I was told I should use one for safety. But my choices for Amps 80, 100, 140, 200. I have an Optima Red Top battery I will be using. This is basically my final thing to find out before I install it.

 

80 amp would work. I have 100 amp and its also fine. The factory main fuse is 60amp if that gives you a basic guesstimate on what you need. Safty is a good thing and I suggest having a c/b

 

What is the difference though really? So if the main fuse is only 60 then it can't output any more than 60 so basically anything above 60 is fine?

 

yeah that is true but it can also back track to the battery thats the safty of that circuit breaker, mount it about 18'' from the battery and if the wire is cut anywhere inbetween the circuit breaker and the main fuse box safe on both ends. Saves the battery from possably blowing up and your electronics. Also you want larger amps on the circuit breaker because the current is going a futher distance creating more resistance and needing the xtra amps to compensate for this. Same way with grounds you want as large as you can get (within reason) there is a safty point in the postive wire though, you dont want too much amps because it may pass thru the breaker and still blow the battery up.

 

So your saying I should go ahead and get the 200 since its the most Amps?

 

While on this topic , where's the cheapest place to buy these? ( got my old one when I did stereo stuff ) I need to get a kill switch for my rex too. Anyone ever put it in the trunk key hole like on all the drag crx's?


[Modified by Tbone, 6:30 PM 2/26/2003]

 

$32 here...

http://www.sounddomain.com/shoplist~...rcuit+Breakers

But can someone just in plain words tell me what I should get because all these explainations are way too confusing. 80, 100, 140, or 200, thats all I want to know.

 

Get 80 or 100, anything more is overkill, you just need a little more than 60 due to the resistance created with the wire on the way to the main fuse.

 

OK I order a 100AMP. Thanks for your help guys.

 

n/p 100 is a good size. Thats what I'm using. Never had any problems

 

Doesn't the size of wire determine what circuit breaker you should get?
I think 4 gauge wire will only handle up to 120amps; so if you get a 200amp circuit breaker for 4 gauge wire and your system pull 175amps it'll melt your wire and could cause a fire but your breaker won't stop anything.

Is 4 gauge wire good up to 120 amps?

BTW you can get circuit breakers on ebay for about $15

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by model x &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Doesn't the size of wire determine what circuit breaker you should get?</TD></TR></TABLE>

No. Every gauge of wire is rated for what amount of current (amps) it can flow. A smaller diameter wire won't be able to allow as much current flow as thicker wire. Think of it like pouring water. You will be able to pour much more water through a garden hose tha you can push through a drinking straw. If you use too high of a wire gauge (the higher the number, the smaller the diameter) the wire will heat up and may start to melt.

As far as amps are concerned, <TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think 4 gauge wire will only handle up to 120amps; so if you get a 200amp circuit breaker for 4 gauge wire and your system pull 175amps it'll melt your wire and could cause a fire but your breaker won't stop anything.</TD></TR></TABLE>... what????

Why are you going to use a 200 amp breaker? You should use the LOWEST rated breaker that you can. If your system pulls 60 amps of current WHY would you use the 200 breaker? If you use an 80 then it's over rated by 20 amps, but in this case you are adding quite a bit of cable between the starter and battery. This extra cable will require more amps to be pulled so 80 isn't really a bad choice.

Lets say you did the battery relocation and somehow the wire shorted under the hood someplace. Now that wire is going to try to pull a whole lot of amps. If you had an 80 amp breaker in there then it would pop. Lets say you put a 500 amp breaker in there. The breaker probably wouldn't even pop! The short would just continue and the wire would heat up, battery would be shorted.... all sorts of BAD electrical problems. if you used a 200 amp breaker it should pop, BUT it will take longer to pop than the 80 amp would. So, by using a properly matched breaker it will save your electrical system quicker than an breaker that overly rated.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 4drEF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

No. Every gauge of wire is rated for what amount of current (amps) it can flow. A smaller diameter wire won't be able to allow as much current flow as thicker wire. Think of it like pouring water. You will be able to pour much more water through a garden hose tha you can push through a drinking straw. If you use too high of a wire gauge (the higher the number, the smaller the diameter) the wire will heat up and may start to melt.

As far as amps are concerned, ... what????

Why are you going to use a 200 amp breaker? You should use the LOWEST rated breaker that you can. If your system pulls 60 amps of current WHY would you use the 200 breaker? If you use an 80 then it's over rated by 20 amps, but in this case you are adding quite a bit of cable between the starter and battery. This extra cable will require more amps to be pulled so 80 isn't really a bad choice.

Lets say you did the battery relocation and somehow the wire shorted under the hood someplace. Now that wire is going to try to pull a whole lot of amps. If you had an 80 amp breaker in there then it would pop. Lets say you put a 500 amp breaker in there. The breaker probably wouldn't even pop! The short would just continue and the wire would heat up, battery would be shorted.... all sorts of BAD electrical problems. if you used a 200 amp breaker it should pop, BUT it will take longer to pop than the 80 amp would. So, by using a properly matched breaker it will save your electrical system quicker than an breaker that overly rated.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You basically repeated what I said.
If you use a circuit breaker to big for you wire it can start a fire. So your size of wire basically determines the size of the circuit breaker.