Recently bought my Mechman 240a alternator for my truck.

 

I'm curious as to what you guys do as I'm getting some pretty bad advice from a forum I visit often. It's about 50/50 some people say to fuse while others say don't. Some even call me lazy for thinking of not fusing. It's hard to figure it out when everyone has a different opinion.

 

Mechman told me NOT to fuse it as it could introduce voltage drop across the fusing and it's not needed. Some others tell me my vehicle will burn to the ground. I have all the fuses and holders from KnuKonceptz but if it'll be fine without a fuse I have no issues not using one, makes it easier.

 

So, what's the verdict on here? What do you guys do?

My tahoe has no factory fusing from the alt to the battery and I have no intention of adding one when my new alt goes in. If the positive wire that will be connecting the alt to the battery has a chance of shorting to ground, then a fuse is a good idea. Kinda depends on wire routing, but in most cases a fuse shouldn't be necessary. My 2 pennies before I go to bed.

I fused mine....just as an extra precaution

In that wire should be a fusable link if you look close.

Depends on how far they are away from each other, and the routing of the wire. You have to make a risk assessment.

 

For mine there is no battery in the front of the car and the wire had to be run underneath nearly the whole length of the vehicle.

In that situation obviously there is a lot of area that a short could happen so a fuse is highly advisable.

If the battery is a foot away from the alternator like a lot of vehicles, and is routed correctly you shouldn't need one.

 

Although.. I was putting an unmarked battery in my other car a few years ago.. in the dark.. and thought I saw red on the post so I hooked it up as power and it turned out to be ground. Burnt up the alternator because there was no fuse. Didn't harm anything else. Stupid mistake, should've paid closer attention and got a light.

Edited October 3, 201410 yr by SacredTanakh

You're going to hear it both ways no matter what forum you're on.  Of course, common sense tells us all that a fuse is a safety device and should be used in these instances.  However, I agree that if the length and routing doesn't seem as though it's easy to do or wouldn't really require it then I don't see a problem not using one.  Like Evan said, when the wire would run the length of the car a fuse would be a really good idea.  Or, like in the instance of my Jimmy as seen in the picture below, the wire was only 14" long and is on top of everything.  Putting a fuse in would be a major PITA and there's not really any danger of the wire becoming damaged and shorting out so I didn't put one in.  It's best for every person to weigh the pros and cons and decide for themselves as like most of this hobby, every persons vehicle, application and tastes differs from the next.

 

 

Just realized I never got a pic of the positive wire run from the alt to the battery, but you can see it's not a long distance nor is there anything in between to cause any sort of problem with the wire itself.

 

 

You're going to hear it both ways no matter what forum you're on.  Of course, common sense tells us all that a fuse is a safety device and should be used in these instances.  However, I agree that if the length and routing doesn't seem as though it's easy to do or wouldn't really require it then I don't see a problem not using one.  Like Evan said, when the wire would run the length of the car a fuse would be a really good idea.  Or, like in the instance of my Jimmy as seen in the picture below, the wire was only 14" long and is on top of everything.  Putting a fuse in would be a major PITA and there's not really any danger of the wire becoming damaged and shorting out so I didn't put one in.  It's best for every person to weigh the pros and cons and decide for themselves as like most of this hobby, every persons vehicle, application and tastes differs from the next.

 

 

Just realized I never got a pic of the positive wire run from the alt to the battery, but you can see it's not a long distance nor is there anything in between to cause any sort of problem with the wire itself.

 

 

 

Yeah my truck engine bay looks very similar to yours, the alt is right on top and is maybe 18-24 inches from the battery. I also got that Tech Flex insultherm fibreglass wire sleeve, which is going on all wires I install under the hood. It's good up to 1200 degrees and is pretty hard to cut, even with a brand new x acto knife blade.

I don't use one because of space.