I have a 2003 Lariat F250 and I was trying to wire in an on/off/on toggle switch to control a pair of driving lamps. I wanted to be able to turn the lights on manually, have them be able to shut off completely, and also be able to be turned on with the high beams.

I was using the 15 amp mini fuse #30. In order to get power from this fuse I bought one of those little brass things that goes around the fuse prong and has a male end you can slide a connector over.

Well I had to shove it in pretty good and I think something broke. Because now it wont make a connection unless I put upwards or downwards pressure against the fuse. If I don't have the fuse tap on the fuse it just drops out.

But even with the fuse tap on it still wont work correctly now.

I was using something like this:



How can I fix this?

I think I have a couple other slots that aren't used in the fuse block. Could I rewire it to a different position? How hard would that be?


On a side note, something weird about my toggle switch. it is on/off/on.

The bottom prong I have connected to 12v, the middle was going to the headlight high beam fuse, and the top was going to the relay for the lights I wired in.

This meant when the switch was flipped up, the aux lamps came on with the high beams. Middle position everything off, and the bottom position the lights came on manually.

I essentially wanted that reversed, so I switched the wires between the relay and the high beam fuse on the switch. When I do that it doesn't work at all? Switch them back and it works fine? Why is that?

 

Well I was able to get the fuse to stay in place by bending the tabs inside the fuse block back together and taking some pliers and twisting the legs on the mini fuse. Definitely not ideal and I would like to have it repaired correctly. But at least it's currently working...

However this prevents me from putting the mini fuse tab on it so I still need a place to splice into the high beam wire. Any idea which one and where I can find it?

 

The two bottoms are power sources, the top is load. You swapped your load wire with a power source wire, so then you were tying source to source in one switch position. Is this an illuminated switch? If so, there would be one connector that would go to ground. You say it worked in both "ON" positions with the relay contacts going to the top tab. That needs to stay put and the other two need to swap to reach your goal.

 

There is a light green wire with a black trace that goes from the fuse you mention to the highbeam indicator in the dash. You can tap the wire and get the same electrical signal.

 

I used these they work great.

 

x2, but the fuse cover wont go back on though.

 

As far as the fuse falling out, my step son had the same issue with his Ranger. We just added some solder to the blades of the fuse to make them thicker. Its managed to stay put for about 6 months now.

 

Well the brights stopped working again today so apparently twisting the fuse legs didnt work for long.

I tried thickening the fuse blade terminals but that did not make a difference either. Ugh.

I found a junkyard with a fusebox from an identical truck for $150. I could have it shipped to me.

How hard are they to replace? Plug and play???

 

There should be spare slots on the fuse block. Better to cut and resolder one pair of wires rather than the whole fuse block.