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1965 Chevrolet C10 fuse block/panel.

link to photo here

In the circles you can see that two of the metal clips that the glass bulb fuses snap into are missing. They have been gone since before I had the truck.

The current heater blower motor and the radio are on the same circuit, the one with the most wires coming out on the right side... and it blows. I'm guessing the replacement heater motor draws more amps than the one that was in it when I bought it.

Now the simple solution would be to move something to another circuit with less amps being drawn on it, but I'm down on options there.

Now... I'm thinking if I can find some old clips, maybe I can setup a new circuit, snap in a new glass bulb fuse and run some wires and I'm cooking with dynamite.

The top circuit missing a clip is a 12V ignition hot, the bottom circuit missing a clip is 12V always hot circuit

If that is not feasible, I am thinking of adding a small circuit block for accessories, with a relay to activate it via an ignition hot circuit. They have these at the parts stores, with 4-6 circuits... so turn key to ignition hot, 12V goes to the relay, which turns it on, which activates the juice to the additional accessory fuse block... then I can wire things separately.

I'm thinking I should put the radio and whatever else over there if I do it, leave the heater motor blower on the main panel. Hmmn.

anyway, just thought I'd run it by ya'll.

Thanks,

-W

I know that this is not an answer to your question. I had a 1982 step van. The replacement heater motor blew a 30A fuse (in an inline fuse holder)....I was advised to install a second fuse holder (side by side) and that cured my problem.
Adding a second block for accessories sould like the best idea.

I recall seeing many fuse panels with "missing" clips over the years. I always suspected they were using the same fuse panel in multiple models with multiple options so they simply left the spring holders out in different cars or if certain options were not used. It always annoyed me since I too was looking for a place to take power.

If the panel does not look melted where the spring clips go you could probably salvage some from a donor car and add to yours.

I do like your relay suggestion. Feed the relay directly from the battery through a self-resetting circuit breaker and then you have a clean, reliable way to add multiple circuits. You should still protect each added device with it's own fuse so a small sub-panel like you suggest would work nice. Separate fuses could save a fire but also helps troubleshooting if ever necessary.

Thanks for the replies folks.



-W

You can purchase a 4 fuse block at O'reily auto or Napa Mounts well beside the original

Thanks for the replies folks.

This is what I wound up doing, wrapped it up today :

02/17/2017 … add a fuse block

-W