Forum Discussion

mark52's avatar
mark52
Explorer II
Jan 02, 2025

radio fuse keeps popping

We own a 2018 Holiday rambler 35K on a Ford f53 chassis. The fuse to the radio/back up camera screen keeps blowing and I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what fixed it. Its the #17 mini fuse in the drivers side dash fuse box. Its labled "Body builder radio feed" and it is a 5A fuse. If I put a fresh 5A fuse in, I can turn on the radio and it works fine until I start the motorhome and drive for about 5 to 10 minutes, then it will blow. The last thing I tried was to completely remove the radio, replace the fuse and then drive the MH. It still blew doing this telling me it not the radio causing the short circuit. Any thoughts? 

    • mark52's avatar
      mark52
      Explorer II

      This is more than likely what it is. MH is in storage right now. I'll head out there and start tracing all of the power wires to the radio and back up camera module. weird thing is that one of the times it blew a fuse, I was stopped at a traffic light. Not like i was bouncing down the road. 

      • Grit_dog's avatar
        Grit_dog
        Navigator

        Hmmm that is a bit curious. 
        possible 5A isn’t quite enough to run the load?  Without going crazy step up to a 7.5 or 10A fuse. If it’s a live short it’ll still blow a fuse that small fast enough to not melt a wire. And if it does, it’s still likely the wire so not bad if it gets a little hot for a sec if it’s getting replaced. 

    • Grit_dog's avatar
      Grit_dog
      Navigator

      Loose or intermittent ground doesn’t blow fuses. That’s a dead short. 
      live short on the + side (to ground) blows fuses. 
      To the OP, fortunately this is pretty easy to diagnose and trace. You know where the offending wire starts and where it ends.
      Almost certainly that aftermarket power lead is shorting out. Only difficulty may be running a new wire. 
      if you’re lucky it’s not affixed hard anywhere and maybe you can just use the old wire to pull a new one thru. 
      since you removed the head unit and it still blows, you astutely eliminated some sort of internal short in the radio itself. 

      • way2roll's avatar
        way2roll
        Navigator II

        Good to know. I never knew the short couldn't be on the ground side. Should help me tremendously in root causing future issues. Thanks!

  • Run a new temporary wire(s) to the backup camera screen and unhook the old one and see what happens. The temp wire may become your best solution.

  • Sounds like a wire is pinched or chafing on a bracket etc somewhere between the radio and the fuse box. Have a good look at the wiring everywhere you can see it and try to find the issue. Most likely around the radio somewhere.

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