Thanks again Luke and Unofix, more great help, really appreciate that, you're great guys 🙂

regarding Halfords they said they aren't allowed to open the bonnet and disconnect the battery, I guess incase someone blames them for any damage under the bonnet.

I particularly thought it was neat the way they tied the lead to a trained rat and sent it behind the centre console to route my TomTom cable:-) 🙂

They aren't allowed!?

Pardon?

They need to be prosecuted. Businesses have a duty of competence. They are working without regard for the safety of your property and in direct contravention of all proper procedures. The hidden damage they may have done is incalculable.

18 hours ago, unofix said:

Hello CSC, first I would just like to say Luke has done an excellent job of explaining the situation. Many years ago when I first came across these piggyback fuse holders I realised then the potential problems with using them. First unless you can test which side of the exsisting fuse is the supply side and which side is the load side you can't know which way round to fit the piggyback fuse holder.

In answer to your question, not all of the empty spaces will have a supply. Next if you find an empty space with a supply you will need to establish if the supply is on all the time (not what you want) or if it is switched via the ignition.

(1) What I would suggest is remove the piggyback adapta for the TomTom. Put the original fuse back in the fuse box.

(2) Next remove the piggyback fuse adapta from the end of the TomTom wire and get rid of it.

(3) Now pull the piggyback adapta for the Dashcam from the fuse box. The piggyback adapta is joined to the dashcam wire by a blue crimp. Cut the crimp off both the piggyback adapta and the dashcam wire.

(4) Next strip the end of the dashcam wire and the TomTom wire and twist together. Now strip the end of the piggyback wire. Get a new Blue crimp (Halfords sell them 🤣) and put the dashcam/TomTom wires in one end and squeeze the crimp closed. now in the other end of the crimp put the wire from the piggyback adapta and squeeze the crimp closed.

All done. You now have one piggyback fuse adapta ready to supply both devices. Put the piggyback fuse adapta back in the fuse box where it was for the dashcam.

Thats you finished. The dashcam and TomTom will share one of the fuses in the piggyback adapta, and the original circuit will have its own fuse. Sorted !!

 

19 hours ago, Luke4efc said:

Each piggyback has 2 fuses; the original one for the circuit you tapped off, and the new one for whatever you're adding on. Remove this fuse on each piggyback. 

Ive attached a wiring diagram to explain the reasons. Imagine you swap points A and C, the current then flows through both fuses to get where it needs to go, meaning you could potentially blow the lower fuse if you pull too much current on both circuits at the same time.

Hence why I said the easiest way to test it is by removing the lower fuse, therefore you know whether the current is passing through fuse 1 to get to fuse 2.

 

19 hours ago, Jollyandy said:

Without looking, I can’t remember which fuse I used for my dashcam, but it looks like the Tomtom is using a spare fuse location, but like Luke said fuse looks to be upside down. There’s no reason why your dashcam and Tomtom can’t share the same supply, as the current draw will be small, even with both on together. However this needs checking, as it doesn’t look like your Tomtom feed is protected by a fuse.

Well guys, I owe you a massive thanks for being kind enough to share your hard earned knowledge with me.

Today I went and started work on following your advice to the letter.As quoted, and works a charm.

The Tomtom goes on and off with ignition as does the Dashcam which it always has done. So both devices now sharing the Dashcam piggy back, which I note is connected to the Park assist fuse ( I dont have park assist fitted)

I also removed the bottom fuse on the piggyback and everything still worked, so as per your instructions, it didn't  need to rotate it 180 degrees.

the lower fuse is 10amp and the piggyback one looks like 5amp.

You guys rock, many thanks 🙂

Also I have booked in my Fiesta with a main dealer, I told them I had a Powertrain warning message while driving along, and want it checking under warranty.  I didnt however tell them I just had a TomTom fitted.

I'm sure no harm was done by Halfords but still worth a check I guess.

Thanks again guys 🙂

 

Glad you got it sorted!