20 amp fuse

clkeller · October 2016

I was wondering if a bad battery could cause you to blow out your 20 amp fuse .I have never had this happen before

Tabaz · October 2016

If you're referring to the in-line blade fuse at the battery, it should be 30 amp. See "fuses for newbies." My dealer had a 20 amp in there which kept blowing until I replaced it with the correct 30 amp.

Photomom · October 2016

Me too - needs to be 30a.

JandJ92010 · October 2016

Mine camp with a 20 also. Every time I pulled it, it would pop, replaced with a 30. No problem since.

RollingLagrima · October 2016

Mine came with a 10amp from the dealer. You can guess how that worked out...

clkeller · October 2016

Thank you so much for the information I will replace it with a 30 amp fuse

clkeller · October 2016

clkeller · October 2016

This is the fuse

RollingLagrima · October 2016

As a follow-up warm fuzzy, I have had no issues since swapping out to a 30amp.

ScottG · October 2016

clkeller said:

I was wondering if a bad battery could cause you to blow out your 20 amp fuse .I have never had this happen before

Fuses blow when the current (amps) flowing through the line exceeds their capacity. Since the current depends on the load from devices, it seems unlikely a bad battery would cause a fuse to blow.

clkeller · October 2016

Ok so what might have caused this to happen any ideas

Verna · October 2016

clkeller said:

Ok so what might have caused this to happen any ideas

@clkeller, unless you have a short, it is unlikely you'll ever find the exact cause.

marknjudy · October 2016

I hope I'm answering what you are asking. So the amount of current flowing through the battery fuse is equal to the sum of all the current draws of anything plugged in and turned on that receives its power from the battery - entertainment system, television, refrigerator in DC mode. If you had nothing turned on, it's conceivable that a 5 amp fuse wouldn't blow - not until you started turning things on that had more and more current draw. A 30 amp fuse is used because it was determined that if everything that can run on DC power was turned on and running, it would not exceed 30 amps. If it does, pop goes the fuse.

So, if it didn't use to blow the fuse before, it's important to know whether it blows now as soon as you put a new fuse in; or if it's only when using a certain device. If it blows immediately, you've got a direct short somewhere - and THAT'S a whole bucket of worms to find and may take someone with knowledge of the trailer's wiring. But if it doesn't blow immediately, systematically start turning on DC devices until the fuse pops and you'll have your culprit. Alternately, if you have access to an ammeter, you can insert it in series with the hot line coming from the battery and look for an overcurrent condition.

I hope this helps and is what you were asking.

ScottG · October 2016

clkeller, what were you doing (if anything) when the fuse blew? Along the lines of what marknjudy said, if you were running several DC devices at once, it's possible you could exceed 20A.

Also, just to clarify, am I correct that this was the fuse at the battery, as opposed to at the converter?

marknjudy · October 2016

Also, don't discount have had something plugged into the cigarette lighter socket underneath the front cabinet or anywhere else you may have one.

And another thing I just thought of: if the fuse blows even when nothing is turned on, it may not be a wiring problem. This like the entertainment center, the television and at least one other thing that I can't think of maybe the CO2 detector are always on in at least a standby mode.

clkeller · October 2016

Thank you

marknjudy · October 2016

Let us know what you find.

clkeller · October 2016

I will thanks

wizard1880 · October 2016

If your T@b's battery is very low, let's say 12.1 or under, just connecting the 7-pin to your tow vehicle can blow the fuse. The battery is basically a sponge at this point and will take any charge it can get!

If you have a 30a, you'll be fine.

Michigan_Mike · October 2016

clkeller said:

I was wondering if a bad battery could cause you to blow out your 20 amp fuse .I have never had this happen before

As noted above it could be from running lets say the Fantastic vent fan, TV/DVD player and pump together (as an example) or anything that would cause an amperage on the line that exceeds the rated 20 amp fuse. A momentary voltage spike, a loose connection (that creates heating) or possibly a short circuit (bare wire rubbing against a ground) would cause something similar to happen. You will probably be fine now after having upgraded to the 30 amp fuse.

20 amp fuse

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