YC wrote:
1A wire about the size of a pencil will work with a 40-50 amp thermal breaker versus a fuse. Be sure you match the ground wire size too. You can google 12 volt thermal breaker. They are available at an automotive store. They will trip and automatically reset if too much current passes. Easier than chasing blown fuses.
The little ones available at the auto parts store will take at best a 10 awg wire. There are manually resetting ones that are relatively inexpensive that may work ($14-15), and there are larger/more expensive ones that cost 2-3x that. I do agree that a breaker would be better than a fuse, but I would also point out that both of my trucks have radio amplifiers and one of them has had the same fuse for ~12 years so perhaps fuses aren't too much of a hassle.
My camper only has room for a single battery so that's what it has right now. Truck has a 140 amp alternator from the factory.
The 7 way definitely will only take 10 awg wire as stated above so there will be a choke point there. Even so, I am not against running larger wire if it'll reduce voltage drop before it gets to that point. But if I were to run 2 awg all the way back to the rear of the truck, how do I attach the 2 awg to the 10 awg? That's a significant difference in size and I'm not sure that just soldering them together is ideal for that junction. Any thoughts on that from anyone? Of course reducing the resistance at that connection is critical because of the low voltage.
