45 +0100, Chris Newport
wrote:

On Sunday 02 May 2004 4:21 am in rec.boats.electronics Doug Dotson wrote:

Put it where it is easy to get at and the elements won't attack it.
There is no electrical reason to put it close to the battery.

BLOODY DANGEROUS ADVICE.
The fuse protects the wiring, all circuits should be fused as close as
possible to the battery to prevent the wiring burning in the event of
a short.


The fuse needs to protect the equipment and the wire.

The best way to do it is to run a main supply cable from the battery
with a breaker near the battery to protect that cable. That cable
should go directly to a fuse / breaker panel that will be near your
equipment. That panel with the proper size fuse / breakers should feed
individual equipment.

The cable and breaker near the battery from the battery should be
large enough to handle all the electronics. The individual wires from
the panel to the equipment will be smaller as will the fuses there.

Sometimes inline fuses are employed from the distribution panel but it
is better to have the fuse on the distribution panel. Then the wire to
the individual equipment is protected as well as the equipment.

If you are only running one piece of equipment then unfortunately the
proper place for that fuse is by the battery.

Regards
Gary

I guess I had better move my entire breaker panel into the
battery compartment then. All my equipment is protected with breakers.
I only have inline fuses where the manufacturer pre-installed
them in a power cable. If you chooses to mount fuses near the
battery then you better get moisture-proof ones. The atmosphere
near a battery can get pretty corrosive, especially when using the
old liquid lead-acid type batteries. If a fuse is intended to be placed
near the batteries, the why do the pre-made cables for things like
VHF and GPS come with the fuse just a few inched from the
radio? In any case, connecting anything directly to the battery is
gennerally only accepted for a bilge pump.


Doug
s/v Callista

"Chris Newport" wrote in message
news:1742835.ilLHM71fsm@callisto...
On Sunday 02 May 2004 4:21 am in rec.boats.electronics Doug Dotson wrote:

Put it where it is easy to get at and the elements won't attack it.
There is no electrical reason to put it close to the battery.

BLOODY DANGEROUS ADVICE.
The fuse protects the wiring, all circuits should be fused as close as
possible to the battery to prevent the wiring burning in the event of
a short.


--
My real address is crn (at) netunix (dot) com
WARNING all messages containing attachments or html will be silently
deleted. Send only plain text.

On Sun, 2 May 2004 10:55:17 -0400, "Doug Dotson"
wrote:

I guess I had better move my entire breaker panel into the
battery compartment then. All my equipment is protected with breakers.

No, just put a large "main" fuse near your battery and that will
protect in case there is short circut. Have your panel and circut
brakers the way they are now. Needless to say, make sure you have
your fuses in the positive lead.

I have a large 20 A fuse near the battery: it would blow if there was
a major short circut such as my positive cable coming to contact with
ground potential. No need to replace that often, as individual
equipment have 2-5 A fuses in the panel.

Two fuses and several switches will add some resistance, but voltage
drop will not be a problem unless you are running something in
100..150 Watt range.

Other people have already posted warnings, and I would also like to
emphasize that lead-accid batteries have very low internal resistance,
leading to high short circut currents. It is possible to melt a wrench
or other tools if they come to contact with plus and minus terminals.

Almost twenty years ago I was in the Army (Signal Corps), and in field
exercises we run high power HF radios with car battery power before
AC generators were up and running. Could get on the air a few minutes
faster.. Anyway, this one guy managed to short circut a heavy cable
used to jump start cars. Poof, it vanished in a cloud of smoke. That
time we were glad we had gas masks on , that probably saved his
eyesight.

Mike
OH1NZQ