I'm not really sure why they recommend a 40A fuse, that's a 16ga wire...
Ahh, checked the specs... I'm not sure if this is possible with the flash patterns on that bar, but if you had all 156 LEDs on the bar set to steady burn... you'd be pulling ~624W (assuming 4W LEDs at full power, but they're likely run a little lower for longevity), which is somewhere around 45A @ 13.8V. That's asking a lot of the 16ga wire, though. If you had the front and sides on steady burn, then you'd be in the ~30A area if the rear is flashing as well. A 40A fuse (fed with a 12 or 10ga wire) is probably a good idea.
Please someone correct my math if I goofed.
You can't run all on steady with single color, at least I don't think that's in the patterens. You could if you had a dual color with flood override. But, again, Like everyone's pointing out, that's an aweful lot to ask of a 16 awg wire.
I've run a single T6 on steady burn pulling .8 - 1.2 amp per my meter. And I've run a full front Cobra ILB and an 800 (on the random pattern) off a 10 amp fuse in an F250.
I'd guess that T6 figure would double if you ran all 12 LEDS in a single fusion head (if it's even possible) so 1.6 - 2.4 amps per head. Just a thought.
The single fusions are only 6 LEDS per head, just like the T6. Even if they were dual color, you can't run all 12 at once anyways. Feniex says you'd burn up the light heads with all 12 going (at least on steady burn)
fusing should always be done by the wire size, not the draw. if its only 16ga wire, you should only be running about 20amps max
That would be my thought too. Feniex even states it only draws 15 amps on the 49" bar. If you normally fuse at 1.5 times the draw, your at 22.5 amp fuse. 40 amps should be on at minimum a 12 awg, preferably a 10 awg (as I've run them on rotator bars that actually pull that much power)
It makes me wonder how these up fitters are running 200W sirens, full light bars, perimeter lighting, and radios off the rear 80 amp power take off. Even comparable Whelen lightbars call for 40-50 amps fusing. Obviously it shouldn't pull that, but if it did or it spiked, you would probably blow more than just the light bar fuse. You'd probably blow all of them and trip the circuit breaker. Maybe I'm missing something that they know?
