At 12:42 PM 6/14/2010, John Meeks wrote:
>I'm sure you had accumulated enough points with the Vanagon Guardian
>Angel by answering questions such as "How big a fuse would that lead
>require?".  I wouldn't even know how to calculate that value :-(

That's a 1.5 mm^2 wire coming from the post.  DIN ampacity standard
is 24@30C, 17@50C (122F).  Given the temps in the engine box I expect
ten or even 7.5 is about right -- assuming that VW observed DIN which
is not a sure thing.  I haven't measured the actual drain, and for
the moment I put in a fifteen amp fuse, on the theory that we're
trying to nail a dead short here, not worrying about gradual
overloads.  That moment has stretched to about ten months now, so
maybe it's time I either measured it or put in a 7.5 on spec, since
other wires like the P/S one are only 0.5 mm^2.  I've got lots of
spares of all sizes.

All numbers relate to the 2.1l harness, but the 1.9l is about the same.

Incidentally I accidentally put in a mini-ATC holder -- turns out a
regular ATC fuse fits fine so long as you don't expect to close the
weather cover.  It's inside the wiring box, so I considered that a
fair trade for not having to redo it or carry mini-ATC spares.

Yours,
David