Dash light blackout

[tisguy]

I just installed an alpine deck using the alpine fuse box. Ended up soldering the yellow wire (constant power?) to the solder points in the fuse box. On the drive home, after going over a small bump in the road, the entire dash just went black. Speedometer, temperature, rpm guage, all dark. I tried turning on/off headlights, but it remained dark. I'm suspicious of a blown fuse, but after reading other forums, I dont know anymore. Could the wiring for the deck be messed up?

 

[TegSox]

Why did you go to the fuse box for power? Constant power from the radio harness with a butt connector works just as well. Even just a female connector would have been fine at the fuse box, no need to solder.
I'm not sure how you did it, but it sounds like you did indeed blow a fuse. Why not just check your fuses and find out? Check the big ones and small ones under the hood, too.

 

[speedin]

its a 15 fuse under the dash. its labeled dash too i think. but yea, happened to me too. btw DONT DRIVE AT NIGHT, till u fix this. because if u notice your taillights are out too. but yea. under dash 15a (red). most likely u have a exposed wire somewhere (if it happend ramdomly), but if it happed when u turned off (or were messing with) your headunit, then u are attached to a wrong wire

 

[tisguy]

its a 15 fuse under the dash. its labeled dash too i think. but yea, happened to me too. btw DONT DRIVE AT NIGHT, till u fix this. because if u notice your taillights are out too. but yea. under dash 15a (red). most likely u have a exposed wire somewhere (if it happend ramdomly), but if it happed when u turned off (or were messing with) your headunit, then u are attached to a wrong wire

thanks for the help guys. I'll try replacing the fuse and looking for any bare parts of the wires. Is it possible for a bare wire to blow the dash fuse only? and not the head units also?

 

[Ominous G2]

The bare wire would cause a short, making the fuse blow. So if you just put in a head unit, you might want to double check your wiring.

 

[speedin]

thanks for the help guys. I'll try replacing the fuse and looking for any bare parts of the wires. Is it possible for a bare wire to blow the dash fuse only? and not the head units also?

depends on the fuse (amperage rating) , your under dash fuse should blow before the headunit fuse.

 

[tisguy]

i think i fixed it last night. couldnt find a bare wire, and everytime i replaced the 15 amp fuse, it would blow the moment i turned on the headlights. a friend suggested using a 20amp fuse and it worked. lights go on, and the fuse doesnt blow.

 

[speedin]

i think i fixed it last night. couldnt find a bare wire, and everytime i replaced the 15 amp fuse, it would blow the moment i turned on the headlights. a friend suggested using a 20amp fuse and it worked. lights go on, and the fuse doesnt blow.

THAT IS DANGEROUS! its 15A for a reason. it is set at that to prevent the components its connected to to get too big of a serge. this way u might get a 19A serge and blow a component, or overload a wire on a circuit board. u can do it, im just warning you

 

[tisguy]

well i fixed the problem, currently using the 15ampere fuse. had an unconnected wire with the deck harness. now everything works! thanks guys