Disabled by a fuse

If you blow a brake fuse in engine compartment 10A it will disable the entire truck. No start, locked in park it was crazy. I have a shell with a 3rd brakelight and interior cargo light. The cargo light didnt work so i checked the fuses(in line) at the shell and had no idea of what lay in wait..like a master of skulduggery there i was, parts stores closing soon.
I went and got a battery, diagnostic tool,fuses etc.. this is a 2020 TRD 4x4 off road 125 of 128. I was stumped. Long story short towed it to dealer, rented a car( under warranty so no charge). No sooner did i get home and the dealer called and said it was ready. He said it was a 10A fuse in engine compartment...wth? It seriously disabled my truck. Now you know what to do if it happens to you.

 

Install a 3 Amp in-line fuse at the tap location for the brake light.

 

By tap you mean where the shell taps into the brakelight for juice?

 

Yes, where the new wires connect to the original truck wires. When ever connecting new wires to the OE wires, best to design it so if there is a problem, a fuse will blow and not affect the OE circuits. By making the fuse smaller than the OE Fuse, the new fuse will blow before the OE fuse blows.

 

Is that simple logic for you or are you 1 clever dude? It makes sense, thank you!

 

I'm an electrician brother.

 

Hey, how much wire can I run in a 1" conduit?

I have a 100Amp Subpanel off my shop's main 200A panel. It's been so long I forget the size, but damn I had a heck of a time pulling cable.

Called up my brother, the electrician, and loved it "yes, you could pull that cable through a 1" conduit but with six elbows you need a pulling machine. Just use a 1.5" conduit and call it a day. I should have called him two weeks earlier!

 

I enjoy using my knowledge to help out friends.

I've been doing maintenance for quite some time now. And it is truly a shade-tree world. But I remember my construction days well. And I try to keep up enough with changes so that I have a place to fall back on if needed (sure hope it's never needed again though).

In the maintenance world "If it fits, It ships". But yes there are rules for conduit fill. Disobeying those rules can make life hard. Sometimes even following the rules can get you into trouble. EX: I was sent to a warehouse job to assist a Journeyman electrician on his first break-out job. He was installing a 150A breaker panel approximately 300 feet across the other side of the warehouse. He followed the "book" for wire size and minimum conduit size for the run. Well, he should have up-sized the conduit for that situation. It took several hours of struggling even with a mechanical tugger just to get the service installed. Boss-man watching the whole time. He got a good ass-chewing that day. Experience helps a little.