Anyone undersize their fuses?

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Wvbuzzmaster

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Thinking about changing a couple fuse sizes in the fuse box, mainly looking at the radio/back up lights fuse. All that is on the circuit is going to be the back up lights and a volt gauge, so 20A fuse seems excessive. Anyone undersize this fuse to either a 15A or even 10A, or any other fuses for that matter? I have a fairly stripped down setup with no AC or extra electrical burdens so was thinking the stock fuse sizes could be overkill in a couple circumstances. It’s a 1972 Duster and I have all new harnesses due to previous owner had dash fire. Will be ammeter bypassing so looking for other opportunities to reduce risk lol.
 
It has been my experience that if I have a short it is going
to blow the fuse no matter if a 10/20 Amp.

That being said = what could be the worse case - you blow the small
Amp fuse and find out the load was higher than you thought. No Great Damage done.

The Amp meter is a different story as the power going thru it is huge.
On my race cars - I do not use it but utilize a Volt gauge instead. But
they are not restoration cars and are much more likely crash and I have
done so a couple times.
 
Wvbuzzmaster said:
Thinking about changing a couple fuse sizes in the fuse box, mainly looking at the radio/back up lights fuse. All that is on the circuit is going to be the back up lights and a volt gauge, so 20A fuse seems excessive. Anyone undersize this fuse to either a 15A or even 10A, or any other fuses for that matter? I have a fairly stripped down setup with no AC or extra electrical burdens so was thinking the stock fuse sizes could be overkill in a couple circumstances. It’s a 1972 Duster and I have all new harnesses due to previous owner had dash fire. Will be ammeter bypassing so looking for other opportunities to reduce risk lol.
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I' m pretty sure that fuses and circuits are designed with initial draw and a safety factor designed in. One way to reduce draw , especially on light circuits is to replace every bulb you can with an led bulb. Also, use a relay based kit to upgrade your headlamp system to H-4's. This gives better lighting and reduces the load on your headlamp switch. SlantSixDan is the best source on here for info on these systems. I have his headlight system in my car and it is one of the best upgrades I did.
 
If you are thinking about this you must be bored. Have you heard of big trouble using the stock amperage fuses? They made it off the lot and through the warranty period just fine like that.

Much more worrysome should be all these guys wanting 100 and higher amp alternators and stock wiring.
 
I already did a headlight upgrade to Quadratec LED headlights so should be ok on stock headlight switch. I only had concerns to blow fuses earlier due to adding my own harness addition off the radio connector to run volt gauge, back lighting on said gauge and the backlight on the Quicksilver shifter I am adding and those wires are only 18 to 20 gauge. And seeing a 20 amp fuse just makes me wonder how it needs to be that big for just back up lights and radio which radio is gone but still.
 
Fuses are built with different time delays in them so you could use the same amp fuse with Less delay
 
I don't think it's such a terrible idea....or maybe replace them with a fast blow type fuse of the same amperage. We all know how barely up to par Mopar's wiring is to begin with.
 
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