Battery Short on Guage 10 Amp fuse

Recently we added a backup camera to my sons 2001 Tundra. Everthng was working fine until he drove about mile and instrument cluster went dead. Upon investigation the fuse blew. We removed the camera installation and fuse immediately blows when the ey is turned to the On position. The wire diagrams from this forum are wonderful. However I have been through the systems that run off that fuse and still can’t find out which system is shorting. Anyone else experience this?

 

If this started after you wired the camera, there's a strong chance you didn't install the camera correctly. This is how I usually recommend installing: https://www.tundras.com/posts/3199439/

If you made the mistake of tapping into a reverse wire to feed power to the camera, we need more details on where you intercepted the power.

Furthermore, if you tapped off a wire somewhere using the craptastic scotchlok/quicktap/t-tap connections, give a picture - those things are garbage and should never be used on automotive wiring, they're a short waiting to happen.

Also, exactly which fuse did you replace in the dash fusebox? i.e. what's the label on it?

 

The 10 Amp fuse that keeps blowing is labeled Guage. It has 15 or so “systems” it protects, including the instrument panel or combination meter, rear backup lights, heater and a/c controls, nuetral safety switch and various other systems. I wired the camera exactly the way it was wired in example B of the illustration you sent me too. The camera worked for half a day before the fuse blew. Again I am not sure what is arcing to ground. I will keep pulling relays until I find the system that has the short. Unless of course someone has a some wisdom to share that could save me some time. I do appreciate your response and continues help in resolving my issue.

 

@BubbaW is great at electrical. Far better than me.

When you crimped the camera like example B, tapping into the backup light, how did you make that connection? T-tap? Butt splice? And when you reconnected it back to stock while removing the camera, how did you reconnect it, without the camera power wire attached?

Is the reverse trigger wire on the camera still attached to the radio, and did (at any point) you attach any wire on the radio to a reverse camera trigger on the truck wiring, at the kick panel, or anywhere else?

 

Given one of those systems is "trailer towing", do you have trailer towing ?

I'm not sure what "example B" is but in case it helps others that come along, it wouldn't hurt to spell that out what that example B is.

 

He's referring to wiring up his backup camera like example "B" here, taken from my previous link.

Basically, when installing the camera, he took the trigger wire bundled with the camera RCA lead, twisted that and the camera power wire together and tied it to the reverse light. Then took the other end of that trigger wire and hooked it into the trigger wire on the radio. At least I think that's true. I'm asking him to make sure he didn't attempt to tap into the OEM reverse trigger, since that's what some folks think they need to do, but you don't if you use option "B" here, knowing weird stuff could happen if you looped the reverse/backup light around to the truck's reverse trigger lead (instead of the radio's reverse trigger wire):

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Thanks...the cliff notes help given "previous link" was a short story.

 

Yeah, I edited while you were replying to give some added background on why I linked him up with that.

I get wordy on "how-to" posts. With the sheer volume of technical documentation I've had to write in my lifetime to make a living, and my own distaste with people leaving out small, but useful/critical details, I tend to get wordy. It's a curse.

 

Hey guys thanks for the replies. On the radio side, i connected the yellow RCA jack to the rear camera input on the stereo. The red trigger wire was soldered to the radios purple trigger wire per Pioneers diagrams. The rear connection at the left rear tail light had the camera power, red trigger wire and exisiting red power wire soldered together. Finally the black ground was soldered to the white and black ground wire of reverse light. I used waterproof solder sleeves for the connections. We tested the camera at this point before we final installed anything. We testes it again after we ran to the camera cable along the frame. And tested it once again after final installation of evening. We pulled it out of the shop, backed up and loaded some stuff in the back. He left and got 5 minutes down the road and fuse blew. No instrument panel. He turned around and that’s when we discover the short. Yes the truck has a factory trailer package and a aftermarket al system, part of the keyless entry. I know details matter so I tried to add as many as I could.

 

I also completely removed the camera wiring from the truck, radio side and taillight side. I have not reconnected the left rear reverse light yet.