painless wiring issues

[marty]

so yesterday i bought a painless wiring cirkit boss fuse panel. it is a total of 7 fuses and a relay. 4 fuses are switched power off the igntion switch and 3 are constant hot. this panel came with 7 fuses that are rated at 20 amps each. it also has a main power lead which feeds the 12 volt supply and the relay which looks to me to be a 12 guage wire. they also supply a cicuit breaker for the main power protection which is rated for 30 amps. to me this panel is extremely under rated. if i used 3 circuits drawing current of about 10 amps each i am already pulling to much current then the panel can handle. so i proceeded to call the companies tech line. i get a guy in the phone and i explain the situtation to him. he immediately tells me the circuit breaker is the wrong one. well i explained to him i did not even take it out of the wrapper yet. so he looks the panel up on his computer to see what this panel comes with and he agrees with me fully about the load ratings and the wire guage size for the main power supply. i told him i am afraid to use this panel and he tells me if i am afraid then not to use it. i asked him what should i do then and he tells me their are thousands of these panels out there and not a problem that he knows of. how can a company sell stuff like this. thank goodness i don't need the panel for anything of substantle amperage. but i thought i would let some of you guys that may not know about wiring and how the wire guage size over a certain distance should meet certain standards plus how fuse ratings should be rated properly. i would not recommend using any of painless wirings complete wiring systems after seeing and talking to the company directly and how they change their story. they just don't seem like a stand up comapny to me. thanks for letting me vent here and i am sorry for the long post i just would not like to see a guy finish off a nice restoration only to watch it go on fire due to poor workmanship from this company.

 

[JWMcCrary]

Sorry to hear about your problems. Never heard anything that bad about Painless until now. I put one of their complete harnesses on mine and going on 2 years have not had 1 issue. I wired everything based on their instructions and the things I added were put through relays.

I think there is a Painless guy that visits the site. Maybe he will respond to your problems.

 

[marty]

well would you agree with me about this panel being underated.

 

[bigmuddy]

Marty,

I can't speak to the issues but I have run one for quite awhile and have not had any issues with mine yet but maybe I am leaving on borrowed time?

Ben

 

[BRONCO26]

i installed a complete sytem in mine 3 yrs ago and no problems. it was also a easy install.

 

[00gyrhed]

not sure you have a problem there. I ran my CJ5 through a 40 amp MAXI fuse and a 10 ga. wire for 10 years and never blew the fuse. I had two high capacity electric radiator fans (30 amp fuse), two fuel pumps (10 amp fuse), injectors, ecm, radio, heater, windsheild wipers and lights all on at the same time. all power through the 40 amp fuse. Stock bronco without fuel injection through a 12 ga and 30 amp main is probably OK. Those fans were power hogs. They would blow a 20 amp fuse on a hot day.

 

[Pa PITT]

I'm sorry but I'd rethink your stand ....You've use one ,They've sold hundreds !!! I'd say the ones Painless sell is much better than a stock one not weaker!!
So some where in here you've got to be seeing something wrong ....Put on your Rose Color Shades and take another look at your stand ....

 

[eric0o1]

marty, give me a call at the office tomorrow and I will get everything squared away with you. Like stated we've never had an issue with this. For your own piece of mind, if you'd like a larger circuit breaker I'll be glad to ship you one (817) 244-6212 ext. 1024

On a side note, anything requiring high constant amperage draws should not be run through a fuse anyhow, they should be run through relays. That 30 amp circuit breaker will allow for high spikes well beyond the 30 amp rating. the 30 amp rating is for the constant draw. I will not argue that a 30 amp circuit breaker is a little on the conservative side, however we have been selling that part for years and if anyone had ever had a problem with it them me or one of the other engineers would have been informed and changes would have been made. I think to say our products are "of poor workmanship" because you feel a circiut breaker needs to be larger is a little extreme.

 

[oleguy74]

that panel will power several things.rember,just beacause you have a 30 amp max you probably wont draw half of that continously.example ,you wouldn't use high power head lites all the time.a stock bronco heater draws only 7.5 amps but is fuesed 20.this is for what is called inrush current.when a load is turned on initial draw can be several times run current.also when you buy fuse eq.calculate your total load before you buy.you will be supprised what it will carry.good example ,look at your power panel in your house.add the rateing of all your breakers .mostaly more than the value of the main.the idea is you wont have all ckts at full load at any one time.hope this helps.what you are going to run is where the real value will be.

 

[Madgyver]

marty,
There you go, Call Eric and I'm sure he'll take care of your problem...
Nothing to lose, Give it a shot and you may rethink your view on Painless Customer Service....



Eric,
Thanks for the switch, I received it yesterday..

madgyver

 

[eric0o1]

madgyver- no problem on the switch, hopefully that will fix the AC problem you were having. I should have your test harness sometime in the next few days, they are assembling them now.

Marty, I looked up the paper work this morning on the accessery fuse block you purchased, you bought a 70207 correct? There is not a 12 gauge wire to be found. The main power wire is a 10 gauge and all of the output wires from the fuse block are 14 gauge, with the exception of the 18 gauge relay activation wire. That 10 gauge wire only has 10' of length to it and is substatal enought to carry the 30 amps to the fuse block with hardly any voltage drop. Every chassis harness kit we sell has a 10 gauge wire powering the fuse block, and over the 18 years the company has producing product, I have never heard of any claims of our product resulting in fire. It was a nice scare tactic on your part but I feel our reputation speaks for itself.

 

[marty]

madgyver- no problem on the switch, hopefully that will fix the AC problem you were having. I should have your test harness sometime in the next few days, they are assembling them now.

Marty, I looked up the paper work this morning on the accessery fuse block you purchased, you bought a 70207 correct? There is not a 12 gauge wire to be found. The main power wire is a 10 gauge and all of the output wires from the fuse block are 14 gauge, with the exception of the 18 gauge relay activation wire. That 10 gauge wire only has 10' of length to it and is substatal enought to carry the 30 amps to the fuse block with hardly any voltage drop. Every chassis harness kit we sell has a 10 gauge wire powering the fuse block, and over the 18 years the company has producing product, I have never heard of any claims of our product resulting in fire. It was a nice scare tactic on your part but I feel our reputation speaks for itself.

eric what i was stating was that the wire used to power seems to be like a 12 guage compared to what i am used to seeing in my field which is the marine field. i am use to seeing a anchor brand type wire which their 10 guage wire size in appearance is a lot larger than your's. they use very fine strands which will carry amperage better than a courser strand of wire. the fuse issue to me is that you are supplying a fuse panel which houses 7 fuses all of which are 20 amps each with only a 30 ampere circuit breaker. this seems to be very light to me. if i was to use 3 of the 7 fuses and each circuit is carrying a constant load of between 10 and 15 amperes each this is going to be a problem and put a major load and resistance on your main power supply. even the guy i spoke with yesterday on the phone about this agreed with me. but then he changed his theory around to protect your company. i will call you to discuss this further and not air it out any further here.