hypothetical: common input fuse panel

[Farrar Hudkins]

I was looking around the Internet for something else today and came across a Bussman 20-position fuse ATC fuse panel. (Or, as DeLorean owners call it, "fuse block.") Something I noticed was that it was "common input." In other words, if a DeLorean owner with a damaged fuse box wished to replace his stock unit with this one, he could get rid of some of that brown spaghetti behind his passenger seat and run a single wire of sufficient gauge from the battery to the single post on the back of the fuse box. (The input terminal is rated at 160 amps.)

Note: although the product description says "30 amps maximum per circuit," the fuse panel does not come with terminals. You would have to install those yourself, but most DeLorean owners who have melted fuse blocks have damaged terminals anyway, and I know of one owner who removed his original terminals and replaced them by soldering on new terminals of thicker metal, supposedly an upgrade over stock, just because he wanted to buy himself some peace of mind.

At least one owner has wired his car like a boat and installed a busbar, but I have already taken flack for even suggesting the idea of a common-input fuse block, because the owner assumed that with 20 inputs I would end up re-wiring the car and having to relabel every fuse... (Um, what? Actually, I'd have three spare fuse holes.) ... and because it's not from a vendor. (Horror of horrors! What if I need to call a vendor with a question about my fuse box? LOL)

Anyway, what's the deal with common-input fuse panels? It seems that many modern fuse panels are built this way. Are they bad? Are they good? Are they better or worse than stock? Someone with electrical expertise please chime in...

Thanks,
Farrar

[Bill Robertson]

Only 4 Brown wires go to the fuse block. Most of the fused circuits come off the Main and Aux relays. Rest of the Brown wires go elsewhere: relays, the circuit breakers, etc.

Bill.