ATO fuse conversion - desiccant bag in battery compartment.

[Chris0381]

Any good arguments for converting you inline fuses in the battery compartment to ATO flat fuses. My argument is storage; ATO fuses seem easier to store. The round fuses rusted out on me in the battery compartment and now I store them elsewhere but they can easily break as they are glass cylinders.  Also, the ATO fuses are more readily available at department stores.

Also, would be be a good idea to put a desiccant bag in the battery compartment to absorb excess moisture that gets in there ?

Also, I'm thinking about putting a pillar style terminal block under the hood connected to the battery for ease of connecting 12v items all on their own inline fuse and switch if needed. Maybe put it where the VIN-Number lid is.

Thanks.

[Urbestfriend]

You can do anything you like.  Would not recommend dissicant in battery box.  What is there to corrode?  Box is probably plastic,  Battery is too.  Terminals are Lead and cables are copper.  If it's a real issue,  clean it out periodically.  I recommend an Off/On switch on your new aux. wire.  If you pull the front cowl off,  try to have most of your options ready.  Also recommend a 12VDC cigarette port.  The plastic parts are screwed together using self tapping screws and sometime the plastic strips out.

[Chris0381]

Im going to convert to ATO fuses and use waterproof wirenuts. The terminal block should work too but the VIN compartment is too cramped.

I installed 2 USB ports and a Lighter like accessory adapter (w inline fuse) last year for the GPS in it works great.

[Chris0381]

I did the ATC Blade type fuse conversion soldering and heat shrinking rather than wire nuts. I Used 7.5 Amp fuses vs 7 Amp. as there are no 7 amp blade fuses.

The wire harness and terminal block also seemed to come out well with 2 terminals available to hook up an auxiliary headlight http://stores.advmonster.com/model-30-led-off-road-spot-light/ and mount it on top of the front fender.

So far so good.

[blue]

Put some water proof elec.greeses  on the wire ends. that helps a lot.