Anyone knows what kind of fuse are these and where can I get it?

Thanks!!!

doesn't look like any fuse i've ever seen (and i've installed a lot of stereos and alarms). It looks like what someone used to tap a power source off of another fuse. It apears to be a female and spade connector with the crimping part cut off to slide in with the other fuse. Where does the black cable go to?

That looks more like a fuse tap. You can probably get it at Radio Shack. One thing you need to be careful of is that what ever you are powering off of it along with the original accessory do not exceed the amperage rating of the fuse.

The black cable goes to the roof lights.

incogneato, thanks I'll be checking out radio shack tommorow.

I never liked those type of fuse taps, you have to put it on the right side of the fuse or you won't have any circuit protection without addding add'l fuses.

I found this one, a fuse within a fuse

noob question: where does one connect the positiobe wire to?

positive wire of what? Need more details man

Say I want to connect an accessory to this fuse, I connect the Negative/Hot wire to the fuse, right?

Where do I connect the other wire to in order to close a circuit?

I like the looks of the fuse within a fuse. Great idea for a simple fused connection!

Thanks for the link!

GrgX, as MiskyWhisky and incogneato point out, it's a dangerous way of tapping power on a fuse panel. It's dangerous because you have to make sure you put it in on the correct side of the fuse you're tapping. Put it on the wrong side and things may tend to get a little hot, so to speak.

If you need to do this there are several different fuse taps on the market that do this safely. The one you pointed out is one example. The point is that the power you tap needs to have it's own fuse and that's the purpose of these fuse taps. They not only give you the fused protection for the original circuit (the one you're tapping, although they don't really "tap" into the circuit, just the power bus the fuse is plugged into), but they also give you a second fused circuit as well.

Where do you get them? Don't try Radio Shack. They won't have them. Tried them once when I needed one and they don't carry stuff specifically for cars. Try Autozone or Advance Auto, of some other auto parts store.

dz108, As far as where the negative/hot wire goes to complete the circuit, that's not how it works. I think you may be thinking about house wiring.

In vehicles (here anyway), positive is hot and you complete the circuit by simply connecting the other end to a ground (just about any metal part of the vehicle), which then returns via the chassis to the negative side of the battery. Say you want to add a widget that needs 12V power. The "hot" wire comes off the battery (or some other 12V source) gets connected to the "+", or positive side of the widget and then the "-", or negative side of the widget then gets connected to a ground, thus completing the circuit.

HTH!

-G-

I have that wire on my 04. It leads to the temp/compass mirror.

Was that factory? I guess its not so bad since that circuit will draw very little power. But don't use that idea for much else then really small circuits or to use as a turn on lead for a relay <-- much better way to do it.

Oh and great explination gonzo

thanks!

Radio Shack Fuse Taps

incogneato - you're right. RS does have the ones you are referring to. When I asked them that once, I was looking for this type:

Automotive Fuse Tap .

Which they don't carry. What I was saying is that these types are safer and easier to use. The ones you are referring to are the ones that can cause wiring problems if you're not sure how to put them in. Either will work, but one certainly has advantages over the other.

-G-

I use one very similar to the link above, but you can plug it into an existing fuse slot. It holds 2 fuses, one for the existing fuse and a second for the aux. that you need, then it has the power pigtail to connect to. Very neat and safe.

Yep, that type is the kind I use, it's actually the only place I'm tied into the factory harness for a power wire... I needed an "Acc" on circuit.

Here's a better photo of it.

Xcanuk and XterraAdam, that's exactly what I was describing! Thanks for the better picture too.

The way these work is that you remove an existing fuse, plug in the "tap" in its place and put the original fuse in the tap. You then put another fuse in the "tap" to give you the new circuit that you then get off the pigtail coming off the "tap". They're called "taps" but they don't really "tap" off the original fuse/circuit - they actually add a circuit by getting power from the bus in the fuse block.

Tbanks, guys!

-G-