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  • Ciggerette lighter/12v power.

    Why you shouldnt draw lots of power out of that ciggerette lighter:
    I am doing a lot of wiring in my new project festiva and happened to look at the back of the fuse panel. There is a very large wire-12 or maybe even 10awg feeding the accessory plug/ cig lighter, it does not feed anything else. 15amp fuse and then you get a 18 or maybe even 20awg wire going to the cig lighter. This makes no sense to me. That wire cannot handle the 15 amps that its fused for. This was the beginning of my electrical problems in my last festiva. The previous owner had used something that took a lot of power out of the cig lighter and the wire melted. It runs with the radio wires so there was no radio when i bought it and i had to re-wire to get it to work. Had several more electrical fires over the years resulting from that. Lots of re-wiring ended up happening.
    So anyway, dont use anything that takes a lot of power out of that plug unless you run a larger wire. I would suggest a smaller fuse at least.
    The 2 blue wires by my thumb are the ones were talking about.

    Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

  • #2
    I didn't know this thanks for the heads up

    Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
    Festiver
    93 L find/5 speed
    BP/g15mr swapped
    Aspire brake swapped
    Enough little mods I can spend a week trying to remember and still not get them all
    stripped and sold due to rust

    89 festie
    rustful
    maybe v8 maybe field buggy wont know till the time comes

    93 festie
    advanced suspension
    kai/skeeter camber
    b3t/g15mr

    I will own a bpt cd-5 gtx clone one day

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    • #3
      ryan, you can add a heavy gauge wire with a 30A fuse if you want. There are empty spaces in the fuse block. I added power windows, power locks and cruise control. I just spliced in. No problemo.
      I don't have a computer. If I had not wanted switched power, I could have wired a large fuse link + separate heavy gauge wire all the way in to the fuse panel.
      Last edited by bravekozak; 01-14-2017, 10:58 PM.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by Festiver View Post
        I didn't know this thanks for the heads up

        Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
        No problem, having a wire burn up inside a harness creates endless problems that i hope other people dont have to deal with.
        Another tip is never use garbage fuses. Name brand bussman atc fuses are like 15 cents at rockauto. I bought dollarstore fuses when i was 17. Cig lighter feed wires were already messed up so i put a 10amp fuse in there to be 'safe'. It shorted, fuse did not blow. It melted all the plastic off the fuse and i had red plastic dripped everywhere in the fusebox but fuse didnt blow, had another electrical fire and more burnt wires.... its not worth the pennies you save buying no-name fuses.

        Originally posted by bravekozak View Post
        ryan, you can add a heavy gauge wire with a 30A fuse if you want. There are empty spaces in the fuse block. I added power windows, power locks and cruise control. I just spliced in. No problemo.
        I don't have a computer. If I had not wanted switched power, I could have wired a large fuse link + separate heavy gauge wire all the way in to the fuse panel.
        Yes, cool. what are the pins that you would have to buy to go in there called?
        Im running bigger wires from a manual switch to the cigerette lighter so i can leave it on with the car off if i need to. I was going to use the wires that were going to the cig lighter for the stuff i needed switched with the key: 2 cooled seatcovers, fans under the kids carseats, dashcam, power to gauges but not their lights, power to tpms and ammeter. But that wire is way too small, so if i can figure out how to get those pins out of the fusebox and buy new ones i will run a heavier wire from there. Otherwise ill have to cut the feed wire and do an inline fuse.



        Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

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        • #5
          I made a tool to extract fuse terminals, but I found it was too finicky.
          I just snipped out another similar fuse block at a junk yard and sawed open the block. It's a lot quicker. Then, I played doctor and unbent the crimps. Afterwards, I recrimped my own wire onto it. You have to decide if you want to install a single, double or triple fuse terminal. I already asked easternbeaver if he knew where to buy fuse block terminals. He did not.
          Last edited by bravekozak; 01-15-2017, 11:23 PM.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by bravekozak View Post
            I already asked easternbeaver if he knew where to buy fuse block terminals. He did not.
            That's odd, considering that Jim (EastBeav owner) builds and sells a wiring harness intended to power two specific fuse panels (one of which he sells -- the PC8). I should know; I own the harness and one of the related panels.

            Harness (click)
            Fuse panel (click - Amazon.ca)
            Fuse panel (click - much lower U.S. pricing)

            I used the linked harness and fuse panel on a now-sold motorcycle. It provided excellent integration and functionality. I still have the harness and panel in my parts box, waiting for the next application.

            Not sure why so many goods are considerably more pricey north of the border...

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            • #7
              Originally posted by bravekozak View Post
              I made a tool to extract fuse terminals, but I found it was too finicky.
              I just snipped out another similar fuse block at a junk yard and sawed open the block. It's a lot quicker. Then, I played doctor and unbent the crimps. Afterwards, I recrimped my own wire onto it. You have to decide if you want to install a single, double or triple fuse terminal. I already asked easternbeaver if he knew where to buy fuse block terminals. He did not.
              Yikes, thats a lot of work!



              Originally posted by Shin Hayata View Post
              That's odd, considering that Jim (EastBeav owner) builds and sells a wiring harness intended to power two specific fuse panels (one of which he sells -- the PC8). I should know; I own the harness and one of the related panels.

              Harness (click)
              Fuse panel (click - Amazon.ca)
              Fuse panel (click - much lower U.S. pricing)

              I used the linked harness and fuse panel on a now-sold motorcycle. It provided excellent integration and functionality. I still have the harness and panel in my parts box, waiting for the next application.

              Not sure why so many goods are considerably more pricey north of the border...
              Because they can, thats why... :/

              Looking at the electrical diagram it appears that the power mirrors and radio are also run off that same ciggerete lighter wire. Next time my car is in the shop it will pull the fuse and confirm that, but that would explain why the radio didnt work when i bought my first festiva. it looks like if i cut the wire that feeds the cig lighter fuse i will have to splice the old output wire in again as well.

              Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

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