Hi All. I just installed a 10 inch subwoofer and amp in my car and I keep blowing the 20A fuse that controls radio and accessory lighter power source. This is the second time in 2-3 weeks. What are your recommendations on what I should do to keep from doing this over and over again. Thanks

 

find what is drawing more current than 20 amps...check your wiring...something might be contacting metal...theres not much i/we can suggest w/o a lil help on your part....how did u wire everything up

 

I had it installed by Best Buy. If I wanted to not mess with them and figure this out on my own, where would the most likely metal contact occur? In front of the steering wheel, in the cabin, or behind the cabin?

 

your first mistake was going to best buy...your second mistake was going to best buy...your third mistake is knowing 0 about how they set it up...i will try to help you nonetheless...since your blowing the in dash fuse and not the fuse on the radio or amp I am going to guess that it is coming from the factory harness that plugs to the radio...there is metal all behind the radio...i would check there...if it were the amp power wire it would blow the amp fuse or the inline fuse on the big red wire connected to the amp...if it were something from the radio only the radio would go out more than likely blowing the fuse on the back of the radio...without seeing the setup and knowing what all u have its hard to diagnose...do u have an aftermarket radio?

 

My guess is that they didn't pull out all the spare wires on the HU's wiring harness. There's probably a floating wire behind the HU that's contacting ground and causing the fuse to blow.

Pull the HU and use some heatshrink to cover the end of any loose wire. Without actually being there to work on it, it's hard to say about anything else.

(I know, I had the same problem when I first installed my new HU b/c I wasn't paying attention).

 

you don't pull out spare wires from a harness bud, just cut them off at a lower length then tape them off

 

Ok, maybe you don't. I do. I have for years. See, I use amps and the speaker wires wind up just being a bunch of clutter - so I pull them. The same way I've seen my professional installer friends do it.

There's nothing wrong with doing it. It keeps you from worrying about shorts and gives more space behind the HU. If I need the wires at any time in the future, I can always go buy new harnesses...

 

Why don't you just use a stronger fuse.

DO NOT DO THIS AND PLEASE THINK BEFORE GIVING ADVICE. _-NFRs2000NYC

 

Using a stronger fuse is rarely the way to go. The rating on the fuse is set that way for a reason, if it's blowing, it means there's a problem (that's why we have fuses in the first place...)

 

even thought there is no question mark i hope this is a question and not a suggestion...to the OP do not use a larger fuse, find the problem!...to t-bone, u dont use a larger fuse cuz its like putting a band-aid on a cut that needs stitches...u put a larger fuse then next thing u know u blow all your interior lights...as stated, its at 20a for a reason