Should I put a 10 amp fuse in place of 7.5 fuse?

Recently I added some footwell lighting in my 2006 Honda Civic Ex. And I blew the original fuse (7.5) and replaced with another 7.5 amp fuse. I've read that it's a terrible idea to replace 7.5 with 10 but I also added a new circuit to the original dome light circuit. I've only added footwell lighting to the passenger and driver side, but plan on adding 2 more to the back of the 2 seats. In this case is it ok to add a 10 amp fuse due to the fact that I'm adding about 3-4 feet of wire and 10 LEDs?

Just putting in a bigger fuse doesn;t make it safe iif the overall system says you shouldn't go about 7.5amps - you could wind up doing major damage - get rid of the lighting

If you use a higher rated fuse than specified you would risk electrical damage. Period.

If you want a car fire, go ahead and use a larger fuse. Otherwise, leave it alone. What part of "It's a horrible idea," don't you get?

The 7 amp fuse is designed to protect the wire gauge. A 10 amp fuse is meant to protect a HEAVIER wire. So putting more lighting on a 7 amp circuit will put more load on that circuit. If you exceed the 7 amp rating then the fuse is supposed to blow out - thus protecting your car from an electrical fire.

If you put a 10 amp fuse on it you might as well put a 1000 amp fuse on it. Neither can protect that fragile wire properly. If it were me, I'd leave the 7.5 amp circuit alone. As far as putting additional footwell lighting, I'd put a whole new circuit in. Calculate the load to get the proper wire size and fuse size. Then protect the whole thing. Maybe use a relay to power the footwell lighting. The relay won't add very much draw to the original circuit and you can probably keep your 7.5 amp fuse in place without fear of burning it out. Let the relay control a heavier load (which is the whole purpose of relays) and don't try to add 20,000 lights to your christmas tree. (exaggerated for effect)

Drop me a line if you need any help figuring out a relay and how big a fuse you may need for your footwell lights. There ARE formulas for figuring that stuff out.

Hope this helps.

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No. Those things draw minuscule currents. The dome light wires are not rated for 10A. The fuse should protect the wiring not the other way round.

The wiring to the dome light isn't designed to power the dome light and your aftermarket lights. If you put in a higher fuse, you'll burn the wiring out, and possibly start a fire.

The proper way to fix your problem is to disconnect the power feed to your aftermarket lights, and wire it up to a relay. (A relay is basically an electromagnet light switch. You can get them from any auto parts store for a couple of bucks).

Then, use the relay to switch on a separate FUSED circuit to power your aftermarket lights. This will get the electrical load off of the 7.5A dome light circuit (which it obviously can't handle) while still making sure the footwell lights come on with the dome lights.

Some technical background: 10A is only 33% more than 7.5A… What's the big deal? As others point out, the fuse is to protect the wiring, and the wiring has a particular maximum rated temperature. Between the wiring gauge and the insulation, the wire has a certain "ampacity" - the maximum current it can safely carry. Where it really goes south is that the heat generated is proportional to the square of the current, so 10A produces 1.8 times the heat of 7.5A. At nearly double the heat, melting of the insulation and the insulation of nearby wires is going to happen.

It Is Not Allowed But You Can.

Add your new circuit to some other fuse. Or better yet, add a new fuse for your new circuit.

The fuse is sized to protect the wiring. If you allow 35% more current through the wire, won't it be overloading it?

My short answer is: NO.