What kind of LEDs are you running? I had 3W LEDs, the good kind...and it still didnt do shit.

 

DO NOT DO THIS. You are overloading the wire and risking a car fire. NEVER go to a higher fuse rating for any reason.

 

not very safe. even if your car doesn't burn down it won't be fun trying to replace the melted wiring.

 

Honda definitely used larger gauge wire than was needed, so there is going to be a safe margin for increasing current load. Just measure the wire gauge at the connector, and look up the max current load for that size using Google.

 

lol that's ridiculous bright!

 

thanks alot ikeyballz for the update!! looking good so far...

 

<Electrician. You can't just take the wire gauge and slap a fuse in it. You need to know the ambient temperature of the wire, and the length before you can calculate the ampacity of the cable. Yes Honda included a safety net, but it would be foolish to remove it. I'm not trying to be harsh, but upping the fuse size is the cardinal sin of electronics. Run a new lead with the proper size wire and a relay.

 

As an electronics engineer with a specialty in telecommunications and 6 years experience doing site engineering for AT&T power systems, I understand the significance of wire size. However, the length of the wire has more to do with the voltage drop than it does safety. The safety of carrying any given amperage is mostly about gauge. If the OP just looks up the current carrying capacity for the gauge wire that he has, he'll be safe. Temperature isn't going to be a significant factor for these lights, since the wires don't travel through the engine compartment.

 

Fair enough. I apologize if I came off as condescending. I'm permanently stuck in motor-feeder calculation mode apparently. I plan on pulling my trunk lining to give it a good cleaning. I'm probably going to snip and strip the reverse leads to get the gauge value. It would be nice to give a definite amp rating for this thread.

 

pics not up yet...but a write up to start. pics will be up when a friend uploads them for me!
https://www.s2ki.com/forums/index.ph...&f=22&t=814893

Gernby and SgtB:

Although I couldn't SEE the wire rating, from what experience I have with wires/wire sizing it appears to be smaller than the recommended gauging. It doesnt seem to have resistive heating. I ran it without the wiring harness for a few days (maybe 30minutes over that period) and it was fine, but I do NOT recommend it anymore which I make clear in the DIY. It would probably work fine until a ground gets rusty/loose in which case the resistance shoots up and the amps flowing through go through the roof and fry the wiring. With proper ground/power, it would probably be fine with a fatter fuse. From what I could tell, the only thing blowing the fuse was the initial surge of power required by the HID igniters, not the steady state draw.