Curious, for years when i rewire i use breakers no fuses great results but would like to see if anyone else has done this and did so in their c3,

Some events have turned in my favor so im just going to rewire my 69, factory was good but i can do better.

 

Why? Fuses are faster/provide better protection.

 

I like the idea of breakers as they are resettable.

Have one on each of my cooling fans.

 

Yah, I used resettable breakers on all the new circuits i installed when upgrading to the blower and FAST EFI. No issues, and avoided all the original harness.

 

If I were to replace all the fuses with breakers I'd probably want them in a more controlled temperature environment like the cabin vs under the hood. The additional heat under the hood may cause early trips.

My guess is primarily cost and space is the factor that keeps fuses in use over breakers. And fuses are just plain simple, where as a breaker could have a manufacture fault and may not trip at the desired amperage.
A properly designed electrical circuit in a car will never blow the fuse except if something malfunctions to overload the circuit, then the fuse protects the wire and prevents fire possibilites.

But things with a high draw and/or a start up amperage that is higher than the run amperage may have a tendency to briefly exceed the amperage rating of the circuit.
If it's fused then that's a hassle to have to replace the fuse all the time and ultimately maybe the circuit isn't properly designed or the load for that circuit is too high if this is happening.

A slow blow type could be used or a fuseable link as they take longer to blow. I chose breakers for the cooling fans and a slightly overbuilt circuit (bigger wire) since I can easily reset the breaker if it occurs. Hasn't yet.

 

Granted i see mostly fuses but i have seen fuses fail and all kinds of havoc follow,
Im not using some craptastic import no name breakers,
I get good ones like on my trike those are military case offs,

When i rewire the 69 i believe i will place the breakers in a rear storage box or in passenger dash,

The electric fan stuff might find a breaker up by the radiator.

 

Sounds like a good plan to me. You know, aircraft systems are all protected by circuit breakers.
And manufacturers are super **** about safety in aircraft.
Given that, I would say that quality breakers are definitely a go for electrical systems.

 

pilots also can't open the hood and change a fuse...

 

You dont open the hood to change fuses in a stock c3 either,

 

And wired up with Teflon insulation at $500 a roll.

Why not dual batteries and dual alternators for those dangerous trips to the show in shine?

My last truck blew ONE fuse in 16 years, and it was my fault. (I had a spare).

It's just wasted money and added weight for something that is fine, safe, and practical to begin with. The only weakness in these cars are the grounds, yet no one talks about improving that, a REAL benefit.

It's YOUR car, YOUR money, but saying it's "better" is horse ****.

 

I don't see the point in putting that extra time and expense into the wiring. You can get fuse blocks that are fairly compact and fuses work just fine to protect the wires in a car. You have done something wrong if you're blowing fuses or tripping breakers without the circuit having a failure.

 

GM used circuit breakers 'sparingly' and only where they were really needed. Why? Cost, simple as that.

No problem putting breakers where fuses have been used...unless that circuit could be damaged with very quickly. It's just more expensive.

The fuses GM installed rarely blew, unless there was a fault with a component or, maybe, some "cockpit" problems (aka, owner-induced).

If you have a circuit that continually blows, it needs to be resolved, rather than sticking an easy-to-reset breaker in the system.

 

The only circuit breakers I'm aware of are self resetting on a few items like the headlights or power windows or power seats. I wouldn't want self resetting breakers on almost any other circuit.

The headlights have one because it was a DOT requirement. It could let the lights come back on if there is a bare wire that is momentarily shorting on bumps every now and then. I see newer cars with fuses used because the headlight circuits are broken out and fused individually. If the low beam on the left headlight shorted you'd only lose that one light instead of all the low beam headlights. Using a manual reset breaker on the headlights would be no better than a fuse.

Power seats and windows have them to temporary cut power to the motors if you held the switch too long at the end of travel. Then, then would reset so it would work again. If the switch stuck then the breaker would continually cycle until either it failed or you found the problem and fixed it. If the breaker was sized just right, then it could keep the motor from burning out while not tripping off during normal use.