How come when I ground my switch, the fuse blows?

[beavis195]

Why! This is pissing me off! I don't have a lighted switch now, so I can't find it in the dark.

 

[Rob Slade]

Where are you grounding it to? I had mine originally grounded to the battery, but then changed it to the frame. It works much better that way now. Also, have you upgraded your wattage in your light bulbs any? I did this and had to upgrade the fuse to make it not blow.

 

[beavis195]

I grounded it to the e brake pedal metal underneath the dash. The fuse that blew was the fuse that controls my parking lights, and when it blew my dash lights failed to light too. So if I were to upgrade the fuse in the X's fuse box from 15 to 20 amps, I'll be okay.

 

[Rob Slade]

It might be okay, just be careful. If you upgrade your fuse too much, something important will blow instead of your fuse. Check to make sure that is the only problem first.

 

[Big E]

WHat kinda lights you trying to use? Fog lights? If so you need to use a relay. By using a relay you are not drawing all the amperage for the fog lights through the switch, casusing the switch to short out. Tell me some more info about what you are trying to do, maybe I can help you out.


Eric

 

[beavis195]

Yes, foglights. I did use a relay. The relay gets power directly from the battery of course. I followed this wire diagram exactly, except I didn't ground the negative wire from the lights to the negative terminal on the battery. http://www.kchilights.com/wiring_relay.html
The bulbs were originally 55 watt, I upgraded to 100 watt and put a 20 amp instead of a 15 amp fuse on the wire that goes from the battery to relay. To actuate the relay, I tapped into the parking light wire near the bulb in the engine bay. So, any ideas? Thanks

 

[Alec]

I think your problem is tapping into the parking lights at the bulb instead of at the fuse. You're blowing that circuit cause it takes too much juice off at the bulbs to trip the relay. I wouldn't go above 15 A for that fuse, either.

 

[Big E]

The relay does not draw many amps so I don't think you need to hook up by the fuse. You might need a bigger fuse from the batter to the relay. What does KC say to use for the 100 watt bulbs? Make sure your relay is able to support the extra wattage of the 100 watt lights. Might need a diffrent relay. As soon as you turn on your switch you blow a fuse?

Eric

 

[beavis195]

Yes, as soon as I turn on the switch, the fuse blows. If I unhook the ground on the switch, they work fine. The relay is a 30 amp relay, so I think I'm okay there, and if we do the math watts/volts=amp draw, so 200 watts/12 volts = 16.666 amp draw, so that's why I upgraded to a 20 amp fuse. So I'm gonna try tying in at the fuse instead. How do I do this? Do I find the wire that the fuse plugs into and splice there. That seems really difficult. Thanks guys

 

[Sandy]

beavis195,

DON'T change fuse value for existing circuits.
The circuits have been wired for a particular value fuse and if you up the value you stand the chance of either frying something you do not want to, or starting a fire.

beavis195

Are you sure that the wire you are hooking up is a ground wire?

I am not sure, but all of the lighted switches that I have used do not have a separate ground wire for the lights; the light is powered and grounded through the switch.

You said the circuit works without the ground wire try to leave it off and see how the circuit works, if no problem look into a schematics of the switch to see where the wire goes and what it is connected to.

Getting Power:
Try running a fused wire, (fused at the power source with a fuse value based on the wire size you use), from a power source (battery) to a common point under the dash, then take all of your accessory power from that point, also, fuse each accessory separately and at a value set by the manufacturer of the accessory.

Good Luck and watch out you do not blow up the computer.

 

[Bill Kemp]

I have been looking at the KC HiLights wiring diagram and notice that they use a KC relay. They show the ground pin as # 86 on the relay.
On other relays I've used the ground pin was #85. & in the following diagram the pin is #85.
I don't know if they are interchangeable or not but I would try switching them around.http://catalog.com/susq/other/auxlamps.htm

 

[mattadams]

The problem may be that the wires on the switch are reversed. I know I've done that before with three-wire or even two-wire switches. if they are reversed as soon as you hit the switch the fuse blows.

 

[beavis195]

As soon as I get out of school, I'll try all these suggestions. Thanks for the help.