Cigarette Lighter / AUX Power Fuse Question

[Will Byington]

OK, so after some serious tailgating with the Trac at the ACC Championship this weekend (BOO), I managed to blow the fuses for both my cigarette lighter and AUX power (on the passenger side of the high console) with my power inverter. It stinks because I had to drive home from the game without my radar detector, but I made it without any tickets :blink:



First thing this morning I went to Auto Zone for more fuses. Both sockets uses a (20) fuse, and I quickly replaced them both. When I plugged in my phone charger (standard Verizon OEM charger), the new fuse immediately blew. I replaced it with a (30) and I put a (25) fuse in the AUX power slot. If I am running a phone charger and radar dectector respectively, will there be any problem using the higher grade fuses?



This is a temporary fix because Santa is bringing me XM radio (Roady XT), and I am going to re-work the AUX power with an in-line fuse or relay or something to change it to accessory power. I don't know the best spot to tap into accessory power, but that might require another thread.

 

[EddieS'04]

Not a good Idea to up fuse size. Can smoke the wiring. Is it possible one of your devices is going bad and causing to much current draw ?

 

[Tony Tassillo]

if you keep blowing fuses you could always put tin foil around the fuse.



j/p



i wouldnt ever over fuse the gauge of the wire.



a 20 awg wire (which im pretty sure it is) has a max of 18 amp current draw before it starts producing heat. thats why a 20amp fuse is placed in line.



if you want higher amperage output from your sockets i would wire a relay triggered by your accwire that comes from the battery in the form of an 10 awg wire which will allow for a max of 55 amps of power. be sure all connections are tight as can be as loose connections create resistance and heat.

 

[Will Byington]

I replaced the fuses with (20)'s again just to be on the safe side. Let me preface this question by saying that I am new to electircal wiring and only learned what a relay was after extensive searching on this site.



In an effort to add two hide-away 12 V accessories (radar detector and XM radio) that switch on/off with the ignition, I went to Auto Zone and purchased a new cigarette lighter connection with the + and - outputs. I bought this for the added fuse protection. Then I used a aux power splitter to give me 2 new inputs. I've removed my high series console and mounted the new cigarette lighter thing.



I grounded it behind the radio, but I don't know where the closest accessory power connection is.

Would it be safe and/or feasible to tap into a wire from the radio, or should I try to rig something from the ignition? If so, what color wire is it and how do I get to it?

 

[JamesDiana Tiffany]

Go to the Battery and remember to turn things off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

New vehicle wiring is engineered for the load it carries and not much more.

I take stock SUV and trucks and turn them into Law Enforcement vehicles for the Park Service

My rangers are always trying to do stuff like this to me (overamp fuses, have me run stuff off

the ACC so they dont have to remember to turn it off Ect.) I always start with 4awg wire to and from the battery with a 100 amp fuse and start working down from there. If something blows after it leaves me its because they left the warning lights on for 2 hours at an accident

or there is a short. Always have an Amp meter around for car wiring jobs. They are around $100 but they help alot some times.



James