Wired2Serve Blog

Terminal blocks or terminal connectors are a simple, useful, cost-effective, and often crucial component in transportation applications. Connecting different circuits can be a time-consuming task, often made easier with terminal blocks. There are several important things to keep in mind to know if these unique connectivity solutions are the right choice for your wiring design.

Switches—whether they're toggles or rockers, push-button or disconnect—are found in every 12-volt electrical system, doing everything from turning on lights to moderating critical systems. To understand the basics of electrical switches, you must first understand the circuitry inside, then be able to discern the differences between different types of switches. Here's a crash course.

For the first time, a rotary battery switch and a resettable circuit breaker have been combined into a single product, the Series 53 Branch Disconnect Circuit Breaker from Mechanical Products.

Ideal for use in the marine, RV, truck and heavy equipment industries, the MP Series 53 brings the advantages of a smaller footprint, quicker installation, lower cost, and user convenience. It promises to become a go-to solution for OEMs and upfitters seeking more efficient ways to disconnect and protect primary current and heavy duty mobile electrical equipment.

Circuit breakers are increasingly being used instead of fuses for transportation equipment of all types. Circuit breakers have many virtues: They're more durable, they're easier to reset and replace, and they can be ordered in types and sizes that work in most places where fuses would be used on vehicles.

Perhaps most important, circuit breakers with reset buttons enable users to immediately cut power, providing an added level of personal safety not available with fuses.

InPower has introduced a cool (literally) and efficient new product with its new ABS3 Solid State Programmable Auxiliary Battery Switch.

The ideal solution for charging and isolating an auxiliary battery from a vehicle’s  chassis battery and alternator, the ABS3 uses solid-state contactor technology and ultra-cool, heat-dissipating power terminal technology, all in a smaller footprint than traditional battery isolators and separators.

While circuit breakers are becoming more prominent in 12-volt system design, the fuse remains a common, and useful, technology. If you're not up on your fuses, here's an overview of where they fit into automotive circuit protection.

Controlling parasitic loads (battery drain) and properly distributing electrical power is crucial to keeping vehicles working. However, this requires balancing the needs of the battery against those of the electrical system.

Dual voltage electrical systems solve many power requirement problems in today's trucks, buses and motor coaches, but like any specialized technology, dual voltage establishes its own rules.

Power distribution modules, or PDMs, have been called by many different names: Power distribution centers or units, electrical centers, and even electrical boxes. In any case, it boils down to this: PDMs are circuits in an enclosure, distributing power from a central power source to many smaller circuits around a vehicle or equipment.

Relays, solenoids, and contactors are all switches—whether electro-mechanical or solid state—but there are critical differences that make each suitable for different applications. In this article, we will explain how each of these devices work and discuss some key selection considerations.