Electric part, does this exist?

concealer404

I'm looking for a "power distribution block" that also has provisions for grounding.

Ideally what i would need is something that will take one power, and one ground wire, and then would have 8-12 power and ground terminals.

Seems like things like this do exist in the car audio world, but i don't need 4awg output terminals or anything. More like 14-18awg. Doesn't have to have fuses, i can just put a 30A inline fuse in before the block.

Does this exist?

TNRabbit

What is the application?

billbillw

Sounds like a Power strip to me. Are you talking for home use or something in your car?

concealer404

Car, and not for stereo use, which is why i don't need that huge gauge BS. The load is small enough that i can just tap into my fuse box for power off the ignition, strap a ground to whatever. I'd just like to run all my electronic stuff off a block/strip for ease of installation/removal later. And because it's simpler and cleaner than just tapping all this crap into my dash harness.

5 gauges, wideband, boost controller, and turbo timer. None of it presents a high amp draw.

billbillw

concealer404 wrote: »

Car, and not for stereo use, which is why i don't need that huge gauge BS. The load is small enough that i can just tap into my fuse box for power off the ignition, strap a ground to whatever. I'd just like to run all my electronic stuff off a block/strip for ease of installation/removal later. And because it's simpler and cleaner than just tapping all this crap into my dash harness.

5 gauges, wideband, boost controller, and turbo timer. None of it presents a high amp draw.

Check into RV supply companies. They make stuff for smaller gauge. You might not find one with ground though. Most of the time, they are designed for chassis ground, same as car audio stuff.

gdb

PE might have what you're looking for.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=090-850

ShinAce

I don't get it. Why not just use two distribution blocks?

Some are already ganged, like:
http://www.hifisoundconnection.com/Shop/Control/Product/fp/vpid/1557784/vpcsid/0/SFV/30046

edit: Oops, 14 gauge!!! Thanks GDB for reading!

concealer404

billbillw wrote: »

Check into RV supply companies. They make stuff for smaller gauge. You might not find one with ground though. Most of the time, they are designed for chassis ground, same as car audio stuff.

The ground i'm not REAL worried about... i can get another block if i have to and strap it to the chassis myself. I just don't want to ground 8+ components willy-nilly all over the car.

concealer404

gdb wrote: »

PE might have what you're looking for.

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=090-850

This looks promising, but i'm electronically stupid.

How do i feed power to that thing?

gdb

I "assume" you'd use position #1 for line in and then jumper to as many terminals as you need on one side, and take your load lines from the other side of the pairs. Another possible source is marine supply stores/sites, marine grade stuff might be more durable for car use too.:)

gdb

http://www.paneltronics.com/PartsComponents.asp?op=Terminal+Blocks+%26+Bus+Bars+SubCategoryAll#

http://store.wardmarine.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=WMOS&Category_Code=FJB

concealer404

So in that case, i would get two barrier strips, send power to one from the fuse box, running an inline fuse before the strip, jump each pair for power, and connect power from all my gauges and stuff to that. The other barrier strip, ground to chassis, jump each pair for ground, and ground all the gauges and stuff.

Doesn't seem to hard, if not as elegant as i was ultimately hoping, but i should be able to work with that.

I really appreciate the help!

exalted512

You wouldnt have to have 2 barrier strips. You need one wire coming from the power source, then jump it down on one side...say you need 5 outputs, you jump it down 5 rows.

5 outputs, youll need 5 grounds....so wire in your barrier strip to chassis, run jumpers down the other 5 rows.
-Cody

concealer404

exalted512 wrote: »

You wouldnt have to have 2 barrier strips. You need one wire coming from the power source, then jump it down on one side...say you need 5 outputs, you jump it down 5 rows.

5 outputs, youll need 5 grounds....so wire in your barrier strip to chassis, run jumpers down the other 5 rows.
-Cody

So... let's say i need 10 outputs.

I jump down 5 rows, use those 10 for power. Jump down the other 5 rows with ground, use those 10 for ground?

gdb

That should work as long as you keep pos. & neg separate and well marked.

concealer404

gdb wrote: »

That should work as long as you keep pos. & neg separate and well marked.

Yeah, true. I think i may just go with two 5-row units to keep things a little less confusing later.

gdb

Maybe a little less exciting too ! (fewer sparks & arcs ):eek:

exalted512

Its not fun unless it's sparking! Also, I'd use some ring terminals for the connections. Just take the screws completely out, put the ring terminal in place, screw the terminal down. A lot less likely to come out and a better connection IMO
-Cody

concealer404

exalted512 wrote: »

Its not fun unless it's sparking! Also, I'd use some ring terminals for the connections. Just take the screws completely out, put the ring terminal in place, screw the terminal down. A lot less likely to come out and a better connection IMO
-Cody

Oh, for sure. I was either going to do rings or spades. This stuff isn't going to be under high stress or anything, no tugging. But i sure wasn't going to be just **** bare wire in there.

exalted512

I've just always loved the ring terminals for that stuff. Its a little more work than a spade terminal, but guaranteed to pretty much never come out...and in a car you have the worst working against you, constant bumps, extreme temperatures...everything but wind and snow (hopefully at least)
-Cody

TECHNOKID

concealer404 wrote: »

Oh, for sure. I was either going to do rings or spades. This stuff isn't going to be under high stress or anything, no tugging. But i sure wasn't going to be just **** bare wire in there.

Spade are the one to use since when unscrewing it should lock at the end. In the older days this type of strip use to be very common on equipment (and was very efficient). You should also check if you can get the cover for them and if you want to be fancy I wouldn't be surprised you can still buy the jumpers specially made for them. You should dedicate one strip for each: 1 for positive, 1 for return and 1 for ground as an example

The usual standard would be top screws for the jumpers and bottom screws for your wires. Using the left and right holes will allow you to secure the barrier strip to tha car chassis.

I didn't see the proper jumper on their site but a bag of 50 pieces spade are dirt cheap and you would need only 20 per strips (10 for shorts and 10 for your feeds).

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/pshowdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=090-850&ctab=13#Tabs



Cheers!
TK