popped another fuse

daniel2229

Seaman
Joined
May 4, 2007
Messages
71
Took the boat to Norris Lake for some fishing and tubing with the kids and grandkids. Got the boat packed and started to blowup the tube with the 12 volt jack on the dash board. The motor started to work, then stopped.

Looked under the dash and found the fuse to the 12 volt jack had blown. It was a 7.5 amp fuse. Put another one in, and it blew too.

Carried the tube up the hill, whew!, and blew it up with the car 12 volt jack with no problem. Had to repeat the process with the car each day. The blower worked fine on my Hyundai Santa Fe and my daughter's Honda Oddesey.

Went to Advanced Auto to get bigger fuses, but the guy at the counter said that 7.5 should be sufficient for a 12 volt accessary jack. Not wanting to burn up any wiring, I have not yet replaced the fuse until I can get a more reliable answer.

I hate to haul the boat the 45 miles round trip to the dealer for something I am able to do easily.

Any thoughts or similar experiences?
 

PondTunes

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 7, 2007
Messages
387
Re: popped another fuse

How many amps is your blower rated at? That should tell you if theres a problem. If your blower is rated at 10 amps and you are running it on a 7.5 amp circuit that would be why your fuse is blowing. If the 7.5 amp fuse was installed from the factory I would ask them what they recommend doing. Most every 12v outlet I've seen in a car was a minimum of 10a. Your boat wiring/socket could possibly handle more depending on the actual socket, wire running to the socket etc. Another solution might be to buy an aftermarket socket (one rated for 10amps or so), install it in place of the factory socket and use some 12-14 awg wire to run it back to the fuse block to pick up power. This way you would know it's not undersized/over fused.

The third option is take it to the dealer and let them fix it :)
 

daniel2229

Seaman
Joined
May 4, 2007
Messages
71
Re: popped another fuse

Pondtunes,

I called Airhead's tech department, and was able to find out the amperage needs for that particular unit is 15 amps minimum. There was nothing on the unit itself nor in the literature that came with it that specified the size of the fuse needed.

So, I think your idea of replacing my socket with an aftermarket unit rated for 15 amps is a very good one. Do you think a socket is made rated for 20 amps? What size wiring would have to accompany that setup? Do you think it is even necessary to replace the socket? It was the wiring that kept me from going with a larger fuse while on vacation.

I really didn't have any problem installing my Hummingbird 565. It hooked up just fine, so maybe this replacement will be just as easy.

Thanks so much for your input!
 

PondTunes

Petty Officer 1st Class
Joined
Jun 7, 2007
Messages
387
Re: popped another fuse

There are several calculators/tables around I know i've seen them numerous times on this forum but 12-14 AWG wire should be more than adequate to pull a max of 20 amps. There is also one located at http://www.bcae1.com/wire.htm I'm betting the pump doesn't pull 15 amps all the time and it seems that most of the accessory sockets I am finding online are 10a.

Your socket will probably hold another few amps of load its obviously over 7.5 but I don't see a simple inflation pump pulling 15 amps constantly. It's probably rated at 10 amps like most other sockets.
 
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