My 64 Riviera had a rusted fuse box. The HAMB helped me find new fuse clips, but I was reading about race cars using circuit breaker panels, and decided to pursue that. Some careful shopping on ebay got me a breaker panel from a Piper Navajo, and a bunch of used aircraft breakers in the ratings I needed. I cut the panel in half, and mapped out what breakers I needed for what circuit. My fab skills aren't great, but hopefully good enough. I haven't put power to it yet because the engine compartment needs rewired. I have a fire extinguisher handy. I kept the original paint on the panel, because I wanted to keep it vintage looking. There's plenty of spare holes for future circuits. Aluminum bar holds the panel in place, attached to the dash cross brace. Here's the panel mounted in place of the Riv's fuse box. There's a cover that goes over this. I made sure that the breakers clear if they pop. Pardon the bad paint, it's a work in progress. Here's the back of the panel. The panel, the breakers, and the bus bars are all used aircraft parts. Switched hot on the two left banks, full hot on the two right. The two larger breakers are 30A. My wiring isn't pretty, but I think I have enough stress relief on the connectors. Here's the panel in place with the dash removed. Lots of careful measurements, to make sure it was going to clear the dash panel. I might cover the buss bars with self-fusing tape, but probably isn't needed.
Those breakers used to come with "chicken rings", which clipped around the popped-out breaker shaft, so you couldn't accidentally press in the breaker and zap someone working on that circuit (or used for locking out a circuit as well).
Flux capacitor, hover circuit... planning on doing a little time travel? I'm guessing the car is capable of exceeding 88 mph... ;-)
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit." I wanted to keep symmetry on the labels, so I made up the missing circuits. I thought it would be a good joke on the next owner. I have a few spare breakers, I might try labeling the heads as "1.21 GW" for the hell of it.
Does anyone see any issues with how it's wired? Wanting to put power to it soon. Also realized I forgot to test the breakers before bolting everything together. I have am adjustable DC power supply with a gauge. Thinking I could put it across the individual terminals, and make them pop. Gauge would tell me at what amp draw they tripped. Does that sound right?
Your power supply must first be able to supply the same current as your maximum circuit breaker is rated at, which is 30 Amps, so you would need one heck of a DC power supply. The best way to test them would be to use a charged up car battery, with a load in series. You could use several sealed beams, connecting up the hi beam filaments (about 60 watts), which will each draw 5 amps, (with an ammeter connected in series). Don't connect up your supply straight across them, you may cook your supply and the breaker as well. Those breakers are thermal, so they will take a few seconds of overload to pop. There is a chart available for overload current vs trip time for these.
Thanks! When the panel is mounted, it gives that yellow wire some slack and it's not in tension anymore. I'm going to give it a little pull test before bolting it up to make sure it's solid. I just cut the terminals off the original, and so the wire was just long enough to work. I've been searching for one that's rated for 1.21GW on ebay, but no luck. NAPA told me I might be able to find one at some store called "Area 51", but I have checked yet.
Ok cool, thanks for the warning. The power supply puts out a max of 45 amp (adjustable), and has a fuse, so I was thinking it was up to it. But I really don't want to fry it, it wasn't cheap. What about a power window motor that has failed? I have a dead one, that when it's hooked up, it pulls a solid 40 amps when it's activated. Think it could work to task the breakers enough to test them?
Interesting solution that I would have never envisioned. I guess everyday that I learn something new is a good day!
Your phone will ring in a few minutes, it will be Ron Francis with a new idea...................................................................
Just be aware that breakers do not trip as fast as a fuse can fail. For that reason, we don't use them in circuits that contain sensitive electronics. By the time that the breaker trips, the magic blue smoke might already be out. Breakers are great on AC wiring, where the intent is largely to save the wiring in the wall, to avoid burning the building down. I have seen circuit breakers on early EV's weld together, instead of blowing.
Every single one of your responses to a comment that I make is negative. So, I will ask you again, do you actually contribute anything to this board, or do you just follow around people that you don't like, and post negative responses? How about you right a 10,000 word tech thread?
WHAT part of his joke don't you get? Pretty much the same as the Napa counter guy told the OP to check "Area 51". It will come to you just sit and think for a few.
The Breakers will work as long as they have the correct amp rating for the item they are there to protect. Two of my OT cars have several of them and both have breakers with a multitude of amp ratings. Simply meaning that you don't just get a batch of matching breakers and use them for each circuit or accessory you match the breakers to the unit. Still I think I would have gone to a plug and play aftermarket fuse block using the spade fuses that was designed for the car rather than that setup.
If your supply is rated at 45 amps continous, then that should be fine. If you know that the motor draws 40 amps, that will be OK to test the 30A breakers. You can always carry a standard fuse holder with a couple of feet of wire, with alligator clips at each ,and a few fuses, which you can clip across the dead breaker to get you home. A lot of smaller load electronic stuff (radios, etc) will have an in-line quick-blow fuse mounted inline, so your breakers will still protect the whole circuit, but they will take time to heat up and pop.
I considered that actually, I plan on keeping a couple of spares with the car. I have a ponycar that used to eat parts, AAA has proven to be well worth the money.
That's my big fear, is that the car will burn before the breaker trips. I've read that on aircraft, the primary concern is fire. I'm hoping that these breakers are a little hair-trigger, and quicker to trip than standard breakers. I probably should look up the specs. I underrated the breakers when I could, just a couple amps here and there. Idea being they'll trip before the wire gets too hot. If I get nuisance tripping, i'll find larger rated ones. It's all just a test I guess. I first looked at fuse boxes, but got annoyed at how expensive the street rod ones are. Boat ones were a much better value, and I almost went with a couple of Blue Sea boxes. But shopping on ebay put me on to the aircraft idea, and I found some great deals. Most aircraft stuff is laughably expensive, but I got 35 various breakers for $40, the Piper panel for $10. That, and to be honest, I like trying something different. I just hope it works out. Hoping to try soon, once I get the primary power wiring in place.
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