As you can see in my pictures of my amp rack (in the gallery) I am running a 4-way Stinger Fuse Block. Okay, cool and normal so far. I have a nice supply of 60 amp and 100 amp fuses for it. I also have an additional single-fuse block with a 100amp ANL fuse but am not going to use it.
So here is my dilema: I was going to run a 100 amp AGU fuse (yes, they were hard to find and not cheap) from my fuse block to the distribution block which will in turn send power to all 3 amps and one crossover via a distribution block. The trouble is, I have a local car audio retailer keep telling me this won't work. I don't believe him because he has always been like this. Nothing will work, according to him, unless I buy his item for $50-75. He cuts down everything I say I'm going to use and always tries to sell me something I don't want or need. In fact, I have several items I already got conned into buying from him that are just sitting in my "junk" drawer in the tool box.
I figured he was just trying to sell me more expensive stuff when he said my inline 100amp fuse will be too small, and that I need to buy his fuse block that accepts (and comes with) two ANL 250-amp fuses, and also accepts a pair of AGU fuses. It's an odd contraption, but looks cool other than it is pewter color and won't match any of my gold items. And at $50 (which is more than I paid for my Stinger fuse block) I think he is just trying to get my money.
I tried to explain to the guy that EACH component of my amp rack has its own seperate fuses inside them already, and that the added inline fuse is just a safety precaution. I learned years ago that the whole idea behind inline fuses is to protect the components IN CASE of a short circuit somewhere along the power cable, NOT from amp overload. And since my power cable to the main 4-way AGU fuse block is going to be only about 2 feet long, coming across the underside of my MDF amp rack, from the battery mounted right there in the trunk, I couldn't possibly have a short across this 1-gauge cable.
But then the local guy is trying to say this: "How many amps are the fuses in your components?" to which I gave him each amplifier's fuse rating, and the x-over's. He added them all up and said 100 amp fuse will be too small, I need the bigger more expensive 250 amp fuse. WHY? To me, that sounds like far too high of a rating. Each of two amp's fuses are 40amp and one amp's fuse ratings are a pair of 30amps, but the x-over is a mere 3amp because apparently is doesn't draw much load.
So he is trying to tell me to add all of these to get a minimum fuse rating: 40+40+30+30+3 = 143 total, so he thinks I need a fuse in my fuse block of at least a rating above 140 amps. I tell him he is an idiot (although not in those words). I told him "My gains will only most likely be set to half (max) and that fuses are rated at a Maximum Current, so unless I push my amps to their peak output and crank my system to full volume all day long, there should be no need to even worry about blowing fuses"! He keeps assuming that the second I power up my system, the fuse is going to blow. Apparently he hasn't fully became aware of what fuses are actually meant for. I think the guy is trippin'.
Am I right here or is this guy right? Do I really need 1 fuse in my fuse block that is rated the same as the total of all four fused components? Or is he trying to sell me another thing I don't need? The guy is probably 10 years younger than I am, and just because he is an importer of some name brand audio and security products at an indoor asian flea market does not mean he is an expert.
Oh, in case you are even wondering WHY I'm using a 4-way fuse block with only 1 fuse running to my power distribution block, it's because the other 3 fuses are running to: turn-on relay, a gauge, and a cool little fan that I'm going to hang from underside of rear deck that is made for motorhome dashes. You know the kind. So even though each amp has its own built-in fans, this added external fan will cool the entire rack. If you look at the pics in thread in Gallerys ("mostly Kenwood in 98 Stratus) you might get a better idea of what I'm doing here.