fuse block

    Quote from ric

    can I hook up an auxillary fuse block directly to my alternator

    @ric you can hook the Aux Fuse Block to the Alternator Hot Lead, it goes all the way back to the Battery. The Lead is a smaller gauge wire, but goes to the Starter Solenoid Hot lead which is a heavy wire that goes to the Battery Pos Side. It is hot all the time, so be careful as you connect to it. Best and safest thing, would be to open battery cover and disconnect the battery before you begin to make the connections. If you ground the terminal with your tool, bad things can happen for your safety and the battery. You can just remove the Neg Terminal from the Battery as the Pos Terminal would require sliding the battery out. Neg removal will do the job.


    The Diagram below will show the wiring for adding a Jump Port to the Alternator Hot Lead Connection. If you have that available, the Wiring can be done at the Jump Port. The Blue Lead is showing the smaller wire that goes down the the Starter where it pickup the main High Current Lead back to the Battery. The Diagram was intended to show how to Jump start a Slingshot with a Jump Port installed. This should do the job, unless you are going to hook an Arch Weller up to the Slingshot.


    This link explains how a Normally Open relay works - 12V RELAYS |NORMALLY OPEN| RANGE 20Amp 30Amps 40A 70A 200A Power Relay 12 volt
    If you want the fuse block to supply switched power form the alternator's positive terminal, use a relay rated for the maximum amperage you expect to run thru the fuse block. Typical relays used on vehicles are rated to handle 30A. Wire the relay following the diagram shown in the link above.
    Pin 30 - alternator's positive terminal
    Pin 85 - ground (make sure you have a good, paint-free connection to ground
    Pin 86 - Switched positive power such as the glovebox power outlet center terminal
    Pin 87 - connect to positive terminal on the fuse block
    When the key is switched on, power will flow from the glovebox power outlet to the relay triggering the relay to allow power to flow to the fuse block.
    This is what I plan on doing once I finally get around to adding a second fuse block.

    Quote from Bigdog

    What happens if the alternator spikes

    Modern alternators and voltage regulators are pretty reliable, but if you're concerned the alternator's regulator is going to crap out on you, you can buy one of these - Google Express.
    Or, as a reviewer for the above posted - "The widget inside the heat shrink is a Transient Voltage Supressor (TVS) Diode. At some point I opened up the equivalent item from Ample Power, found the part number, and have been just making my own every since. You can go to Mouser Electronics and search for "625-1.5KE18A-E3" and you'll find the item for about sixty cents. That, a little #16 wire, and two ring terminals and you've got a snubber. (In fact, you could make three or four and still have money left over for beer.)"
    In other words, make your own. Mouser offers the suppressor diode itself for under $2. The device connects between the alternator positive terminal and the alternator ground and discharges any spike to ground, destroying itself and requiring replacement. You just need to figure out which side is positive and which is negative.
    Here's a decent tutorial on how alternaors and regulators work - charging.htm

    How would you know if it spiked. Would the power stop flowing if it blows the diode?


    That said, I have electronics I needed to protect with surge protectors. Cheap surge protectors degrade a little bit every time they take a surge. At some point they become useless. I paid big money for surge protectors that claim they don’t degrade.


    Phttps://zerosurge.com/

    Personally, I feel if your alternator enters a surge condition, the chances are the regulator is probably already shot, so I don't really worry about it. I have a digital voltmeter in my Slingshot and use it to observe voltage levels. If voltage starts going up beyond where it usually is, something's wrong and it needs to visit a shop. Beyond that, I don't worry about it.