Fuse question........ Can anyone help.

[manichouse]

Hi all,

I'm in a potential dispute with a fitting company over a 2amp fuse!

Backstory - purchased dashcam, professional installation paid for. Installation carried out, camera stops working properly after a week, overheating, not turning on.
Presumed dead fuse, so purchased a 2 amp fuse from Halfords to replace. Replaced fuse, still not working, Camera dead returned and replaced by manufacturer.

New camera connected up to the stand, all working well to this day.

I have had the installation companies master tech out to look at the car today as the installation had been put into the wrong fuse port by original technician which has caused significant damage to the car. Master tech is stating that the 2amp fuse used (Halfords) is higher rated than the 2amp fuse supplied with fitting kit. Can someone tell me please if this can be the case??

All help greatly appreciated!!

 

[Nigel]

There can be differences between fuses with the same amp rating, some are fast blow and some slow blow, and some anti-surge.

But if this is a standard automotive fuse, as used in the car's fuse box, then no, a 2A fuse is a 2A fuse, and 2A should be plenty for a dashcam.

as the installation had been put into the wrong fuse port by original technician which has caused significant damage to the car.

It sounds a little unlikely that adding a dashcam to a fusebox would cause any damage to the car, so it would be interesting to hear the explanation and more detail. It is not something that we hear of happening, even with lots of installs by amateurs, although I wouldn't say that it is impossible.

 

[manichouse]

Attached is the image of the fuses used, the 2 amp one in the assorted pack. Along with the picture I've taken this evening of said fuse sat in the fuse tap.

I can't go into too much detail as its still a live investigation. But safe to say it overloaded the 20amp port (Heated Seats) which then killed the board, the problem is still there after board replacement, seats still not working. Don't know if its because the fuse tap increased to 22amp going through the port or whether the first faulty camera caused the problem, overheating and sending it back to the board...... like I said the master tech is trying to go down the fuse route I feel to get out of any repairs. Car manufacturer states they should never have wired it into that port in the first place, it should have been done one of the spare ports.

Just trying to gather as much info as I can together and do my research!

 

[Nigel]

Don't know if its because the fuse tap increased to 22amp going through the port

If they had tapped into the fuse correctly, then the original 20 amp fuse should have protected the car by limiting the current to 20 amps, connecting a fuse tap incorrectly (wrong way around) can increase the maximum load to 22amp. I would expect the car to cope with 22 amp out of a 20 amp socket though, and it is unlikely the seats take anywhere near 20 amp, and the dashcam is unlikely to have taken more than 1 amp, most likely something else has gone wrong.

I don't understand your picture of the fuse tap, it doesn't look like anything I'm familiar with.

or whether the first faulty camera caused the problem,

The fuses should have protected against any damage to the car caused by the camera. Presumably there is a hardwire kit, which would also have protected the car. And if you actually took 20A into the dashcam, there would have been lots of flames and molten plastic, but the cables would have melted first!

Did the heated seats ever work after the install, my guess is that the installer shorted the fuse holder while testing for power, and didn't admit it...

 

[manichouse]

Thanks for your rapid reply

The seats did indeed work after install took place - June was install, seats then used around Nov/Dec time and they then stopped working. Car manufacturer are blaming the install as that was in that port, it had subsequent effects on my board, the rest of the car was playing up and not working properly, it really upset the electronics!

i just don't know who or what is to blame, car manufacturer is saying not warranty as installer has voided that. Its already cost me over £2k and still not fixed.

 

[Nigel]

Did the installer just add a dashcam and hardwire kit, or is there a dashcam battery (power bank) as well?

A dashcam on its own shouldn't take enough power to have caused the problem. A dashcam battery certainly could.

i just don't know who or what is to blame, car manufacturer is saying not warranty as installer has voided that. Its already cost me over £2k and still not fixed.

I would check on a fourm for your car, if this is a common problem with your particular car model - heated seats killing the fuse board.

There is no point blaming a 2A fuse, that didn't cause the problem.

If the seats were still working and the camera worked then I wouldn't blame the installation.

It could be that the fuse tap is not capable of 20A, and it got very hot, causing the damage. Are there signs of burning or melted plastic around its pins if you pull it out? If so, then you could blame the installer for supplying a faulty or incorrectly specified fuse tap.

Or maybe it was not fully pushed home, or fell partly out, so there was a bad contact that got too hot.

20A (240W) is quite a lot of power, quite capable of making things very hot, hopefully only warm in the case of the seats, but a poor quality fuse tap or badly seated fuse tap could cause the issue.

 

[manichouse]

Yeah, we don't believe its fuse related either, said fuse is still in the car happily powering the new dash cam using the original fuse tap!

There isn't a powerbank, its a Nextbase 622GW, so the camera has the battery internally, on the first camera that used to get ridiculously hot before it went kaput!

Garage haven't given me the ICU board yet, so i will get that and have a look, thank you for all your help

 

[DAP]

There has been a problem lately with fake automotive fuses:

 

[LateralNW]

Attached is the image of the fuses used, the 2 amp one in the assorted pack. Along with the picture I've taken this evening of said fuse sat in the fuse tap.

Interesting problem. I agree with @Nigel that a 2A fuse can only be a 2Amp fuse.
What @DAP has posted is about possible poor quality "fake fuses" that have the same wire gauge for every fuse colour!
Personally I haven't seen it and I buy the Cheap fuses.
You showed a packet from what looks like a reputable seller so I doubt this is any concern for you.

The image you posted of the fuse box has the wrong fuses in it and in the wrong positions.
A white fuse is usually 25A which you have protecting your dashcam. This should be a lower value eg 2A or even 5A as the fuse is really only there to protect the cars wiring for melting or even catching fire.

The other fuse appears to be a red 10A fuse as it is labeled on it. This should be the 25A white fuse. This is the Car Seat heater side.

Here is an image to help with my explanation.
In the image overlay I also draw what a 5A fuse internal shape might look like and what a 25A fuse would look like.
The size of the wire will also be different.

 

[manichouse]

Interesting problem. I agree with @Nigel that a 2A fuse can only be a 2Amp fuse.
What @DAP has posted is about possible poor quality "fake fuses" that have the same wire gauge for every fuse colour!
Personally I haven't seen it and I buy the Cheap fuses.
You showed a packet from what looks like a reputable seller so I doubt this is any concern for you.

The white fuse in my picture is the one used by the reputable company since June last year so I would be shocked if that is part of this fake fuse issue.

The image you posted of the fuse box has the wrong fuses in it and in the wrong positions.
A white fuse is usually 25A which you have protecting your dashcam. This should be a lower value eg 2A or even 5A as the fuse is really only there to protect the cars wiring for melting or even catching fire.

The white fuse is rated 2amp, we thought it odd too, the O/H checked again last night just to double check we hadn't been stupid and replaced with a 25a and no it definitely says 2 on the fuse.

The other fuse appears to be a red 10A fuse as it is labeled on it. This should be the 25A white fuse. This is the Car Seat heater side.

I should have been clearer on my picture, so this is how the fuse is situated now, in a spare 10amp port as fitted by the dealership.

It was in the heated seat port with the fuse tap next to a 25amp originally.

Here is an image to help with my explanation.
In the image overlay I also draw what a 5A fuse internal shape might look like and what a 25A fuse would look like.
The size of the wire will also be different.

View attachment 72387