ATO Fusebox?

[rodo]

About to tackle my fusebox and was wondering about updates. Buying a new one is pretty cheap, and would make sense, but noticed that Vicks has an ATO fusebox update. (https://www.vickauto.com/newstore/index ... ts_id=4654) It is the same price as the OEM style fusebox.

I wrote them and asked if it were plug-n-play. They replied, "It is very straightforward." Not sure I know what that means so I appeal to the wisdom of the fiatspider.com community. Anyone else done that replacement?

[dinghyguy]

I just replaced the fuse panel on both my cars, on one because of a melted connection and on the other to clean all the contacts.
I got a used original, cleaned it all up with a Dremel and wire wheel, lightly greased the contacts with dielectric grease. Then i unplugged each wire, dremeled the contact to clean it, checked on the circuit diagram to make sure it was the correct wire and plugged it in to the new panel. Took about an hour to do.

I thought of replacing with the new fuse type, but ultimately decided not to. One suggestion, if you do decide to put in a new panel type, see if you can get enough circuits to get rid of the floating fuse holders. Having all the fuses in one panel would be good!

cheers
dinghyguy

[Turbofiat124]

That's not really a bad price. I'd definitely go with an ATO fusebox. They are much better than the ceramic or glass type fuseboxes. I might have to order one of these for my Spider. I have seen these universal ATO fuse boxes on Ebay for around $10.00. But I'd have to make a bracket if the holes did not line up. No big deal.

I have converted three cars to these type. One is my Trabant which uses pretty much the same type of fuses as the Fiat. Actually looks more like the ones used in older VWs. The kind that use wires dipped in solder then held in place with screws that make a horrible connection.



The other one is in my 68 Ford Fairlane which used glass type fuses. I don't have a photo of that.

And my MGB (yes a four blade fusebox):



One thing I'd be concerned about. Or I'd ask Vicks if these fuseboxes have bridges for the headlights circuits or if you have to make your own jumper wires.

Most fuseboxes, the wire before the fuse (example low beam, high beam, marker lights) plugs into one terminal there is a bridge that feeds the adjacent fuse. Then two wires coming off after the fuse. So you would have one wire coming from the low/high beam selector switch then it branches off into two wires after the fuses.

Look closely at the top left of the fusebox I installed in my Trabant. You will see two yellow "Scotch blocks" or wire taps. I had to connect the supply wire for the low beams to the left most fuse then run a jumper to the second fuse. Then I did the same for the high beams.

On the MGB, I had to do the same for the parking light fuses. Upper left, I had to connect two wires to a connector and run a jumper wire to another fuse because that fusebox had no bridge.

[spider2081]

But I'd have to make a bracket if the holes did not line up. No big deal.

I have installed this panel ( did not purchase from a Fiat vendor) A stock Fiat fuse panel has fuses 3&4, 5&6, 7&8, 9&10 and 11&12 internally jumped together on the input side. This panel does not have any jumpers but can be modified.
Although this panel has 13 fuses it is about 1 inch shorter that the original panel so some sort of mounting tap has to be fabricated. Lastly the fuses are not the correct values and most came apart when removing them from the fuse panel. This is not a big issue because the should be replaced with correct values.

[rodo]

Spider 2081, can you more fully explain the jumper wire issue? Seems like it mightn't be that complicated but I am missing something.

[rodo]

Spider2018, or anyone else out there: more details on installing the ATO box? Feel like I'm missing something about the jumper wires. Is that easier or harder than just plugging in the wires from the old board to the new board?

[ORFORD2004]

I did it and you have to redo all your input connection to add the jumper.

[SteinOnkel]

Just gonna chime in about some best practice automotive wiring.

First, toss the plastic-coated connectors from OhReally auto parts or home depot or wherever. They are junk. The plastic corrodes fast, looks incredibly tacky, traps moisture and dirt to promote corrosion and inhibits a proper crimp.

