Fuse board & wiring Queries

[garyd]

Hi,
hopefully someone understands the T3 fuse board better than I do.

On the back of the board there are a group of blade terminals in two sizes which are labelled 'P'. According to the current flow diagrams, P is connected to line 30 which is direct from the battery positive.

Can someone please confirm that this is correct and that all the P terminals are directly connected to each other within the board?

Secondly, I want to take off a heavy feed which will be fused at 50 amps. Would these P terminals be suitable for this?

Both the larger terminals are already occupied on my vehicle. Would a 6mm blade/Lucar terminal be up to this 50 amp max load? If not, where else can I hook into?

thanks

[royt28]

might help if you give a bit of info on what you are trying to do

[Oldiebut goodie]

50A!

[bigherb]

Hi,
On the back of the board there are a group of blade terminals in two sizes which are labelled 'P'. According to the current flow diagrams, P is connected to line 30 which is direct from the battery positive.

Can someone please confirm that this is correct and that all the P terminals are directly connected to each other within the board?

Yes

Hi,
Both the larger terminals are already occupied on my vehicle. Would a 6mm blade/Lucar terminal be up to this 50 amp max load? If not, where else can I hook into?

No 30A max, but you can run two parallel 25A cables from two terminals. But drawing 50A you would be overloading the wiring from the battery to the fusebox if you used it with other things switched on when driving like the headlights wipers etc. It really would be better to run directly off the battery.

[garyd]

Thanks for that info Bigherb. I guess the question remains do I risk possibly overloading the fuse board feed or run a cable from the battery in the engine bay. It would need to be a really heavy cable to avoid voltage drop over that length of run!

might help if you give a bit of info on what you are trying to do

Not sure that it does but I am installing electric power steering. Apart from the 50 amp fuse rating I have now found some figures which appear to relate to the Corsa epas system. They quote 0.2 to 10 amps draw in normal use, depending on the level of assistance being provided. However, this rises to 42 amps when the steering wheel is held hard against the end of travel of the steering rack.

I will have to remember to find the full lock position and back off slightly!

[garyd]

It really would be better to run directly off the battery.

This view seconded by my auto-electrician so that's the way it will be done.

[keytouch]

I was intrigued by this and as I'm considering getting ultimate engineering to put in power steering for me I emailed them asking about power cables.

This is the response I got-

My kit is designed to be fitted into a std bus with minimal work needed regarding factory vehicle wiring loom.
You can add a 60amp cable from the fuse board to the ignition switch area to save cutting into the factory cable. All other items come as part of the steering kit.

Eeek! I'm not so keen on the sound of that.
I think I'll be adding a dedicated 60amp cable from the battery for the power steering when I run the wires for the headlamp upgrade.