Series Rover wiring safety

[printjunky]

Breaking this out of Mike's post (http://www.roversnorth.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9782) so as not to interrupt its flow.

I feel for Mike. That just sucks.

But his story's got me shakin' in my boots. This week, I'm going to button up my dash and new (ten-year-old, never run, PO-installed) wiring harness, wire in a relay/fuse/circuit-breaker system for my headlights, and by the weekend, fire it (the electrics) up. I've gotten some good advice about starting it up under low amps at first (though if that shows no faults, the faults could still just be waiting for higher amperages, right?)

I'm now scared enough to wonder what other safety strategies you guys have used to eliminate fried wires? Just inline-fuse everything? What circuits (other than the headlights that I'm already addressing) are the most dangerous/prone to failure or prone to taking out large parts of the system? The test sockets, seem to look obviously problematic.

I suppose installing another fuse box out of sight somewhere would be more efficient than inline fuses. I should consider this now, since I have everything unhooked and exposed. While I have a strong affinity to originalness, I have no illusions about Concours-level restoration for what will be my daily-driver. And hopefully the last car I ever buy.

So I'd like to collect together, for posterity, as much as for myself, any strategies that are out there for improving the stock system. (I know there's a serious amount of posts about this out there already, and I'll be doing some searching of the board, and add the links here to those posts, but if you have the links to any previous posts handy ...)

[greenmeanie]

I've gotten some good advice about starting it up under low amps at first (though if that shows no faults, the faults could still just be waiting for higher amperages, right?)



Volts are like hydraulic pressure and will find any insulation weaknesses. Even at 2A (Amps should be thought of as like fluid flow) you are still running about 14.4V approx in a charger. The beauty of testing with a low amp charger is that even should you find that weakness you will only dump 2A through it instead of how many amps your battery can push through it. You can find an issue with insulation or connection without melting things. Now if your system passes this test then allowing it to flow more amps up to what each circuit should draw will not kill it unless you used under spec'd wire for the draw.

[printjunky]

How would shorts inside bundled harnesses reveal themselves in that (2A) case?

[amcordo]

I recently redid my entire wiring system - I'm an electronic wiz. Which is ironic; I wish I lived near a lot of you. I'd help you out with electronics and you could help me out with the mechanicals and we'd all be happy and safe.

Anyway. FUSE EVERYTHING. That's the best thing you can do. If it has power running through it you should have a fuse on it. PERIOD. There are some easy ways to do that... if you want to keep things as close to OEM as possible then use in-line fuses. If you're willing to branch off like me, then the easiest way to do it to is to install one of these buggers within a cable-foot of your battery and run all of the power through it: http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/productselection.asp?Product=4402

If your battery is in your engine bay there are some more water resistant versions of this you can find here: http://www.google.com/products?q=automotive+fuse+block&hl=en&aq=f


In terms of what you're in most danger with I'd pay attention to the following:
Radiator fan
Horn
Headlights
Defroster (if you've got them)
Heater fan
Winshield wipers

But honestly if you want to make it safe don't stop at those. Finally, DO NOT FORGET your hot lead to your ignition. Lots of people run that straight from the battery (me included) and it REALLY needs to be fused.

[printjunky]

Any good advice on splitting up the circuits?

(Beyond the obvious - main ignition, power to wipers, etc)

What can/should/shouldn't be ganged. Quick napkin calculation at dinner last night I came up with 24 potentially fusible circuits. (though I don't see any reason for separate indicator light/gauge fuses, etc (except for troubleshooting, maybe)

Perhaps it would be helpful to list all of the circuits, their likely max draw, nominal wire cap., and fusing/relay/ganging strategies for posterity.

Tony - didn't you recently post a photo of your setup? Not finding it.