Questions about aux fuse panel install

I'm going to be adding some lights, CB, OBA, etc. to the truck so instead of running everything to the battery I want to install Blue Sea (or similar) aux fuse panel under the hood.

I know a few people have done this so I have a question or two:

- On the Blue Sea panel, there's a ground bus. That must mean I need to ground the fuse panel correct? I plan on using 1 ga from the battery for power...will 1 ga work for the ground too?

- Some have used a breaker between the aux panel and the battery. Others have gone with a fuse. What are the disadvantages, if any, of a breaker?

- When choosing the size of breaker or fuse between the battery and fuse panel, do you just total up the current of all your accessories running off the panel?

Thanks

Tim

 

1. Yes

2. Breaker is resetable, fuse must be replaced. Breakers are also tricky as they do allow for overcurrent to a point (under certain time limits) so you need to spec on that will pop before it does damage to your stuff. I chose a large fuse (though fuses are not perfect either).

3. No, the aux block should have a max allowoable. For the blue sea I used it is 100A. This means that I can either run 10 10A things or 1 100A thing and the rest of the terminals are blank. So nomatter you are limited to 100A, as that is all the aux lock can handle. This is what you would chose for your breaker/fuse...100A (or whatever the overall limit of your block is)

Details on my install are in my build thread: http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/builds/74926-barlowrs-06-taco-expo-build-thread.html

 

Thanks Robert

 

1 ga would be overkill.