hardwire - which fuse to use

[stray444]

good chioice

[scruffymmh]

so is it the general consensus that it's OK to:
1. Use the add-a-circuit with the 10amp fuse that it comes with,
2. Put the add-a-circuit into a fuse socket that normally houses, say, a 25amp fuse for a cigarette lighter,
3. put the 25amp cig fuse into the open slot of the add-a-circuit,
4. rig the positive from the RD Direct Wire to the add-a-circuit's 10amp fuse (obviously then ground the Direct wire to something suitable), and
5. expect normal operation of both the RD (running through the 10amp fuse) and the cigarette lighter (running through the 25amp fuse)?

I shouldn't need to worry about high amps coming through to the add-a-circuit on its way to the cig lighter and blowing the RD fuse while it goes through, correct?

Also, putting an additional in-line fuse on the positive RD direct wire between the add-a-circuit and RD would be redundant?

[Arashi666]

if youve bought the Escort wiring kit you already have an inline fuse holder, with a 2 amp fuse on it........... if the RD takes 10 amps it'll more than likely become 1 expensive piece of bacon

power surges can happen to anyone in any car, thats what the fuses are for, if it blows the 10A then it might have already blown the 2A on the inline............ my suggestion is go out and get a smaller amperage fuse like 5A, but 2A would be ideal

[scruffymmh]

I bought the Escort "wiring kit" but it's the $10 one, not the smart cord one at $29 or whatever. it's my understanding that there is no inline fuse on the $10 Direct Wire.

In any case, is it OK to put a 5A fuse into the add-a-circuit, along with a 25A for the cig lgihter and put the add-a-circuit into the (25A) cig lighter fuse socket? Am i going to be replacing the 5A fuse every day?

[Arashi666]

no, the circuis are wired in parrallel, so if the cig port fuse gets blown by a large surge of 25A, the 5A fuse is still fine........ if the circuits were wired in series, than yes, worry about it......... but not now in parallel

[scruffymmh]

I got everything set up correctly, and I wired into my cig lighter fuse. Here's the problem: the RD stays on constantly, even when my car is off and no key in the ignition. That's strange because the cigarette lighter port does not work when my car is off. I tried all the ATO (big) fuse positions, and they all seem to be live even when the car is off, even though their respective components (power windows, cig lighter, Power outlet, rear defrost) so not work with the car off.

But these components ARE ignition-switched, so the power must always be live to the fuse box, but cuts somewhere between the fusebox and the device. Any suggestions??????

[Orbital75]

My Volkswagen is the same way. The ACC ( Lighter fuse ) always stays hot even when the car isn't running / turned on. You could always try another fuse slot. Maybe the Radio fuse slot would work for you.