advice on connections to the battery?

hi everyone,

as you can see in the attached picture, my radio permanent live and spotlights are connected straight to my battery. obviously, this isn't an ideal situation but I couldn't think of anything better at the time.

can anyone suggest something a bit tidier (and safer) to connect my wires to the battery? ideally with space for more things, like an interior light for the back interior or some fog lights

any advice much appreciated

run a thick lead to an auxillary fuse box,similar to this though they come in many guises
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For smaller stuff an aux fuse box as posted by JM.

For higher draw cables then I prefer summit like this....

12V / 24V JUNCTION BOX BATTERY CABLE 25mm2 CONNECTOR BLOCK HEAVY DUTY CAR 192218 | eBay

ahh thanks jamesmartin that looks perfect! it doesn't appear to have a connection for one big lead though, looks more like there's one for each new powered item...

and ratty that looks good but was thinking of something with a bit more space, i only have a couple of 55w spots and a radio atm so i think i'll be ok with something light duty

hebdenwill said:

ahh thanks jamesmartin that looks perfect! it doesn't appear to have a connection for one big lead though, looks more like there's one for each new powered item...

and ratty that looks good but was thinking of something with a bit more space, i only have a couple of 55w spots and a radio atm so i think i'll be ok with something light duty

Click to expand...

How about a bus bar for summit inbetween?

You need to make sure you can cover it to keep it insulated though.

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James idea will be fine, run a wire from the battery to one end of one side of the fuse box, then loop the same wire from each fuse until you get to the end, then run the end wire back to the battery terminal agian, this way you wont overload anything, so thats two feeds with all of one side looped together, would be even better if the supply to the fuse box was through an ignition powered relay, that way ign off all circuits dead.

i've done a diagram on paint of what i think you mean, is that right?

And I need the radio on a permanent live so it keeps its memory

No both wires go to the positive terminal, all you have there is a dead short.
Imagine only one wire feeding the fusebox, then you loop 5/6 fuses from that one feed, then you load them all up to say 10 amps per fuse, theres no way that one wire will carry that load for long, so by using two you have halved the load on the wiring.
Also bear in mind that the standard blue crimps terminals can only carry 18 amps max each, so two wires gives you 36 amps potential load capability.
Im guessing the yellow crimps can carry more load.
36 amps should be more than enough, easy to work out load.
Example headlamp bulb 55 watt, 55 divided by voltage 12 equals load= 4.5ish amps so a 7.5 amp fuse would be fine for one bulb.
Its electric fans that are the biggest load.

a thought has just struck me...i've been thinking about this all wrong. Am I right in thinking that a bus bar attaches to the battery and accessories can be attached to the connectors in the middle of it? If so then that's what I need

Yes thats what a busbar is, but its permanent live all the time, you cant beat a fuse every time.
Maybe worth a trip to the scrappy as lots of modern motors have fuses busbar mounted direct to the battery positive terminal

Best of both worlds?

12 Way Blade ATY Fuse Box Terminal & Bus Bar Kit Car Boat Marine 12V-24V | eBay