extra fuse block

[konastinky1234]

i am going to put an extra fuse block for all my lights and thingys that are cluttering the engine compartment which will just have one nice clean 8g cable feeding from the battery into the cab to the 6 fuses. so my question is this:

i have
4 lights on 2 cicuits with 20A fuses
2 lights on 1 circuit with a 15A
a cb with a 2A

now will the 8g wire to the fuse block be able to handle this load?

also i was planning on adding relays to the 4 light circuit to make it safer, etc so i decided i would clean up the engine compartment while i am at it.

one other thing, the relays for the 4 light circuit, would they just have to be able to handle 20A? i dont know relays so are there other specs i need to know about?

[ninetysix-ex-jay]

i am going to put an extra fuse block for all my lights and thingys that are cluttering the engine compartment which will just have one nice clean 8g cable feeding from the battery into the cab to the 6 fuses. so my question is this:

i have
4 lights on 2 cicuits with 20A fuses
2 lights on 1 circuit with a 15A
a cb with a 2A

now will the 8g wire to the fuse block be able to handle this load?

also i was planning on adding relays to the 4 light circuit to make it safer, etc so i decided i would clean up the engine compartment while i am at it.

one other thing, the relays for the 4 light circuit, would they just have to be able to handle 20A? i dont know relays so are there other specs i need to know about?

8gage wire can handle a max of 24Amps. Relays are also rated by amps as well. If you don't know much about relays learn how to read the wiring diagrams on the body of the relay so you know which coil is Normally Opened, Normally Closed, and power in. The purpose of relays with lighting is that you don't have the full power going to the switch, the switch just completes the circuit to send the full power to the relay to switch the contacts. I hope this helps

[customcreationsllc]

I don't know how many amps it actually takes to hold the relay on but it shouldn't be 20 amps I'm guessing it is more like 5 amps.

Relays are remote switches so you don't have to have to run a thick high amp wire through a switch which will also have to be high amp (big) you just need a little wire. Think of it like a starter solenoid. 4 gauge power wire and a little 18 gauge trigger wire.

So using relays will drastically reduce the amperage draw through your fuse panel.

If you want to run a second fuse panel for all the extras then do it, it will be easy and keep all the wiring clean nice to keep all the OEM wiring original you will have less problems.

[konastinky1234]

so you said 8g can handle 24 amps but do you know if i ran the 8g for all of those accessories it would work fine still? basically i am asking if i would add 20+20+15+2=57total amps. or is the total amperge pull only 20 since that is the highest rated accessory?

also about relays, ya i know that they are a remote switch and the switch that you touch can be a wimpy little switch with a skinny wire. currently i am running 12g wires for the 20A circuits with a huge toggle switch on each that can handle 50A. this relates back to my question about adding the amps for the wire or taking the highest pull to determine the wire because for toggle switchs you have to add the amps on that circuit. (20A+20A=40A pull therefore the 50A switch handles it)

i dont understand how relays reduce the pull on the fuse panel though. can someone explain that to me? ill look at some relay diagrams in the meantime.

[ninetysix-ex-jay]

Is each light 20A? Are you putting more then one light on one wire?

[konastinky1234]

yes it goes like this:

20A light + 20A light = one wire/circuit

then

20A light + 20 A light = one wire

then

15A light + 15A light = one wire