Originally Posted by ppro
You could crimp them both into the same connector but you'd be "sharing" a fuse. If one or the other device develops a problem and blows the fuse, you would have a little extra work figuring out which. And if for some reason their combined power requirement exceeds the fuse rating, you might blow fuses. Putting a "20a" fuse in to handle two 10a units would be bad because the fuse wouldn't blow if one of the units had a problem until it was too late. Better one fuse per device, but it will "work" if you wanted to test it once.
Good thinking. I would definitely not want to start messing up fuses by overloading them. So, rather than crimping both wires to the add-a-circuit, how about this:
I made a diagram just to explain what I was thinking of as an alternative. Basically, I would crimp only 1 device to the add-a-circuit's wire, then I would install a second 10a fuse in the additional fuse slot on the add-a-circuit, use a fuse tap on it, and hook up the second device to this. The main question with this idea is...is it just extra work for nothing, or would this actually be as if each device had its own fuse, therefore eliminating the issues you explained above with crimping both hot wires to the same power source.
If that idea is no good, then I'll just have to find a second 'switched' fuse that's in the interior fuse compartment and have two separate add-a-circuits. Or worst case scenario...keep my radar detector hooked up as-is, and then use add-a-circuit for the GPS on fuse 5 under the hood like you did. A little more sloppy since I'll have multiple taps going, but that's better than blowing fuses and messing something up. lol
Edit: I meant to say 2 15a fuses rather than 10a as I show in the pic...ignore that part, but just let me know whether the idea itself will work. I know that the fuse I'm currently tapping into supplies enough power to my radar detector, so it should be fine for the GPS too.