RescueG911

So might light fascination on my 12' JKU Rubicon led me to want to add lights on my Ford Econoline Work Van. Ive added some lower fogs and a hardwired Radar detector. Im experienced in these installs as i did them on multiple JK's. My problem is these 2 items keep blowing fuses? They blow intermittently sometimes the fogs will run for an hour or 2, sometimes 2 minutes..Same exact thing with the radar detector. Ive rewired everything 3 times thinking i had a short somewhere!! But no, there are absolutely no shorts!! i dont know what else it can be? any help would be appreciated


---the only thing that i did different from the wiring diagram is instead of running the secondary 2A power lead from the low beam to the switch , i ran it into the battery to the switch so that the operation is completely manual.

JK-Ford

2 Amp sounds kinda low. Are you sure that your fuse and wire size matches the equipment load?

RescueG911

its a 2A Lead however, Ive tried everything up to 15A and even a 30A to see what would happen while i was troubleshooting, ofcourse it even blew those. This is supposedly only power for the switch. The Fog light fuse Lead is 15A. Something is off because its happening to 2 different electronic pieces.

JK-Ford

Please never do this again.

OK here is what you do:

1st, make sure the your fuse and wire are sized correctly for the equipment.
2nd, make sure that you have good grounds on the equipment.
3rd, Make sure you have a good connection at the power supply. And, the power supply has enough power for the equipment to opperate.
4th, make sure that your wire isn't rubbing on any hot / sharp surfaces.

RescueG911

I only ran bigger fuses while I was trouble shooting , I had an amp probe and thermal imager on the wires.....


Wires are sized correctly 16awg. More than enough.

All grounds are good, I even jumped from the 1st ground to a second ground to make sure of this. I also checked for continuity at every ground with fluke meter.

Connection at power supply is good...I used proper terminations for everything.

I'm not rubbing on any sharp edges , but the wires are running through the engine bay, I'm assuming it does get very hot here.

Again, it's not the power to the fog lights that's trips , it's the green 2A line in the diagram...I have it hooked to the battery Instead of low beam.

JK-Ford

Thanks for the drawing. That helps. Take a close look at your switch with the IR. Also look at the relay coil.

This part of the circuit is simple. All else fails, replace the switch and the relay.

Recommend changing this to an accessory circuit.

RescueG911

Sorry, i forgot to mention the switch and Relay were already changed out on the 3rd re-wire. I was out earlier today cleaning my van and had the lights and radar detector running for 20 minutes. I noticed the fuses blow while im out driving mostly 75% of the time. Some fuses blow Instantly when i turn them on. Its very erratic. Im not sure what the chances arevof having 2 separate defective devices?

JK-Ford

Well I don't have much left for you. There is only a couple thing that would cause a circuit to draw high current.

Increased resistance from bad connections.
Increased resistance from circuit size to small.
Low voltage to the supplied equipment.
Extreme heat. ( don't think engin bay is the issue tho )

Ohms Law is fairly rigid. Oh, check the fuse holder connections too.

PS, check continuity from your ground points to ( - ) of battery.

RescueG911

I will run more checks tomorrow, thanks for your help

RescueG911

I have tried everything under the sun... Still fuses blow.... All done, I guess this truck wasn't designed for hardwired electronic accessories. Not sure how a ford econoline is wired exactly. I started running tests alongside my rubicon to compare..... When I check continuity at the battery between positive and negative I get nothing on my jeep, I get continuity In my van?!