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VP: blowing brake light fuse

wagonist

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I recently installed a towbar & trailer wiring to my VP exec sedan.
The wiring was a factory Holden(?) harness bought from a wrecker & was previously installed into my VN Exec sedan.
The loom is a plugin between the connection on the rgiht hand side taillights.

When I plugged in my car trailer on the weekend, it started to blow the fuse.
It is a 10A as per the factory rating.
Once it had a 15A fuse in there, it all seems ok.

The car trailer has 4 brake lights & I've also repalced the taillight looms with the aftermarket type that has 4 brake/taillight globes as my original looms were corroded.

It is just that having 5 brake lights on the car (including the high mount) & 4 on the trailer was too much for the 10A fuse?
I don't like the idea of doing a dodgy fuse replacement to hide a problem.
 

SweetWagon

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I recently installed a towbar & trailer wiring to my VP exec sedan.
The wiring was a factory Holden(?) harness bought from a wrecker & was previously installed into my VN Exec sedan.
The loom is a plugin between the connection on the rgiht hand side taillights.

When I plugged in my car trailer on the weekend, it started to blow the fuse.
It is a 10A as per the factory rating.
Once it had a 15A fuse in there, it all seems ok.

The car trailer has 4 brake lights & I've also repalced the taillight looms with the aftermarket type that has 4 brake/taillight globes as my original looms were corroded.

It is just that having 5 brake lights on the car (including the high mount) & 4 on the trailer was too much for the 10A fuse?
I don't like the idea of doing a dodgy fuse replacement to hide a problem.

It should have already had a 15 amp fuse in there. I worked it out that each brake globe draws about 1.7amps. So running 9 all up will draw 15 amps. But if the fuse is not blowing you should be alright. The only thing i could suggest is running LED globes on the trailer, they draw a lot less current.
Cheers
 

wagonist

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The sticker on for the fuse box says it should be a 10A:confused:

Power (Watts) = Volts x Amps. Is this correct (it's good have some tech guys around occasionally)?

So 9 x 35W = 315W!!
Amps = 315 / 12 = 26A!!
or 2.8A each.

Now I've got myself real confused..
 

wagonist

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oh yeah, I can replace 2 of the lights on the trailer with LEDs, which is planned as I don't trust filament globes with towing a rally car on dirt, but the other 2 lights on the trailer are actually on the towed car.
Because the trailer is small, the towed car, an Excel, hangs over the rear of it & I've made a loom so that the taillights/brake lights of it are plugged into the trailer.
 

SweetWagon

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The sticker on for the fuse box says it should be a 10A:confused:

Power (Watts) = Volts x Amps. Is this correct (it's good have some tech guys around occasionally)?

So 9 x 35W = 315W!!
Amps = 315 / 12 = 26A!!
or 2.8A each.

Now I've got myself real confused..

Correct me if i'm wrong, I thought that they're only 21 watt each.
 

wagonist

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Correct me if i'm wrong, I thought that they're only 21 watt each.
oops:whistling Nothing to see here, move along
I was thinking of the front fog light globe I just replaced in another of my cars.
At least that's solved why there was originally a 10A fuse.
5 x 21 = 105W = 8.75A

I feel better now (at least about upping the fuse rating);)
 

SweetWagon

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oops:whistling Nothing to see here, move along
I was thinking of the front fog light globe I just replaced in another of my cars.
At least that's solved why there was originally a 10A fuse.
5 x 21 = 105W = 8.75A

I feel better now (at least about upping the fuse rating);)

lol that's better, my service manual says 15A, so I'd say its safe to put a 15A in there.
On another note, you rally an Excel! lol nice!. :p
 

wagonist

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On another note, you rally an Excel! lol nice!. :p
not yet. I've been trying to finish it, but when your tow car blows it's engine, and your buy another for the motor & find it's in better condition, but needs a blue slip, and then all the blue slip people in your area arent' doing any because the RTA's been around doing audits.

Besides, they're cheap, fairly reliable, fairly rugged, and a lot easier to handle around the forest than the VR SS that I saw being rallied in Qld on the weekend.
 
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