investinwaffles

So I ordered a bunch of 0 gauge wire to do a subwoofer install in my XJ and will be doing a "Big Three" upgrade at the same time.

Basically (for those that dont know), the "Big Three" wires in your charging system are the alternator to battery positive wire, the battery negative to frame wire, and the engine block to chassis grounding wire, and I was planning on adding a fourth -- the battery positive to PDC wire.

Now, I am a big fan of redundancy so I will be leaving the stock wires in, and simply "adding" in the upgraded wires. I seem to have confused myself though.

My thinking, is that by adding the Battery + to PDC wire and Alternator + to Battery wire, I will be shortcutting the fusible link BUT, is this not the case anyway??
It looks like there is a wire going from the Alternator Positive post to the PDC, and another wire going from the Battery Positive to the PDC as well.

Basically - do I need to use fuses anywhere?? Or is it safe to simply run the extra wires without worrying about fuses?

I will be upgrading my alternator at some point, but I figure I would maximize the efficiency of the stock charging system in the meantime.

Kind of confused over here

freegdr

If theres a fuse link add a fuse to wire your adding.

CCKen

I think so.

I suggest you get a Factory Service Manual so you can see how your '98 XJ is wired.

cruiser54

www.kelleyswip.com

investinwaffles

Went ahead and picked up a 150 amp mini anl fuse + a waterproof fuseholder for the engine bay. I'll start with a 120 amp fuse and see if it blows before moving up (there are dual cables going to the alternator positive so I dont think I will exceed that. Think I got the rest covered

CCKen

Here's some data about fusible links that you should get familiar with.

http://www.whiteproducts.com/fusible-faqs.shtml

CCKen

5-90's cables are for a RENIX XJ and MJ (1987-1990, 4.0.), does the '98 XJ really need this.

I didn't see in 5-90's site where he accounts for the fusible link between the alternator and the PDC. It's only a 10 gauge link for the 97+ XJ's.

investinwaffles

Doesnt that defeat the purpose of upgraded cables? It is not as resistive as an entire run of 10 gauge, but it surely adds a good deal of resistance.

Same goes for an ANL fuse (just by nature of adding more connections which is why I was wondering if it was necessary), but it is better than your car catching fire I guess...

IdleSerivice

If your leaving the stock alternator in place i would hold off on messing with the wiring to it.

If you were to upgrade your alternator that would be the best time to change the wire. something like a fitzall 220+ alternator should be fused close to the alternator output to protect your entire system.

almost every vehicle that rolls into my bay with an ecu has a fusible link on the battery and alternator contained in the PDC. I would walk out to my comanche and check however, memorey stands that they are protected circuits.

in summary upgrade your alternators harness at the time of upgrade and size your new wiring job for the alternator you decide on, aftermarket, grand cherokee 136A etc.

Good luck

IdleSerivice

actually its the 97 cherokee that has the PDC, the comanche has the spider nest by the battery and the fuse box under the prone to leak clutch master