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2nd Gen Ram Tech1994-2001 Rams: This section is for TECHNICAL discussions only, that involve the 1994 through 2001 Rams. For any non-tech discussions, please direct your attention to the "General discussion/NON-tech" sub sections.
Not that I'm some kind of automotive wiring expert...here is what I plan to do. Always open to suggestion as well. The fuse box I'm using was around 15 dollars us if I recall correctly and has no provision for either a positive or negative busbar that I can tell so I'm making due a bit as you'll see below...but hopefully not doing anything too awful in the process...
I'm doing the fused 8 awg, feeder with the 60a inline, from battery to fuse box. The box is 6 fuses feeding 6 relays.Right inside the fuse box, in the lower, non user accessible wiring box portion , as the 8awg enters the acces port in the side of the box, it will be anchored right to the box itself, ie it will be strain relieved/attached right to the fuse box so that it wont come free without first bypassing the strain relief and the fuse box will essentially become a piece of the battery cable if that makes sense. Right after the strain relief (within this normally inaccessible wiring box within the fuse box) , under some heat shrink the feed line cable will wye from the 8awg to 6 stubs, 1-2 inch in length (as short as is practical), that each terminates at the clips at the bottom of the fuses.
My thinking is this. If the battery cable to fuse box strain relieving is robust enough that the feed line cable assembly can't be separated from the fuse box without disassembling the fuse box far enough to access the normally inaccessible wiring box portion and disable the strain relieving, or destroy the fuse box itself, any fault on the outside of the fuse box can then assumed to be on the 8awg part of the cable which would be adequately protected by the 60A fuse.
For inside the fuse box wiring box which is not user accessible in the fully assembled fuse box follow the general philosophy is as follows ...1. minimize likelihood a fault can occur within the wiring box portion of the fuse box by utilizing good construction practice. For example leave very little exposed metallic conductor areas of the feedline run within the wiring box portion of the fuse box. The only exposed bits will be right at the bottom of the fuse clips, where the fuse clip is soldered/crimped to the wire and the joint gets covered by heatshrink. so if some broken stray ground wire were to get loose, within the wiring box,the chance of contacting these tiny exposed areas is small. 2. make the unprotected 10awg, ie that material which would get hot in a high current fault, as short as is physically possible thereby limiting the total amount of hot material being generated by the fault 3. by having all the 10awg sections of the feedline captivated within the normally inaccessible wiring box portion of the fuse box by the strain relief, and since the box is UL94v0 (flame prooof rated enclosure) the box should be able to contain any hot lengths of 10awg generated during a fault condition, safely and without danger, long enough for the 60A fuse to clear.
Not that I'm some kind of automotive wiring expert...here is what I plan to do. Always open to suggestion as well. The fuse box I'm using was around 15 dollars us if I recall correctly and has no provision for either a positive or negative busbar that I can tell so I'm making due a bit as you'll see below...but hopefully not doing anything too awful in the process...
I'm doing the fused 8 awg, feeder with the 60a inline, from battery to fuse box. The box is 6 fuses feeding 6 relays.Right inside the fuse box, in the lower, non user accessible wiring box portion , as the 8awg enters the acces port in the side of the box, it will be anchored right to the box itself, ie it will be strain relieved/attached right to the fuse box so that it wont come free without first bypassing the strain relief and the fuse box will essentially become a piece of the battery cable if that makes sense. Right after the strain relief (within this normally inaccessible wiring box within the fuse box) , under some heat shrink the feed line cable will wye from the 8awg to 6 stubs, 1-2 inch in length (as short as is practical), that each terminates at the clips at the bottom of the fuses.
My thinking is this. If the battery cable to fuse box strain relieving is robust enough that the feed line cable assembly can't be separated from the fuse box without disassembling the fuse box far enough to access the normally inaccessible wiring box portion and disable the strain relieving, or destroy the fuse box itself, any fault on the outside of the fuse box can then assumed to be on the 8awg part of the cable which would be adequately protected by the 60A fuse.
For inside the fuse box wiring box which is not user accessible in the fully assembled fuse box follow the general philosophy is as follows ...1. minimize likelihood a fault can occur within the wiring box portion of the fuse box by utilizing good construction practice. For example leave very little exposed metallic conductor areas of the feedline run within the wiring box portion of the fuse box. The only exposed bits will be right at the bottom of the fuse clips, where the fuse clip is soldered/crimped to the wire and the joint gets covered by heatshrink. so if some broken stray ground wire were to get loose, within the wiring box,the chance of contacting these tiny exposed areas is small. 2. make the unprotected 10awg, ie that material which would get hot in a high current fault, as short as is physically possible thereby limiting the total amount of hot material being generated by the fault 3. by having all the 10awg sections of the feedline captivated within the normally inaccessible wiring box portion of the fuse box by the strain relief, and since the box is UL94v0 (flame prooof rated enclosure) the box should be able to contain any hot lengths of 10awg generated during a fault condition, safely and without danger, long enough for the 60A fuse to clear.
At least I'm trying, right?
You are trying an post a picture of your box because I think we have the same one. I'm going to go 3awg to the breaker then 12 14awg wires crimped to a 3awg batter lug to the other side of the breaker.
