Modern Vespa

About a month ago my dealer installed the Admore Lighting topbox kit in my 2013 Vespa 300, and it worked fine for about three weeks; brake lights and turn signals in the topbox really add to the rear visibility of the bike. But about a week ago I noticed that the dashboard light and the green, "I'm always on" low-beam light indicator had both gone out, and when I looked at the topbox, those lights were out, too. So I took it to the dealer today and he fixed both by replacing a 7.5amp fuse with a 10-amp fuse (for free!), thus restoring functionality to both dashboard lights and the topbox. He also gave me three free fuses and showed me where they go, in case they burn out again. But, being a complete noob and woefully ignorant of all things electrical, I wonder whether having a fuse rated higher than OEM creates a fire hazard? Should I be worried?

What you should be doing is checking to see where the short in your installation is. There is no reason that the Admore kit needs a higher rated fuse, and it should not be blowing the 7.5 amp fuse.

If you have a short, a higher rated fuse could be a hazard.

It is possible that you have a crushed cable if your Admore cable is routed under your scooter's seat pan. See dchernikoff's post in Fitting Admore 42L top-case LED arrays. (Page 3) about problems he had with his Admore kit shorting out. His post is located near the bottom of the page.

7.5 amp to 10 amp should be within the design margins. The wiring may not be rated for that but it should be able to handle it. Since these lights sound like they're on all the time it is a bit of a worst case scenario, though. I wouldn't be too nervous about a 33% increase. Doubling is asking for trouble.



BTW. Amperage is an ugly word. (I'm a EE by training). Current is a real word. Amperage... not so much. It's only acceptable because of so many people misusing it.

^^^^
This

The fact he gave you extra fuses, probably means he is expecting it to go again, when he should be fixing the fault.

Thanks to all for your helpful posts. I will look for pinched wires and see what I can find. The dealer gave me the extra fuses and told me to bring the bike back if the fuse blows again, and he would then trace through the installation wiring to look for the short. So, I'm guessing he is hoping the bigger fuse will take care of it, but offering to stand by his work if it doesn't? Let's just hope it works!

Note that ALL your rear lights go out when the fuse goes out. So if you're driving at night, you are basically invisible from behind when the fuse blows. Not a good thing, as the cop pointed out to me when that happened to me!

After cutting a notch in my seat, and shifting the wires, I'm not blowing any more 7.5A fuses. But I still need to slit open the wire cable and fix the actual damage -- I'll do that some day...

-Dan

Edited to add: Here's how I solved my shorting problem:

GTS 250 -- keeps blowing fuse for tail light