Hi Richard; >From the initial looks of things the breakers you're using may be too high. >Breakers protect the wire from overheating and burning, not the equipment >they're connected to and should be about 30% higher than what the equipment >draws, IIRC. So, for example if a radio draws 5 amps at xmission, a 7 amp >breaker is what you need to be using. Also, the wire size is related to the >load. There's a listing in the mechanic's manual that will spell out the wire >sizes and the ampacity they can handle.
Al DeMarzo Visit the Ercoupe Swap Page - Free and Easy http://www.ercoupeowners.com/swap/swapbook.htm ----- Original Message ----- From: n99904 To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, November 29, 2007 9:07 PM Subject: [ercoupe-tech] Main power wire to panel I was installing a new amp meter the other day and I have a question if anybody has considered changing the size of the wire from the starter to the amp meter. This is the wire that connects battery power to the amp meter. I have the following equipment installed: Two landing lights uses two 30 amp circuit breakers Generator uses a 30 amp circuit breaker Marker beacon uses a 10 amp circuit breaker Nav lights unknown circuit breaker (5 or 10) King radio uses a 10 amp circuit breaker Narco radio uses a 10 amp circuit breaker Narco Transponder uses a 10 amp circuit breaker VOR and audio panel uses a 5 amp circuit breaker Other meters uses a 2 amp circuit breaker In theory this system could pull maybe 50 or 60 amp as one time. Yes, I very often fly with the transponder both radios and VOR on. I have been known to turn on one or both landing light and of course the marker beacon is on all the time. The factory wire that supplies all the power to the panel couldn't be big enough I think it is a 10 or 12 gauge. The facotry wire only had to supply the generator and the Nav lights because that was all there was in 1946. Maybe some of the circuit breakers are too large but I don't think any are too large to be a problem. Yet in the 20 years I have had the Coupe, it's never been a problem and it has fewer radios now then when I got it. Are there any ideas on this? Richard
