when they say "fuse it toward the battery end of the wire" they want the fuse closer to the battery? and the fuse size should be the alternators max out-put right?

im fuzy on the concept, i did read its sopose to dave the battery somehow from blowing and the alt gets fried.
wouldnt the fuse be placed in that position to save the alt? is it in prevention of a situation when the battery is drained and the the system starts over draining the alt?
how necessary is the fuse on a system that wont exceed 1000W?

I say it is Very important, However there are people that do not fuse. I do this because if the Regulator melts, or kicks out It will pop that fuse and not kill your wirring! This is my out take on this!

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I've seen many things in my time, but to achieve any of them is a different story!

You were misinformed about needing a fuse equal to the max output of the alternator, the fuse isn't even connected to the alternator. The fuse goes on the power wire to your amplifiers and is max 18 inches from the battery. Size of the fuse has to be at least the max draw of the amplifier (s). But then if the fuse size exceeds the safe limits of the power wire then you need a larger gage power wire. Use the size of the fuses on the amplifiers to determine what size of fuse to put near the battery.

You asked about alternator wire fuse and he ^ told you about amp wire fuse. Thart's nice, but lets get back to the subject of fusing the alternator wire.
Yes, i would definately fuse the alt. wire when upsizing wire such as doing big 3. I would go slightly higher than rated current, after all, the whole purpose of upsizing is to prevent voltage drop. If you have 170 amp alt, use a 200 amp fuse. You should also use a sealed inline case if it's buried under something or you can mount the fuseholder to firewall or something..
Most factory systems come with a fusable link, it's usually a section built into the wire, sometimes you can't even tell it's there.

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I've never heard of fusing the alternator wire. Sorry.

that is what I forgot to mention, hehe (fusing) well if you take a close look when doing your big 3, the stock wires are fused!(90%of cars). And like mentioned, up the amperage(170a go to 200a) This is accurate I believe. Good luck on the wirring

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I've seen many things in my time, but to achieve any of them is a different story!

The alternator wire is fused through the fusible link...

While I do agree that a fuse cannot be a bad idea, I don't run one myself.
I believe it to be a much lower risk than the amp's main power wire. And besides, I was at the autoshow yesterday and saw a few benz's and volvo's and such, NOTHING had fuses for the power line running from the trunk battery to the front.... and that's a 15foot+ run.

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There are two sides to this issue so you will get fairly equal numbers preaching each.

My opinion: fuse is not needed. Further to that, of the cars I have specifically looked for a factory fusible link in the alt to battery wire - I have seen maybe 25% have one. Now, there is generally one in the battery to starter wire, but not so much in the charge lead.

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Be careful what you wish for...

are you sure the fuse will protect the 200A alternator? or is it just the battery.

If you get in a serious front end accident.... the chances the engine is running is not likely. and does the alternator puts out 200A at idle? if not.. how is the fuse going to protect the alternator. But the battery has approx 800CCA that could blow the fuse at will, if its shorted.

thanks for the input, its not easy finding a single way of doing it, their is always variation....

another question is since the stock wiring is still pressent when the fuse blows will it fry the stock wiring or flow throuhg and mess everything else up???