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There is nothing like a purpose-made DC-type magnetic circuit breaker for protecting your wiring and in some cases acting as a power switch. This is not an ad, but an explanation why they are so useful and only incidentally where they can be had for $2 each.
All circuits on the previous radio truck were done with with magnetic breakers. There were absolutely zero issues. They can be inexpensive and although they require a little work to mount up, they are robust and some are of the type designed for aircraft and other hi-rel applications.
The reason I chose these was because they have switch handles, so they were also the switches. The kind was meant to be a switch. In my previous deuce, there were some 20-30 of them for all the wiring I added, plus a couple for the truck's power.
The reason I chose magnetic breakers is that they use a small coil of wire to pull a slug to trip off, and this does not cause a very large voltage drop. A cheaply made, but not always cheap, resistive or thermal breaker has always a larger voltage drop and will tend to wear out faster. The self resetting resistive/thermal kind - I stay away from those.
I can say I had no fear whatsoever of turning on every power supply, switching in every battery (cranking batteries as well a large AGM batteries), and then taking a wrench and directly shorting the 12V or 24V bus to ground, because every flippin' breaker would immediately trip. I demonstrated this a few times as well.
Maybe not everyone wants 20-30 breakers, but the point is that these are safe, reliable, useful, and cheap. Just one might save your wiring harness, or even your truck, from a fire. I paid maybe $5-8 each for the ones I bought.
Now, I saw a $1.99 sale on them, 50-Amp ones rated 65 volts DC. I already have all the mag-breakers I need. But you now have a chance to buy a handful of them for the military vehicle. There is now absolutely no excuse to ever have a wiring fire, do not whine later about it when such breakers are so cheap. A fuse and holder costs $1.99 for pity sake. And yes, two can be parallelled for 100A. Done that!
I have no affiliation with this place but their reputation is excellent.
$1.99 here, Only 125 in stock.
50A Airpax Circuit Breaker
related threads:
Circuit breaker question.
relays / circuit breakers
All circuits on the previous radio truck were done with with magnetic breakers. There were absolutely zero issues. They can be inexpensive and although they require a little work to mount up, they are robust and some are of the type designed for aircraft and other hi-rel applications.
The reason I chose these was because they have switch handles, so they were also the switches. The kind was meant to be a switch. In my previous deuce, there were some 20-30 of them for all the wiring I added, plus a couple for the truck's power.
The reason I chose magnetic breakers is that they use a small coil of wire to pull a slug to trip off, and this does not cause a very large voltage drop. A cheaply made, but not always cheap, resistive or thermal breaker has always a larger voltage drop and will tend to wear out faster. The self resetting resistive/thermal kind - I stay away from those.
I can say I had no fear whatsoever of turning on every power supply, switching in every battery (cranking batteries as well a large AGM batteries), and then taking a wrench and directly shorting the 12V or 24V bus to ground, because every flippin' breaker would immediately trip. I demonstrated this a few times as well.
Maybe not everyone wants 20-30 breakers, but the point is that these are safe, reliable, useful, and cheap. Just one might save your wiring harness, or even your truck, from a fire. I paid maybe $5-8 each for the ones I bought.
Now, I saw a $1.99 sale on them, 50-Amp ones rated 65 volts DC. I already have all the mag-breakers I need. But you now have a chance to buy a handful of them for the military vehicle. There is now absolutely no excuse to ever have a wiring fire, do not whine later about it when such breakers are so cheap. A fuse and holder costs $1.99 for pity sake. And yes, two can be parallelled for 100A. Done that!
I have no affiliation with this place but their reputation is excellent.
$1.99 here, Only 125 in stock.
50A Airpax Circuit Breaker
related threads:
Circuit breaker question.
relays / circuit breakers
