I am looking at installing a fuse block to handle the wiring for accessories like GPS, heated grips, heated vest, battery tender, etc. Eastern Beaver sells a fuse block and I have also found one at fuzeblocks.com. Anyone have any input on which of these is better or if there are any other fuse blocks out there that are better than these two for the Vstrom?
fuse block question
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There are also the Blue Seas and Centech off the top of my head. Check sizes, capacities, number and type of connections, internal or external relay, whether they include grounding connections, prices and configurations that best fit your needs. They all work well.
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part of it, i think depends on your level of experience and comfort in dealing with these sorts of things. I went with the PC8 kit from EB with a wiring harness because, although i work all day with AC electrical applications, I don't really do much/ if any DC applications. The harness made it quick and nearly foolproof for me (except that i hooked it up right and was not sure i had, seemed too easy! well worth the cost.. for me.
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Re fuse block
I just installed the Eastern Beaver 3 Circuit solution on my wee. Using to power Heartz heated grips and a Powerlet outlet. The 3 Circuit solution has the option of all switched, or two switched and one unswitched. I elected the 2 switched one unswitched. The unswitched is supplying power to the Powerlet outlet. I wanted to be able to use it with the ignition turned off. The 3 Circuit solution is plug in play simple. Recommend. Questions?
I just installed the Eastern Beaver 3 Circuit solution on my wee. Using to power Heartz heated grips and a Powerlet outlet. The 3 Circuit solution has the option of all switched, or two switched and one unswitched. I elected the 2 switched one unswitched. The unswitched is supplying power to the Powerlet outlet. I wanted to be able to use it with the ignition turned off. The 3 Circuit solution is plug in play simple. Recommend. Questions?
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In my view any one of the three mentioned above would be a good solution. Do lots of homework and look at all the many threads on here and on Eastern Beavers website then make you own mind up.
I chose the Fuzeblock design because it has the relay built in seemed tidy for me and I am not sorry I did. Eastern Beaver prewired bits make it a plug and play solution by utilizing wiring on the bike close to the area you want to put the block. They also sell really perfect connectors and wiring connectors for every application you may wish to do. I bought a lot of unnessary stuff as I kept changing my mind how I wanted to wire mine up but in the end I had a very tidy intall and learned how to take the tank of and other stuff as a bonus . The Wee's have very good bodywork components which if you take the time to learn what NOT to do to avoid damage come on and off very logically and easily if you know the tricks. There are folks on here who have documented every step and it was well worth the read and even printing the pictures if you want to get anal about it.
Between the forum here, and the Eastern Beaver pictures and directions even a moron like me was able to get a good result. I love that my GPS comes on with my ignitioin now and I don't have to worry about running my battery down. Take your time with the install whichever way you go and you will be very confident in working on your bike going forward.
Good luck and enjoy. !!!!!!!!!!! :thumbup:
I chose the Fuzeblock design because it has the relay built in seemed tidy for me and I am not sorry I did. Eastern Beaver prewired bits make it a plug and play solution by utilizing wiring on the bike close to the area you want to put the block. They also sell really perfect connectors and wiring connectors for every application you may wish to do. I bought a lot of unnessary stuff as I kept changing my mind how I wanted to wire mine up but in the end I had a very tidy intall and learned how to take the tank of and other stuff as a bonus . The Wee's have very good bodywork components which if you take the time to learn what NOT to do to avoid damage come on and off very logically and easily if you know the tricks. There are folks on here who have documented every step and it was well worth the read and even printing the pictures if you want to get anal about it.
Between the forum here, and the Eastern Beaver pictures and directions even a moron like me was able to get a good result. I love that my GPS comes on with my ignitioin now and I don't have to worry about running my battery down. Take your time with the install whichever way you go and you will be very confident in working on your bike going forward.
Good luck and enjoy. !!!!!!!!!!! :thumbup:
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I went with the Fuzeblock and am satisfied. I particularly like the fact that the relay is internal to the housing and I can select "switched" or "always hot" connections for each circuit. It only has six circuits but that was a great plenty for my needs.
