+The Capt. Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 I have a etrex Vista that has been blowing fuses in my vehicle. In fact, it has done it in 4 different cars. It blows the fuse in the car, not the in-line fuse of the power cord. I've read through several pages of this discussion board to see if anyone had a related problem but missed it if anyone posted. Is this a unique problem? The cord? The fuse? The GPS? The user?!? ~the capt. Quote Link to comment
Couch_Potato Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Sounds more like the car adaptor cord than your gpsr. If it were the gpsr I think that the fuse in the power adaptor cord would blow before the auto fuse would. What's the rating of the 2 fuses? If your gpsr is causing the problem then the lower of the two will go first. My thought is that the adaptor has a lower rated fuse than the car indicating that the problem is in the adaptor before its fuse. I'm not lost! I just don't know where I am. Quote Link to comment
+dwmurphy Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Most hand held units don't run on 12 volts and have to have a voltage divider circuit built into the cable to bring it down to their level. try plugging in just the cable without the GPS and see if the fuse still blows. I'm not Lost, my GPS says I'm right here....no over here......no over here. Quote Link to comment
+Desert_Warrior Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 Plug in the cable without the GPSr attached. If it blows the fuse, it is the cable. Mike. Desert_Warrior (aka KD9KC). El Paso, Texas. Citizens of this land may own guns. Not to threaten their neighbors, but to ensure themselves of liberty and freedom. They are not assault weapons anymore... they are HOMELAND DEFENSE WEAPONS! Quote Link to comment
dave and jaime Posted February 8, 2003 Share Posted February 8, 2003 its the cable, or more specifically the cig. lighter plugin. unscrew the end where the fuse is and make sure that there are no chafed wires or loose springs etc where the ground and hot can arc. the short has to be before the fuse in the cable because the fuse in the cable is 1amp and the cig. lighter fuse is 15amps Quote Link to comment
+EScout Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 If you are blowing the fuse in the car and not the connector, it is probably a problem in the connnector or the shape of the connector itself.(By connector, I mean the piece that goes in the Cigarette lighter socket.) The fuse in the connector is proably only 2 to 5 amp and the fuse you are blowing is 15 to 20 amp, so if it were a short in the cord, the little fuse would go first. It might be the shape of the connector. I have a connector that goes to a cell phone speaker-phone that blows the fuse in my olds. The socket is constructed inside so as to let this happen easier than most. Quote Link to comment
+rayt333 Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 I haven't had this problem with any of my GPS adapters, but I have had this problem in the past with different connectors, the problem was the grounding connector was touching the hot connector, not always mind you but every once in a while they would touch, usally when the cord was moved or pulled and this would short out the two and blow the fuse. Quote Link to comment
+OzzieSan Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 The plastic inside the thing had broke and was puttin 12 volts right to ground. This short was before the fuse in the adapter so the car fuse was the next step. A little glue and electrical tape and the problem is gone. Quote Link to comment
+Team Teuton Posted February 9, 2003 Share Posted February 9, 2003 Whoops, never mind. [This message was edited by Aristocracker on February 09, 2003 at 11:43 PM.] Quote Link to comment
+The Capt. Posted February 10, 2003 Author Share Posted February 10, 2003 Thanks for the input - I e-maile garmin and they dropped a new cord in the mail this morning - I don't care what some people say - I think Garmin is good people! Quote Link to comment
Zarcus Posted February 10, 2003 Share Posted February 10, 2003 My Emap did the same thing, here's what I found out. The adaptor that plugs into the power socket has two side prongs that hold it into the socket. One prong is the ground the other prong just makes for a snug fit. Unscrew the end contact, remove the fuse and metal rings, carefully open the connector body. You will see that one side prong is connected to the circuit board by a wire. This is the ground that completes the circuit in operation. The other side prong isn't connected to anything. It just makes the adaptor fit tight in the power socket. You will also see that this prong is positioned farther forward than the grounding prong. I found that this prong went to deep into my power socket and shorted the circuit. If i just barely pushed the adaptor in until it made contact it would be ok, but the difference between ok and blown fuse was a fraction of an inch. Remove the dummy prong, carefully reassemble the adaptor with the other prong in place, and put the adaptor back together. Problem solved, it pushes into the socket a bit easier, and it is still nice and tight when inserted. You might be able to somehow modify the dummy prong, but you'll never miss it if you just remove it from the adaptor. Quote Link to comment
+The Capt. Posted February 13, 2003 Author Share Posted February 13, 2003 Good call Zarcus! Works like a champ! Thanks! Quote Link to comment
Zarcus Posted February 14, 2003 Share Posted February 14, 2003 Maybe you can explain this to Garmin. I like their products as much as you, but this is just poor design on their part. Quote Link to comment
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