I have a 20a fuse in my fuse box in my car . After the 20 amp fuse I have a 35a inline fuse wired with the 15a device and two 5a devices all wired together behind the 35a fuse and the 15a device has a flip switch and it worked fine for the first two weeks and today I noticed that it started to smoke and I didn't know why. I took the switch out and noticed the the switch was unrated for this setup 10a. Also my ground was to long. So after I removed the switch and tried to touch the wires together to see if my device was fried it smoked again . Any thoughts do u think I fried to 15a device.
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1993 sdv
Alpine 4x6 6x9 5 1/4 swr-10d4
alpine v60
12.5 VGA flip down
Nettop pc w/10" touch screen
78nova
5-re audio 5x7 ,10" sub &
Xtx-500.5
"Take the faceplate off get the jumperpack"
What smoked - the fuse or the device?
Putting a 35A fuse after a 20A fuse is worthless - you might as well not put a fuse in there at all.
what is on the factory fuse? You've added roughly 15-18A of power drawing equipment on a fuse that is barely big enough without anything else on it.
Whenever using a switch it MUST be rated higher then the fuse protecting it, otherwise you've got a fire hazard. However, using a switch that isn't rated for the current you need shouldn't damage the device, just thet switch. The switch will actually allow enough current to pass through it to power your device, the switch will just get very hot in doing so (which is where the fire hazard comes in).
So, if you have a 20A fuse, you need a switch rated at at least 20A. The alternative to this would be to use a relay triggered by a low current switch. This is usually the cheapest way to go, and you can get the best results because there are tons of 3A switches on the market.
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Kevin Pierson
The 20a fuse is the factory fuse and I put the 35a fuse after I pulled a 12v power source from the fuse box. Also after I took the switch out let the wires and conections cool I just touched the two wires together where the used to be and I got the same result smoke. Is there a possibilty that the wire could have a short. Sometimes when I would start the vechile the device would ativate itself and I'm assuming a short could have in play in here also. Thanks
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1993 sdv
Alpine 4x6 6x9 5 1/4 swr-10d4
alpine v60
12.5 VGA flip down
Nettop pc w/10" touch screen
78nova
5-re audio 5x7 ,10" sub &
Xtx-500.5
"Take the faceplate off get the jumperpack"
Again you have not specified exactly where the smoke is form. The device, the wire, or where the device/wire is touching a part of the car.
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Pure Noize
ii was assuming it was the switch so i removed it and tried touching the wires to gether same results. so i used new wire and i got the same results from the device im assuming that i fried the soliend i the device any thought or suggestions
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1993 sdv
Alpine 4x6 6x9 5 1/4 swr-10d4
alpine v60
12.5 VGA flip down
Nettop pc w/10" touch screen
78nova
5-re audio 5x7 ,10" sub &
Xtx-500.5
"Take the faceplate off get the jumperpack"
If you fried the solenoid it should still blow the fuse before anything smokes. You can test the resistance of the solenoid and determine if it is good.
No matter what happens NOTHING should smoke if the system is properly wired and fused - it will always blow the fuse before there is enough heat to make smoke.
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Kevin Pierson
well i didnt blow a fuse the fusse was in the same condtion it was in. so what do you suggest. on the wiring i did put a fuse within 18" of the power source. my two questions is if i put a infuse hhigher than the ratinwill that have a effect or a ground that is longer than thrree feet. the reason being is the bolts that bolt from the device to the bumper was eough ground for the electric release but it was for the reverse lights so i had to get a ground from the car. what do you think went wrong.
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1993 sdv
Alpine 4x6 6x9 5 1/4 swr-10d4
alpine v60
12.5 VGA flip down
Nettop pc w/10" touch screen
78nova
5-re audio 5x7 ,10" sub &
Xtx-500.5
"Take the faceplate off get the jumperpack"