Buy uninsulated terminals. And the proper molex crimping tool, it's not expensive. Then you get slip-over heatshrink sleeves.

Also - dip solder the ends to the connectors. So first you add a bit of solder to the end of the wire, then you crimp and then you reheat the solder to mate it to the connector. Super tight connection. Lastly put on a dab of dielectric grease - you're good to go.

Buy mill spec wire. The stuff I see in a lot of pictures on automotive forums is bottom of the barrel junk. The insulation sucks, the copper inside is brittle and quickly develops a much higher internal resistance than it should have.

Lastly, nylon wire sleeving is your friend. Use automotive grade tesa fabric tape (not insulating tape, that will melt!) on the ends. It protects the wires inside and looks killer.

I've wired countless EFIs, Boats and Race cars like this and the wiring never fails. Some of the stuff I see on automotive forums - yikes. I give it 3 years before you're chasing gremlins that were never there. Then people go online and whine about "Fiats crappy electrics" as if the factory is to blame.




That's a harness that a wiring engineer at Tesla helped me build before I learned all this stuff. It looks OEM, but it isn't.

[spider2081]

Spider 2081, can you more fully explain the jumper wire issue?

Sorry I didn't see your request until now.
If you have a Lada Fuse panel in hand looking at the wire contact side you will see that each fuse has 2 male spade terminals on the top and on the bottom. The top is the input on the Fiat fuse panel so make the top the input on the Lada fuse panel. All I do for fabricating the required jumpers is bend adjacent fuse top contacts over each other and solder them together. I don't have a photo to post but if you have a Lada fuse panel to look at you will see how simple it is. I do not use wire jumpers as that adds to the complexity of the wiring.

[rodo]

Thanks SteinOnkle and Spider2018. I do have the Lada panel and this does, indeed, seem pretty simple, pretty plug-n-play, excepting the jumper pairs. Unless I'm missing something on the diagrams I need to jump 3-4 and 5-6 for the headlamps, 7-8 for the light switch, and 9-10 for the cooling fan. (Appears some would use 11-12 for window motors, if so equipped.)

SteinOnkle, I aspire to solder like a pro. (That will be tough as I am a teacher.)

I like the simplicity of just bending and soldering for the jumper. I saw one solution where the wire had a connector on each end, the ends were pushed together and then heatshrinked together. Too much trouble and still was pretty tight.

Thanks, all, very helpful.

[rodo]

Jumpers on the top row?

[rodo]

Spider2018, a bit more guidance, please.

I think I've nearly got my head around this. The jumpers are on the top row. Top row is the input side. (I think.) Then I just move my wires from the old box to the new box, top of old to top of new; bottom of old to bottom of new. Er...right? Is it really that simple?

[spider2081]

The Lada Fuse panel's fuses are numbered 1-13. Fiat Spiders usually have fuse 1 closest to the steering column. Making Fuse 1 on the lada panel closest to the steering column leaves their numbers on the top side of the fuse but upside sown. I make the numbered side of the Lada panel the top side even though the fuse numbers are upside down. This puts all the fuses in the same order as the original Fiat panel. Yes I then trans fer the wires terminal for terminal. The terminals remaining after the numbered tabs are soldered together to form the jumpers should be in the same order as the original Fiat terminals.

Things I understand seam simple all the things I don't understand are really scary.

[rodo]

Dang, I did not know what about the FIAT panel! I would have had everything backwards. Okay, Lada panel upside down, numbers below, but I still keep top top and bottom bottom, right? Nevermind, I'm sure.

And the jumper tabs...they are on the top side of the panel, right?

What I can't follow is your last sentence about the jumpers. "The terminals remaining after the numbered tabs are soldered together to form the jumpers should be in the same order as the original Fiat terminals." Not quite sure how to take this. Are you just simply saying that any empty tabs will be just like the factory panel?

Thanks! I'm usually good at this sort of thing but for some reason I just can't get my head around it.

[spider2081]

rodo please email me
flyme194@gmail.com