Tail lights blow fuse (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Sep 9, 2006
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Location
Eagle River AK
So I recently installed a stereo and come to find out it is causing my fuse for the tail lights to blow when I turn on the lights. I used the same Pyle inverter that everyone uses for my switched power, but used a 24V to 12V cigarette lighter adapter thing for my 12V constant for the stereo memory. I basically took it apart and just used the circuitry inside. It sounds rigged but it's not its all soldered and properly housed. But I have narrowed the tail light issue down to this piece. And I don't get why. First I took power from cig lighter and then clock. Both sources pop my taillight fuse. I then tapped the main power to the fuse block and got the same results. What do you guys think?
 
Did you get the correct wires? Both the lighter and clock have switched power and instrument panel light wires going to them. I do not think the lighter socket is hot 100% of the time.
 
The clock has a constant live that's how it keeps time when the vehicle is off. The stereo was working great, I had memory and switched power working fine. Somehow it pops the tail light fuse when the stereo is hooked up though which I don't understand why.
 
I'll clarify this, the clock does have a constant hot but it also has a switched hot and a a light feed that control the illumination of the clock. However , this may be focused in the wrong place.

It seems to me that somehow in installing the stereo, you have created a direct path to ground for one of the lighting circuits. Does your stereo have a connection for lighting to sense when to dim the display? If so, how did you hook that up?
 
It might but I didn't hook that up it was covered up all factory like waiting for the labels to be removed
 
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I verified which wire was to what. I agree that I am shorting the lights with a grounding issue I just don't understand why, when I know at least at one point I went from a complete lone source and it still blew.
 
Well I figured it out. I had used what I thought was the ground for the cig lighter, but what I was using was the cig lighters light. So when I turned the lights on it would short and blow the fuse. It was kind of a duh moment, why I didn't just ground to the chassis is beyond me.
 

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