8 replies to this topic

[fluffylaura]

Hi

Does anyone know why the 10amp fuse which powers my sidelights on my 1996 mini keeps blowing? As soon as i change it and turn the lights on i hear the wonderful sound of a fuse blowing!!!

Its only just started happening since i changed my headlights to the angle eye conversion (which was not as straightforward as id thought!!) and its only the o/s sidelight which doesnt work. Also my o/s rear light doesn't work. Any ideas chaps? Im confused!!!!!!!

[xBR4DLEY]

Do the angel eyes not use more power?
Maybe try it with a higher fuse?

Edited by Dan, 15 March 2010 - 08:41 PM.
Terrible, dangerous advice. Do not re-rate your car's fuses either up or down.

[il-barba]

no, do not increase fuse ratings, never. wiring will tolerate up to a certain amount of current. if you increase the fuse rating a fire may start and i'm sure no one would like that

i think maybe you have connected a live wire to an earth by mistake

[MRA]

Do the angel eyes not use more power?
Maybe try it with a higher fuse?

The fuse is there to protect the wiring.

Fitting a larger than is safe for the wiring can lead to a "thermal event"

[xBR4DLEY]

Yeah i understand that bit but was just thinking the lights might be using a higher rating than the wires meant to take and by changing it to a higher one would let more power through but I also understand where your coming from because the wires cant and shouldnt take more voltage than the fuse rating and would therefore start a fire

[Neil7744]

ive fitted angel eyes to my car without any modifications to fuses.

You need to check that you are connected correctly across the load and not a direct short to earth. I found this with my rear fog light which caused the exact problem you described.

Haynes show good schematics for wiring of the lamps.

[Neil7744]

its not the voltage thats the problem, its the wattage load. The higher the load, the greater the amps drawn. If you know the wattage of your bulbs you can work out the current needed. As far as i was aware, most replacement lights and modified lamps fit standard wiring.

i would compare your original lamps to your new ones. If there is a significant difference in wattage, then this maybe your problem. If your talking about simply switching onto both sidelights (and not dipped beam) and your fuse popping, id say this is likely to be earth or short related as your sidelight bulbs would have to be pretty powerful to pop a 10 amp fuse alone.

[MRA]

Watts (6) divided by Volts (12) or near abouts is 0.5A 0.5mm CSA (Cross Sectional Area in mm^2) wire will allow about 4A of current (A) 4A by default will allow for 48Watts therefore your sidelights need to put out about the same light power (LUX) as your headlight bulbs, so this is looking more likely to be a direct short not a system redesigned overload

[fluffylaura]

Thanks for all your help guys.

What i find to be strange is that when checking all the fuses, I found one blown fuse in the fusebox so i took a working fuse out and tested in the space of the fuse which had blown checked the o/s sidelights and they worked! At the time i had no spare fuses so could not carry on with this until i bought some. The fuses i bought were really cheap and looked quite cheap aswell, is it poss that it could be dodgy fuses? I only ask this because on testing before, the sidelights worked.

I will buy some more and if they blow i know it will probably be an earth.