Catastrophic Fuse Size - Dutchmen Owners
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Old 07-11-2020, 09:41 PM   #1
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: Parksville
Posts: 16
British Columbia
Catastrophic Fuse Size

A friend had a near catastrophic accident with his Denali fifth wheel (same model as mine). When backing up with a tight turn, his wiring harness (to the truck) pulled out of the 4"x4" electrical junction box. (Don't ask how it happened - suffice to say that it happened, and won't happen again). Anyway, the wires shorted to ground and burned up a lot of the 12 volt wiring, including the auto-leveling landing gear control panel. Lots of smoke and lots of wires with melted insulation that needed replacing. Fortunately no actual fire.

But this got me looking into some sort of protection in case something like this ever happened to my unit. There is a fuse device that fits right on top of the positive connection of the battery (a video describes this as "Catastrophic Fuse" or "Terminal Fuse". I am also considering a Blue Sea (or similar) circuit breaker - this would give me a disconnect and would not have to carry spare fuses.

My primary question is: what size fuse/circuit breaker should I be using? The ones shown online are about 100 amp, but that seems too large to me. My converter is 65 amps, otherwise typical loads found on a Denali fifth wheel.

My other question is, should there be fused wiring to the truck wiring harness? If so, what size?

I am fairly comfortable with electrical systems, and could wire this myself. But I am just not sure of the fuse size.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.

Gary
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Old 07-12-2020, 01:33 PM   #2
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Don't know if your trailer is set up the same, but my battery positive cable goes immediately through a resetting fuse and then splits off to other locations, some of these with there own resetting fuse. I have a 2017 Denali.
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Old 07-12-2020, 05:16 PM   #3
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I installed a 12 volt manually reset circuit breaker close to my batteries. It is sized to protect wire there and the wire is sized to support my largest draw which is my inverter. It serves as a battery disconnect for storage. This system does not properly protect the wiring harness for the tow vehicle.

Like the post above, I have a self resetting circuit breaker on the "A" frame that protects the trailer part of the tow connection. It is sized to protect the wire in the TT side of the harness.

My tow vehicle (TV) also has a self resetting circuit breaker under the hood. It protects the TV side of the harness and is sized to protect wire in the TV.

Circuit breakers and fuses must always be sized to protect the wire they service. The wire is sized to support the loads. Tables are available that specify the currents different wire sizes are allowed to carry and thus the maximum breaker size that is allowed.

I wish you good luck and happy trails ahead!
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Old 11-12-2020, 04:36 AM   #4
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Connecticut
You use a breaker or fuse to protect the wire so find your wire size and then you look up how much current that kind of wire can safely handle with its kind of insulation. can handle. Here is a chart you can link to. http://www.mcgowanelectric.com/uploa...size-chart.jpg
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