Inline Fuse for Clock: Which to Use?

[Evan Wojtkiewicz]

I'm putting my instrument panel back together this weekend and I'm going to try to add an inline fuse for the clock. I looked it up in the archives, and some people have said to use a 2 amp fuse and others have said a 1/2 amp. Anybody here have experience with this? I'd like to know which is correct.

[Jeff Rosansky CLC #28373]

The fuse protects the wire, not what is being used. You can google the chart but just about any car wire will handle 10 amps. With that being said, the clock will not use much so you can get by with a smaller one. If you are using exhisting wires then ok. If you are running a hot line from thd battery then put the fuse close to the source. The fuse won't protect what is before it.
Jeff

[TJ Hopland]

I too have a fuzzy recollection of an article or discussion about adding a fuse to clocks in hopes of extending their lives.   I don't remember if it came up here or if I saw it on other sites while I was researching getting a 57's clock rebuilt last summer.   Mine ended up being very worn and was the type with a drop in quartz conversion so that was the route I went so the fuse became a non issue for me so I didn't bother to save any notes or links on the fuse thing. 

[J. Gomez]

Adding a fuse to a direct feed device is always a good idea, it provides two benefits one it protects the device and two it protect wiring feed.

Installing the correct fuse you will need to know the load e.g. 12V @ 5A, if the load is unknown one alternative is to measure the current at normal operation conditions. There are formulas and other specs to properly fuse the device, which are beyond the scope of your topic.

If you have the electro mechanical clock with a solenoid which winds the clock the draw would be a few miliamps, placing a 1.5A AGC inline fuse should be fine. If the fuse will not hold (blowing) you can increase it by .5A, if it still not holding, that would tell you there is something wrong.

Good luck..!

[Evan Wojtkiewicz]

Thanks guys, but I wound up calling Instrument Services and they said that a 1 amp fuse is all I need. I put it all together (which I'll detail in my dash resto thread), and the clock works flawlessly so far.

[Jeff Rosansky CLC #28373]

That's pretty good. Most of these clocks are only correct twice a day.
Jeff