Howdy Gents,

I'm finishing the wiring for my trailer. 93' 245. I'd like to wire the positive wire form the converter to my fuse panel instead of connecting it directly to the positive battery post.

Can I wire it to the #6 fuse. That fuse is blank on my car. If so should I use a 20 amp fuse in the fuse panel

A 20 amp fuse came with the converter which they say should be mounted directly to the positive battery post.


Thanks in Advance,
HACK

Sounds like you have plenty good trailer lighting advice here in this thread.

My preference, although not my practice so far, would be to have a converter powered by a run to the battery and not the lighting circuits, because the bulb-out sensor is easily overloaded.

In your 93, if fuse 6 is empty, it is also not wired. The early prod 93's did have a separate wire from the powered-side of fuse 6 to the battery junction box on the fender, but when you got those battery terminal-mounted PAL fuses, that wire was done away with.

Instead you could fashion a jumper (short wire with two female spades) to hot up that #6 fuse from the bus which powers 7-10. But it would be easier just to install a more modern blade fuse and do this at the source - near the battery - to protect the most of the wiring. That is what I would do, if I had a trailer which used more than just two dual-filament lamps through the converter.


--
Art Benstein near Baltimore

Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.

Usually converters just splice into the light wiring in the trunk.
Dan

Yes, the old converters just drew power from the tail lights -- but the drawback was that it put extra load on that wiring (trailer lights added to the car's lights); and if the trailer wiring was faulty (as common from rentals like U-Haul), it could blow out the fuses to the car's lighting.

The new generation of converters like he has draws only a minimal signal (a few milliamps) from the car's taillights -- these just tell the module when the trailer light is supposed to be lit. All of the power for the trailer lights actually comes from that (usually green) power wire that he's asking about -- that current is then distributed to the trailer connections and trailer lights according to the aforementioned signals. If there's a short or other screwup in the trailer (I once rented a UHaul in which the brake/turn and tail lights were reversed on one side but correct on the other), it doesn't affect the car's circuitry.

Thanks Ken C I just learned something new today! I actually have one of the new type "short proof" converters sitting on the shelf that I picked up at the bone yard for future use. I am guessing the power supplied to the auto antenna would work fine and save the hassle of running a wire to the battery?

The OP stated he didn't have a power antenna but he probably has a connector with power from the fuse box he could use.

Thanks
Dan

I connected the power wire to the fuse for the heated seats, which my car does not have.

There was no power on fuse #6

The heated seat is 16 amp fuse not a 20 amp which came with the converter.

Hopefully the 16amp will be OK. I don't want to put a larger fuse there as there were two wires running from it and I'm not sure what they are for.

There was an extra spade connecter which I connected the converter box power wire to.

This is for powering what? I assume just the trailer lights and not some brakes?

This is for the positive wire from a power taillight converter. Powers the trailer hitch wiring. Park/Tail, Left/Right turn signals, Brake I connected all of these wires at the right and left rear lamps

The positive wire runs to the battery for Isolation from the cars electrical system. Its a short proof power taillight converter.

Hopkins #46365

The reason I asked is the light converter probably draws maybe .5 amps more that the light on your trailer...so unless those are insanely huge, 5 amps is plenty. I would have tapped into the power lead (no the trigger lead, the actual power lead) for the electric antenna.

Remember, fuses protect wires, not devices. The device is "self regulating" in that it will only use the power it needs (some DC motors are an exception). Fires start when that need exceeds the rating of the wires (generally speaking).

The converter kit package says its short proof protected, self-resetting.

It also says 8.0 amp capacity & do not exceed 8 Amp per output (wire).

I don't have a good understanding of how car electronics work.

I don't have an electric antenna. Maybe the wires are there?