My homemade fuse saver kit

[signcrafter]

I finally had a reason to make a fuse saver the other day. Our malibu power windows kept blowing a fuse. I've used the headlight trick a couple times but I'm always looking for a new project so I put together a "fuse saver" type kit. And I can't afford the 150 bucks for this kit, http://www.ipatools.com/products/index.php/ipa-8016.html. Today I made a couple extra adapters for it so figure I'll post it to help others. A while back I bought a bunch of weatherpak type connectors off ebay to standardize my mess of homemade electrical testers. I had been making odds and ends over the years but I ran into situations where I needed pieces and parts and had doubles of things and had to rob parts to build new ones. Things like alligator clip ends and lighter plugs and what not. So I decided to make a "plug and play" setup where I could just grab what I needed and add to it as I go and everything would work together. Here is my thread from that, http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=242545&highlight=sunday.

Anyway, the fuse I had that was popping was a 30 amp "box" style fuse. So I just pulled the clear top off and then used terminal release tools to pop the metal terminals out. Soldered on some wires to the terminals and popped them back into the fuse. Then on the other end of the wires I put a weatherpak connector. Then took a fuse holder and put a weatherpak connector on the ends. Then stuck a 30 amp circuit breaker in the fuse holder. Then today I made up some other adapters for different style fuses. I made one with female spade terminals so I can use my fuse adapters for the 3 sizes of blade fuses.

Here's the pictures.

 

[GuyllFyre]

I absolutely love the ingenuity but if you're blowing a 30A fuse in a car, then there's probably at best a 16AWG wire going to whatever is causing the issue.
Better to fix the actual problem than to make fun adapters to work around it.

 

[KRB52]

Ever try this?

 

[signcrafter]

I absolutely love the ingenuity but if you're blowing a 30A fuse in a car, then there's probably at best a 16AWG wire going to whatever is causing the issue.
Better to fix the actual problem than to make fun adapters to work around it.

No No No I didn't make this to work around the fuse blowing! I made this so I could test things and figure out why the fuse was blowing without going through a million fuses. I found a bad passenger door window motor that was frozen or something and drawing to many amps and blowing the fuse. Now the passenger door motor is disconnected and a new fuse in and everything is working good except the passenger window. I have a new motor on order for it.

 

[GuyllFyre]

Oh!
That's much better than what I was thinking you were doing.
Nicely done!

 

[signcrafter]

Ever try this?

Your picture is blank.

Oh!
That's much better than what I was thinking you were doing.
Nicely done!

I figured it was just a mis communication. I'm a fix it right kind of guy. Just had to figure out a way to test everything out without blowing a bunch of fuses. With the circuit breaker I was able to play with all the buttons until I figured out exactly what was blowing the fuses. Narrowed it down to the passenger side window. Then I could take apart the passenger door panel to narrow down exactly what the issue was. Saved a lot of time replacing fuses and trying to guess which part of the power windows was bad or which door was causing the fuse to blow. Really worked great and cost under 20 bucks for everything. The box fuses I got from the junkyard and the quick connects I got off ebay 10 for 6 bucks or so. The spade fuse adapters were about 10 bucks from amazon. Fuse holder and circuit breaker from advance for about 7 bucks. It's a great tool for electrical issues.

 

[bonneyman]

No No No I didn't make this to work around the fuse blowing! I made this so I could test things and figure out why the fuse was blowing without going through a million fuses. I found a bad passenger door window motor that was frozen or something and drawing to many amps and blowing the fuse. Now the passenger door motor is disconnected and a new fuse in and everything is working good except the passenger window. I have a new motor on order for it.

Dang do I hate power windows!

Great troubleshooting tools you made there!

 

[Jeeper]

I did this idea. Bringing this thread from the past back as Signcrafter mentioned it on one my my threads.

 

[FigureItOut]

I like those weatherpack connectors for all the different little custom wiring rigs. I also had a bunch of different stuff like this built with different connectors and finally standardized it to size M DC jacks and plugs.

One of these days I'll rebuild my whole set but use 4mm banana connectors so everything is compatible with a dmm.

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