Adding Fuse question

I am adding fuses to all of my injection lines/power lines going to my pixels. I do have a question though...my technicolor pixels pull 5 amps per strand of 100. Thats a total of 25 amps being used when all white. NOW, because I am injecting and power is lost as it travels to the injection point and then along the line..I don't think simply adding the amps together works to figure what size fuse to use....I am using 18 gauge wire so 10A is max...I was thinking a 7.5A fuse...but I really am not sure...

 

I thought I saw someone mention that you fuse to protect the wire but I am not an electrician so I am not sure.

 

Hard to say without seeing a diagram of how the power injection is connected to the various strips.

 

here is a quick photo..sorry for the spaghetti. Each injection is a straight run back to the same power supply. The drops you see where another line comes off is using 4 core 18 gauge wire so I get two injections out of one cable. On the 4 core drops, at no point are the lines doubled. All are single 18 gauge runs back to V- or V+

 

Using individual fuses in the case above is not going to work. If you fused them all back at the power supply, as soon as one fuse blows, the power would be pulled through another (connected) strip.

Fusing individual wires is only possible if there is no interconnection of the protected lines (at the strips).

 

If your cable can only handle 10 amps then the fuse on each cable should be max 10A. I 'd start with 7.5's

 

David, I see what your saying, however, if there was some bad issue on the line..wouldn't all the fuses go before a fire?

 

It would be dependent on the exact setup and should not be relied upon. Probably not what you wanted to hear.