Modifying 40 Amp maxi fuse block

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Steven,
It was legal in the past to remove the unused portions of the Maxi Fuse block to save weight. This question has not been asked or answered this year to my knowledge. Keep checking the Q&A or make sure you post this question. In any case, the block must be protected with the clear plastic cover that shiped with the block for insulation purposes.

As many have pointed out, it is within the rules to use smaller breakers and smaller guage wire if a team chooses. The breakers are sized to appropriately protect the wire guage as specified. (for those of you who will look this up and find discrepancies, remember you can derate the safety margins since the wiring is in the open air and you only have a few minutes of "ON" time) So you can make the changes but WHY??? By moving to #12 wire from #10 and downsizing the breaker you provide a 50% increase in series resistance and further limit the power of the motor. By moving down to a 20 amp breaker and #14, you may have a hard time starting a motor under load. The FP and CIM motors are capable of 100 amp stall currents, all you will be doing is tripping the breakers which make them hot and cause them to trip more often. I can hear some of you saying 'but I am designing the system to not stall the motors'. The definition of a stalled motor is one which is not turning, therefore every motor is in stall when it starts.
The buzzing you here is the breakers rapidly tripping and resetting.