54
Electrical Requirements
Electrical
Requirements
Body Builder Guide For Tapping into Electrical Systems, Cont.
The fuses and circuit breakers installed at the assembly plant are designed to protect the wiring and electrical components from
overloads. Never remove a factory installed fuse or circuit breaker and replace it with a high value device. If the added electrical
device causes “fuse blow”, or circuit breaker cycling, it indicates the total load is too high for the factory installed circuit protec-
tion and requires revisions in the added circuit: not fuse or circuit breaker size.
In this case, the items to be added cannot be added directly to the circuit, but must be connected through a separate hang-on
switch or relay of the correct capacity, using added wiring of the correct gauge. Failure to adopt this precaution will lead to switch
contacts burning. The following wire table suggest wire gauges for various maximum current draws and will aid in the selection
of the correct wire size. The current capacity of a given wire varies with temperature and type of insulation, but the following val-
ues are generally acceptable.
If the total electrical load on the circuit, after the addition of electrical equipment, is less than the fuse protection in that circuit or
less than the capacity of some limiting component (switch, relay, etc.), the items to be added can be connected directly to that
circuit. The connection points and allowable loads are normally found in the owners manual. However, you may want to contact
the OEM. Never add another circuit into the transmission ignition or battery supplies.
Wire Gauge
Maximum Current Capacity
(Crosslink Polyethylene Cop-
per Wire)
20
14 Amps
18
18 Amps
16
24 Amps
14
34 Amps
12
42 Amps
10
58 Amps
8
80 Amps
6
110 Amps
