Pep48 Posted July 25 Report Share Posted July 25 I'm a bit confused...is there only one fuse (in the light switch) which protects the entire wiring system?? If so I'd like to add additional dedicated fuses via a fuse box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Buchanan Posted July 25 Report Share Posted July 25 If your wiring is still original.....yes.....one fuse on the headlight switch. It was a different world back then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greg g Posted July 25 Report Share Posted July 25 (edited) Geese, you got lights, ignition, heater fan and horns! What more do you need? Some late 48 early 49s supposedly had a 30 amp self resetting circuit breaker mounted to the inside of the fire wall. My 46 has only the one fuse. You can pull some of the load by re-powering the brake light through a dedicated inline fused wire from the battery side solenoid terminal to the hydraulic brake switch. What items do you want to add? Would they be wired hot with ignition on or hot with ign off? Edited July 25 by greg g Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Buchanan Posted July 25 Report Share Posted July 25 (edited) Theoretically.......one fuse is not as lacking on these very simple cars as it might first appear. A fault anywhere in the protected wiring should blow the fuse and protect the wiring. The problem is that a fault in an isolated location (one tail light?) could take out all the lights. Individual fuses work around this scenario. A good rule of thumb is to only replace the fuse one time. If the fault was random the new fuse might last long enough to get home, but if it blows a second time there is probably a major fault and game over until the fault is repaired. As stated above, in-line fuses can be used to add more specific protection. The heater motor is a good place for an in-line fuse, just make sure it has a lower rating than the main fuse. But replacing ALL the wiring is the only way to properly install a new fuse panel, and a 12v harness is a big no-no because the wires can be too small for the greater load of a 6v system. So have a good understanding of the wiring architecture before making changes, be sure new problems are not added where none existed previously. Edited July 25 by Sam Buchanan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Ed Posted July 25 Report Share Posted July 25 The tricky part is that fuse only protected the lighting circuit. My car also has an inline fuse for the radio and another for the clock. Beyond that the rest is fuseless Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sniper Posted July 26 Report Share Posted July 26 On 7/25/2024 at 4:15 PM, Young Ed said: The tricky part is that fuse only protected the lighting circuit. My car also has an inline fuse for the radio and another for the clock. Beyond that the rest is fuseless Technically speaking, if there are no dedicated fuses then the wiring becomes the fuse. Not a good thing, 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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