Bill and Scott,
With respect to 320/360s:
The original design had the battery, master relay, pump and
pump power relays behind the baggage bulkhead - thus the logic for
the close proximity of the pump power breaker to the master
relay. Still a bad operational location.
These days, it is more frequent that the battery and master relay are
behind the seat (usually the co-pilot), thus the CB in the console has only a
short run from the master relay (about 14" US).
Those that mount their battery and master relay on the firewall are well
served by the CB in the panel (although the CB will be more than 14"
US from the relay).
The medium amp run of wire to the CB does not outweigh the Master
relay to Starter relay run - only protected by the hand operated in-your-face
Master Switch.
Let's see, how many of you have fused/diodized the lead from the "I" post
on the pump power relay to the indicator light in the panel? Huh?
Huh? Didn't you realize that the 18 or 20 gauge wire is carrying a 50 AMP
current potential as the "I" post is a tap off the pump power relay contactor
and is only protected by the 50 AMP breaker? What goes first in a short,
the itsy bitsy wire or the big breaker?
Grayhawk
Don't reach behind yourself for anything when it is important to fly.
In a message dated 5/21/2008 8:49:42 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
5zq@cox.net writes:
The
purpose of the CB or fuse is to protect the wire feeding the device. It
should be as close to the source of electricity as possible. With it
mounted
on the pump enclosure, sounds like you'll have a fairly long run
of
unprotected, high amperage wire. Not good.
Having said
that, I don't think that there are any specific regulations that
would
prevent you from mounting it wherever you
wanted.