Piggy-back Fuses

[MartynS]

I'm thinking of getting a dashcam (mobius) and hardwiring it but was wondering:

1. How safe are piggy-back fuses? Fitted one way round it makes it possible to draw more current through the car wiring than originally intended (up to the sum of the two fuses), while fitted the other way round although the total current can't increase as both circuits first go through the original fuse it reduces whats available to the main circuit by whatever the other one takes. Neither sound ideal!

2. What are the warranty and insurance implications? I can't see DIY modifications to the fusebox going down well with ford or the insurance company!

[Stoney871]

Darn site safer than scotchlocks or twisting wires together.

As long as you don't load the circuits over the rating of the connected device or any wire you use there should be no problems with using fusetaps.

[stef123]

To add to the above, the thing to remember is that dashcams, led lighting, DRLs etc are not drawing huge amounts of power - in most cases it's probably milliamps and should be fused accordingly. So therefor the additional loading on the wiring is negligible.

[jace1969]

Mate they are safe,i have 2 running on mine for a nice while.

I have cicgi lighter connection on one and tracker on another (tracker 24/7)

Just make sure your joining are not just 2 wires twisteg together and tape,use the right stuff.

[Phil 87]

I didn't realise the original fuse affects the new circuit so thanks for pointing that out. I have mine connected to the rear wiper fuse slot with I think a 2 amp fuse for the dashcam, and no problems so far.

As for insurance, I think you just have to have a receipt to say that the dashcam was "fitted" by a professional car mechanic or something like that which I have for the wiring. But the thing is, if the piggyback damages the fuse box you could just put everything back to standard and nobody would know. It's only if the thing starts a fire that you could have insurance problems.

Edit: I should add that my insurance is with AXA and they give a discount if you have a dashcam, and I think their policy says something about the dashcam needing to be fitted or wired in by a professional, hence what I said above.

[jace1969]

I asked my insuranse about it and said it's fine fitting it youself as it's an aftermarket item and as long

as you follow the right way to do it not a bodge job.

Mine is double fused on both (my choice) with 2 amp fuses on all 4.

As for new cars and warranty i don't know as mine aint under ford warranty.

[Loonytaz]

I have had add a circuit for my dash camera and sat nav since oct 2014 not had an issues with it at all

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

[MartynS]

Cheers for the replies guys, need to get this camera ordered now!

[stef123]

more info on fuse taps here:

http://www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/73758-introduction-to-fuse-tapspiggybacks-pic-heavy/

[Loonytaz]

Picture of wiring and camera installed

Sent from my iPhone using Ford OC

[Figgis41]

my mobius was fitted by a ford tech and he used a piggyback fuse from the ignition feed as a lot of stuff on the dash etc goes in to sleep mode when power off, cam also stays on when stop start is used.

Tech said there would be no issues what so ever and my insuarance just made note of the mod and asked me to email them a review of the camera after i had it running for a few months.