Wiring Repairs Newcastle.
Wiring, Fuses and Connectors

Wires, fuses and connectors:- Wiring

Wires, fuses and connectors link to and feed every electrical device in your car. Many of the features we have come to expect in our cars are possible because of these elements, and their reliability has improved immensely in the last couple of years.

But increased reliability and efficiency has lead to car wiring complexity increasing dramatically. Cars have thousands of electrical circuits from wiring harnesses carrying huge currents to computers made up of several printed circuit boards and devices and relying on the tiniest of electrical signals.

As well as carrying power, for example, to the starter motor, the wiring also has to carry analogue and digital signals between the onboard computer and the many relays and sensors distributed throughout the car.

A break in any of the wires can result in the car failing to start. It can be as dramatic as a sudden and complete loss of power to the engine apparently turning over but not 'igniting' the fuel.

Wires, fuses and connectors:- Fuses

Fuses protect the wiring by providing a point of weakness. If too much power passes through a wire it can overheat or melt and be extremely difficult to access and replace. It may destroy a very expensive relay, sensor, or computer circuit.
A fuse is designed to fail first and help to indentify which circuit might have a potential problem.
Fuses should be carefully rated and located to protect the wiring they connect. A wire that can only carry 5 amps before overheating would not be protected by a 10 amp fuse. Although less obvious. Wiring intended to carry 10 amps would not fail if protected by a 5 amp fuse BUT the fuse would keep 'blowing' making the circuit useless.

Most cars have two major fuse panels.One in the engine compartment holds the fuses cooling fans,anti-lock brake pump and the engine control unit or ECU.

A second fuse panel is usually mounted under the dashboard and holds fuses and occasionally relays electrical items in the passenger compartment.

Certain devices for instance; car radios and amplifiers often have additional fuses built-in for additional protection.

Wires, fuses and connectors:- Connectors

Connectors allow bundles of wires to attach to a component of the car that might have to be removed.
A simple connector can join 2 wires whereas some of the more complicated bundles connecting the ECU to all the other devices and sensors can contain over 100 wires.

Many electrical problems start with unreliable or poor 'connection'. They are often the most difficult problems to identify because they are often intermittent or only occur during damp weather. A small amount of salty road spray penetrating a connector when combined with an electrical current can cause electrolysis and rapid corrosion of the connector unit.

Kit Cars - Electrics Finishing

Designing and building unique wiring harnesses.
Specialist in manufacturing and fitting custom wiring harnesses for kit cars.

Car Repair Auto Electrics