Alright, it seems like this never got posted, so I'll post it again. Goodthing I saved it caues I lost power, we got slammed with a thunderstorm.

I was working on my friend's 98 Max rewiring the corners to utilize the 27 watt side of the bulb, but I had the problem that I kept on blowing fuses on his car. I thought I had done something wrong and that the wire kept grounding out. This one had me really puzzled, cause my rewired corners have been rewired for over a year with no problems at all. There was one variable that I did not account for, was that he was running side marker lamps. I got technical and brought out my basic EE skills. In a 14.4 volt system, one watt is equal to about .06944444 amps. Since they are light bulbs, the tolerance isnt as tight as say a computer's power supply. Anyway, the tail light fuse is 7.5 amps, and it includes the corner light, the front marker light, the rear marker light, tail lights and the license tag lights. On my car (without side markers), with the rewired wattage of 27 watts and all the other bulbs using aboug 5 watts, this comes out to about 104 watts being consumed. Since watts= amps x volts, here 104 watts divided by 14.4 draws about 7.2 amps it is not enough to blow the 7.5 amp fuse. Now since my friend has 10 measily additional watts for his side markers, this brings the equation to 114 divide by 14.4 equals 7.919 amps that WAS enough to blow the 7.5 amp fuse. No wonder I was sitting there scratching my head why his fuse kept blowing. It also explains why when he took out one of the 27 watters (which we thought was grounding out), it didnt blow, cause that would have put him well under 7 amps. We replaced it with a 10 amp fuse, and so far its still working. I believe the 10 amp fuse should be OK for his wires, but I told him since we did up the wattage to check the wires to make sure nothing is melting. So, if you rewire your corners and have side markers or additional lights wired to the tail light circuit and you scratch your head why its blowing, this is the reason why. All it took was an additional 10 watts.

This is exactly what happened to me. I kept blowing fuses every 2 mins. I asked the local autozone guy if I could just replace the 7.5a fuse with a 10 but he said that was not safe casue it not only will melt wires but in some cases start a fire.

so if i put 18watt license playe bulbs in I will have problems???

Man, you're good!
 

I'm glad you (and of course DBM) own a Maxima:)

DW

if you blow fuses then put a higher fuse in.. doh

But the simple fact is that he shouldn't be blowing fuses. You have an electical problem.

no the simple fact is with the 4th Gen Maxima everytime you change the wattage/voltage in the electrical system the L. Tail Fuse will blow.. because it sense a problem with the electrical balance in the system...

so its ither you DON'T rewire or you up the fuse.. its really a simple concept

Uh, OK, but I have never blown a fuse, and I think most others haven't either.

your car is a 95 .. it was built for the light to turn on and off .. i never blew a fuse on my 95 until i rewired my bumper indicator lights to stay on and blink.. rewiring my corners never blew a fuse.. however i blew a fuse imediately on my 97 when i did the cornering light..

You rewired or just clipped the nib on the bulb? The nib cutting is MUCH simpler.

which one? 95 or 97?

95 i snipped the wires and switched the positive wires
97 i pulled the socket out and solidered the wires on the opposite end.. (sorry I am old skool :o)

I meant the 97. Old skool in this case=not cool.

old skool meaning i did it before the brain storming idea came about to snip the knob.. or slob the knob :naughty:

I find it hard to believe that you didn't come up with the idea of slobbing the knob.:laugh:

not my forte' sorry :o

I did the rewire mod.....and i too had to problem w/the fuse blowing...i ended up putting a 10 in....but low and behold...the wires melted..and actually started smoking...it totally ruined the wires on the passenger side light..but the drivers side didn't....so now i have to buy a new wiring harness....I think after i get the new harness...ill just clip the nub off the light....oh well sh!t happens

Sorry, had you and Gayward guy confused for a second there...

if your wires were melting.. that means that you didn't soilder them properly and your connections were touching..

The wires should not melt. If you put a 10 Amp fuse in there, there is still sufficient protection against it grounding out. Running the amps at .4 amps higher then what the original fuse was made for isnt too big a deal. I checked the wiring and they all look about 18 gauge at least. My rewired corners have not melted anything in over a year on my car and I'm still observing my friends car to make sure everything is OK on his car.

And, this only applies to 97-99 maximas with rewired corners AND side marker lights. Not 95-96s.