Hello all. I wired 3 blue LEDs together and made ends for them, and attempted to fabricate out of plastic and superglue and the ends of the wires a connector that would fit into the slot that the ashtray light bulb goes into (it's right there if you pull up the carpet on the passenger side). My homemade connector worked poorly, so I tried testing the connection by inserting one wire into the connector and then another. Sure enough they lit up, then I heard a pop and no more light. I definitely blew a fuse, the one that controls that ashtray light and it must share a fuse with the instrument panel and HVAC and climate lighting. Any idea why these fuses blow so easily (I guess that's their job, i'm a crappy electrician) and which one to replace?

 

it's cause you're a crappy electrician that the fuses blow....

no.. but seriously.. fuses do their job..

anyway... fuse #30.. it's a 7.5A fuse.. which is gonna suck to get a replacement... it's not part of your spares.

 

autozone or uhmm pepboys carry the 7.5amp fuses tho... do not replace it with a higher rated fuse from one of the spares. thats a no no

 

Are the spares in the block fuse area? I will get a replacement one. The car seems to run fine, minus the fancy lighting...right??

 

lol

 

Great advice. The instrument panel lights fuse is around #23 (#30 is not even a 7.5a fuse, it's a 10 or 15). Either they completely changed the fuse box for 2007, or you were trying to sabotage me. In any case, #23 was a blown 7.5a fuse (at least you got that part right) and it's fixed.

 

uhmm..

i don't think they changed the fuses for the '07 .. i see the #23 as the main fuse for all the headlights (which is in the engine bay fuse box)

you should register the car in the registry.... if you hadn't posted in the tC area no one would really know what car, much less the year your car was.

 

Hmm...well it was the little fusebox inside the cabin beneath the steering wheel. The fuse that blew wasn't an engine bay/headlight fuse, it was simply one for the instrumentation lighting (for the gearshift, stereo lights, hvac lights, and gauge lights).

 

yeah. the PANEL fuse.... it's listed as fuse #30 in the owner's manual.

 

Did you add a resistor? 3 blue leds wired in series will drop approx. 9.6V. That leaves about 2.4V when the car is off and 4V or so when the car is running since that is an unregulated circuit. So you created a near short which popped the fuse before the leds went kapooey. Wire a 220ohm resistor in and you should be fine. That will allow about 20mA when the car is on and 11mA when the car is off. If you check, your leds are probably rated at so many mcd @ 3.2V and 20mA.