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No one can say what's best for your application, but I can offer what I have experienced to be the pros and cons of some of them.
Disclaimer: I do my own wiring, so I don't care about ease of installation.
Blue Sea: Reliable, versatile, indestructible, but large. My favorite when I have room for it.
EB PC8: if you want plug-and-play, go with this one plus the EB harness. Pretty hard to screw up. It does not really handle 12 ga stranded, despite what it says; and it relies on solder for mechanical strength, so will be more failure-prone over time than will the Blue Sea.
Fuzeblock: Handy configurable switchability of outputs; unfortunately, has all the disadvantages of the PC8, plus a relay that can't be field-replaced, which is a dealbreaker for me.
I have no experience with the Centech.
I am currently using the PC8 with my own wiring.
Disclaimer: I do my own wiring, so I don't care about ease of installation.
Blue Sea: Reliable, versatile, indestructible, but large. My favorite when I have room for it.
EB PC8: if you want plug-and-play, go with this one plus the EB harness. Pretty hard to screw up. It does not really handle 12 ga stranded, despite what it says; and it relies on solder for mechanical strength, so will be more failure-prone over time than will the Blue Sea.
Fuzeblock: Handy configurable switchability of outputs; unfortunately, has all the disadvantages of the PC8, plus a relay that can't be field-replaced, which is a dealbreaker for me.
I have no experience with the Centech.
I am currently using the PC8 with my own wiring.
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:thumbup: +1.....Centech AP-1 here.
I could not agree more - I would classify PC8 as less sturdy compare to blueseas in wiring connection - but it is a lot more compact - do u really need to have switchable outputs? and replaceable relay is a plus but admittly i havent heard anyone writing a failed relay with fuzeblock.
I would not run a aux horn through PC8 though - they easily draw over 12amp when activating. But i dont have problem running my HID over pc8.
The best thing about PC8 is that it is so small, you can instal it without losing much underseat storage even on an ABS model- check my instal picture
details of the installation is at post 8 here:
http://www.stromtrooper.com/dl650-specific-wee-strom/63137-my-vstrom-farkle-log.html
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Each circuit is 20A, or 15A continuous, so it depends on what else you have connected to it. I have no trouble running a Stebel airhorn from it (15A fuse).
I like your mounting location. I went to some trouble to get mine inside the underseat tray cleanly, but maybe when I get bored, I'll see if I can duplicate your results. If you can do it, having 2 more relays back there than I do (no ABS on mine), then I have no excuse.
dont quote me but i remember the total amp rating of PC8 is something like 25 amp - i have HID and some other not so small amp items going through it and i use 12ga wire for my aux horn to get a clean run. so i leave that high drain device to run independantly.Each circuit is 20A, or 15A continuous, so it depends on what else you have connected to it. I have no trouble running a Stebel airhorn from it (15A fuse).
I like your mounting location. I went to some trouble to get mine inside the underseat tray cleanly, but maybe when I get bored, I'll see if I can duplicate your results. If you can do it, having 2 more relays back there than I do (no ABS on mine), then I have no excuse.
only down side of putting in this location is that changing the fuse can be a pain for the bottom fuses - but fuse change should be a very occassional exercise.
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60 amps. tencharacters
yep 40amp on the switched circuit and 20amp unswitched is what the PC8 handle capacity - but the fuse is only 30amp - my other switched accessories load is between 90w and 200watts depending what is running at the time - At 12.5v, that's a max draw of 16amp already.
you can get the 50A fuse, but the switched circuit is still only 30amp before it blows.
I thought of mounting it horizontally too but it looked like there would be too much wires running beneath it ( i used all 8 connection already, not including the horn). I have removed part of seat rubber too so the underside of seat sits lower than normal- with more wires running on top, it could potentially cause a bit of issues for me.
you can get the 50A fuse, but the switched circuit is still only 30amp before it blows.
I thought of mounting it horizontally too but it looked like there would be too much wires running beneath it ( i used all 8 connection already, not including the horn). I have removed part of seat rubber too so the underside of seat sits lower than normal- with more wires running on top, it could potentially cause a bit of issues for me.
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