Camper Shell Brake Light Blowing Fuse

So I hooked up my camper shell brake light to the drivers side tail light. I used T Tap connectors to connect to the brake light electrical line and ground line. This seemed to work really well but my fuse has blown twice since installing. It did not happen right away when using the brakes. The brake lights would work fine for some short drives to the store and while testing during hook up. I'm trying to determine what the issue might be. The camper shell is an older snug top, not sure the model. 2002 3.4 Tacoma. 15 amp fuse for this circuit. Anyone have any ideas on how to diagnose this issue?

 

Crappy ground, or, overloading the circuit. I'd double check the ground for the rear harness, and if possible add a good one with a snowflake washer under the connector.
Snowflakes are good things in some circumstances. LMAO
Zim

 

OP- did you figure this out?

 

The problem went away so i really have no idea what was going on. Hopefully isn't coming back.

 

Darn, I’m having the same issue on a new Tacoma with a new Snugtop. Was hoping you had a magic bullet haha. Thanks

 

I should've said that I believe it was related to the ground, but don't really have evidence to back that up. Good luck.

 

I'd suspect ground or a short

 

Hit up @daveeasa he has a magic bullet for wiring it for sure.
Is you fuse blowing right away, or just after being in use for a bit? What type of taillight bulbs do you have? You might be close to overloading the circuit, and as stuff heats up, the resistance value can change, causing higher amperage pull. Just a thought.

 

It’s done both (right away and after a bit). Truck is 100% stock other than the Snugtop. They tapped into the brake light and ground wires in the drivers side tail light and ran a hotwire from the topper to the positive terminal of the battery to power an led dome light in the topper.

 

The fuse that blows is the ECU IG NO.2 which is critical to all kinds of functions within the truck (climate control, windows, traction control, ABS, Forward collision warning, cruise control...and others) so having the topper blow this fuse is a major issue.

I'm thinking it must be something to do with the "hot" wire going from the battery, perhaps it has a short, bad connection that comes loose at times, or it's grounding out somehow that is intermittent.

Topper wiring is tapped into the drivers side brake light and ground wires and has a hit wire that runs to the positive side of the battery. The topper has 3 fuses that are not blowing and the hot wire has a fuse near the terminal.

On Saturday, the fuse (ECU IG NO 2) blew about 1-2 minutes after driving (though it had been good for 2 weeks, it also did this the same day I got it installed and the installer looked at it, replaced the Snugtop electrical box and the fuse in my Tacoma and all seemed good).

Here's what I have tried:

1. I tried to just replace the blown fuse on Saturday, the new fuse blew immediately upon turning the ignition.
2. I then unplugged the Snugtop connection in the topper and put in a new fuse, it blew that one immediately upon turning the ignition.
3. Next, I undid the hotwire on the positive terminal of the battery, replaced with another new fuse, and it did not blow and hasn't blown again since (though prior to Saturday it was blowing intermittently so who knows).

I'm not electrically savvy, but based upon these results I'm thinking it is a bad hotwire? The hotwire has its own fuse, but it is a 10 AMP and the IG NO.2 fuse in the truck that is blowing is a 7.5 AMP.