Poor man's fuse holder

[Bdiddy11]

So... i've had a 136a Grand Cherokee alt sitting around waiting to be slapped in. Already made some #2 gauge battery cables all the way around but never bought a fuse and fuse holder for the cable between the battery and PDC.

The swap wasn't a priority... until yesterday when my alt took a dump and stopped working. The CEL for the alt having issues just a couple days prior.

So now what do I do? Order a fuse/fuse holder online and not have it until sometime next week and not have my rig up and running...get another stock alt so it's a quick swap or do I throw in the new alt and run it on stock wiring until I get the fuse/fuse holder. 5-90 said I could run the bigger alt on stock wiring for a few days until I could get what I needed as long as I didn't put it under a big load...

Well, I wanted to get it done and over with so... this is what I did to make a 'Poor Man's' fuse holder.

Originally got the idea from this guy after seeing some examples from my other thread...

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=1057631

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Voo8U7tAiX8

Figured that using a block of wood was a little too ghetto so I set off on a mission.

Found the 175a fuse at Autozone for $5.29.

Next I needed a housing for it so I set off to RadioShack and picked up a little project box that fit the fuse just perfect.

Putting it together is quite simple.

Steps:

Place fuse in box and mark where to drill.

Drill holes ( I used 5/16 bolts)

Cut out tabs on both sides so you can put your cables in

Insert bolts through the bottom

Screw on the square nut so the bolt is nice and tight

Place fuse down and screw down with square nuts

then on top of that will go the wires and screwed down with square nuts

All in all it was a simple process, just make sure the project box is secure while drilling... Not thinking I was holding it, the drill punched through and it was flying around and the drill chunked up my hand =/ Idiocracy at it's best

Total cost and supplies:

Project box from RS: $2.50 (size I believe is 3x2x1, or something...)
Fuse from AZ: $5.29
Bolts: $.34 from Home Depot
Nuts: $.76 per bag of 2 (bought 3 bags)

roughly $10.41 total

I know the fuse isn't straight...The first hole was drilled while holding the project box and no drill press... second hole I wised up and placed it on the ground between my feet.

Hopefully this inspires someone that needs to do something similar.

 

[fyrfytr1717]

Creative, but aren't the bolt heads sticking out of the bottom of the box? How are you intending to keep those from shorting out against something?

 

[SanDiegoOverland]

usually those project boxes have to halves held together with 2 or 4 little machine screws, I think.

(See the little posts sticking up on either side of the bolt/terminal thingys? I think those are it)

 

[hubs97xj]

The bolts, if I'm reading this correctly, are through the back side of the box. The block of wood in the video (and that's pretty bad hack work, even by my standards) is used so the bolts can be counter sunk into the block, as they are energized. If they're just sticking out of the back of the box, that's bad news if they hit the fender, since only one of them will be protected by the fuse.

 

[Bdiddy11]

Yes the bolts are sticking out of the back. I'll be making a brace for either side so they're nowhere near contacting metal. They're also going to get taped off so they don't have a chance of touching metal. Couldn't think of another way to to get the bolts recessed in. I guess I could take more time and make some kind contraption inside but space is small and a pain to work with.

 

[OutkastBoss]

Good to see you got something in there to get yer rig running.. Def. cover those but after that nice job.
I went back added some electrical tape to the box that covers my 175amp fuse so it covered better to prevent a wrench from falling in funny and grounding anything,

After reading a thread on here about a guy (whos battery wasnt secure) hit a bump and grounded his batt on the hood causing major electrical gremlins. and a comment in that thread about a rollover with similar results.. Im going to cut a peice of mudflap or something to cover my bat terminals to prevent any crazy schtuff goin down there too..