Just got my GPR LED installed or so I think.
I purchased:
1 - 5mm Orange LED w Holder (RS p/n 276-0272)
1 - Automotive Inline Fuse Holder for 5x20mm fuses Rated 5A at 250 VAC (RS p/n 270-1238)
1 - Slow-Blow 1/2 Amp, 250 Volt Fuses (RS p/n 270-1018 WRONG!) These are the big fuses and I needed the little fuses. Stupid high school kids...they should make sure us customers don't do stuff like that!
1 bunch - The tiniest wire I could find at work. It is the lowest size on the stripper IIRC. (22? I would say one size bigger than the LED wire) It came 2 wires wrapped around themselves.
1 - Red Ring connectors
1 - Yellow Ring Connector (I tripled up the wire in this connection so if fit)
3 - Red Butt Connectors

I installed everything like I THOUGHT it was to be installed, but now I am blowing fuse (I only had one mini fuse after I got a box of wrong ones.)
My wife was assisting so I could hold a drill bit in the fuse holder to complete the circuit...I know...and she said the orange LED came on with the WTS light just as it should. Life is good. So we know everything is hooked up properly (or so I think)
I went down stairs and scrounged up a mini fuse. Went to try it for myself and NOTHING! I went under the hood and I blew the fuse. Just when I thought the install couldn't go worse. (I scratched up my pod in the drilling process and beat up the LED while trying to turn it, but that is another story. I do have pics.)

Why am I blowing fuses???
- I hooked the wire to the big out terminal on the solenoid under the hood
- I tripled up the wires in the yellow loop
- I doubled up the wired off the LED
- I used a fuse holder rated for 5A

Those are the areas I can see. Everything else looks fine. I only know enough about electricity to be dangerous (As you can see, an electrician would not double up wired in a connector) Let me know what you guys think.
Thanks!

 

why did you run such small wire?

 

I thought I heard it didn't matter what size wire you ran bc you were only pulling 5 or 6 ma through it. That and I figured you didn't need bigger bc the LED had TINY wires on it.

 

im with David..use one bigger wire for power to the light....some LED's only work wired one way...is it wired right??

 

Yeah, the wife said it worked when I completed the circuit with a drill bit.

How can they get away with tiny wire on the LED itself if you can't run it the whole way?

 

Resistance. Imagine friction in a water pipe. You might be able to push 10 gpm through a 1/4" piece of tubing if the tubing is only 1/2" long, but if you try to do that with a piece of 1/4" tubing that is 20 feet long, it's going to take a whole lot more pressure up front to get the flow through the tubing due to the longer time it is experiencing friction on its way from one end to the other.

Electrically speaking, the amps required to push too much electricity through a very thin wire generates heat, and when there is enough heat, your little fuse is going to blow.

 

Outstanding explanation Pete! I'm a licensed electrician and I couldn't have explained it any better!!!

 

Sorry I missed you guys. I was at my fire banquet tonight. You could compare it to fire stuff, too! 1 3/4" line will take a lot more pump pressure than 2 1/2" to get the same pressure at the nozzle.

Can I get away with a higher amp fuse if let's say, a liscensed electrician makes sure I am not getting too high on load.

I can get you the exact gauge and length of the wire and the draw on the LED. If it will be just too much load through the little wire I can always restring it. The problem is it took me months to do this one

 

Don't put in a larger fuse!! The wire is only rated for a certain ampacity. Even though the led is drawing limited current you will still run the risk of burning up the wire. If you are putting in the proper size fuse now and it is "matched" for the wire size and it is blowing then you have too much of a voltage drop and thus increasing the amperage. Your best bet is to run a larger guage wire. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but a little more work is a lot better than burnt wiring!!

 

Lets start over at RS. get a 12V fused LED with 18ga tails already on it, buy a spool of 18ga wire (you choose the color) and it is a whole lot easier.

2 connections from LED. One to GPR, one to ground. it will turn on when gpr is enegized.

 

That is my question. What is 20 ga wire rated for at whatever ampacity I am running.
I never said I was running the proper sized fuse...I just ran a little one...

I am pretty sure I am running 20 ga. I can't believe the voltage drop is that significant between 18 and 20 ga. I guess that is why I never wanted to be an electrician...

 

Sflem849 - where are you located in SE WIS? I'm in Union Grove. Stop on over and I could look at your setup. I'm no electrician but my LED install went fairly smooth. Mine took about 30 minutes. PM me if your interested.

 

I am pretty sure I am running 20 ga. I can't believe the voltage drop is that significant between 18 and 20 ga. I guess that is why I never wanted to be an electrician...[/QUOTE]

Ok it took me a while to find this one. I was'nt sure of the ampacity of the wire so I had to look in the code book. The only place I could even find 20 ga was in fixture wires, there it is listed as 5A. In general practice 18 & 20 ga wires are usually used for control wiring and not power. T-stats are usually 18 or 20. Voice or Data lines are 20 or 22 ga. I would run at least an 18 ga wire as Brandon had said earlier. Voltage drop can do some strange things. Dc voltage in particular. Good Luck I hope that this has helped you out!

 

Thanks, Pete. I would rep you for that one but have given out too much in the last 24 hours.

 

I Rep for both of us Scott.