Fuse tap issue

[Kmcgloin]

Hey everyone, first post, just bought a real clean 2016 A6 quattro premium plus TDI. Currently driving about 400 miles a week through NYC so thought I would throw a dash cam in the car just for some peace of mind. I ran the power down the A pillar and I used a fuse tap to tap fuse #3 on section C for the brake light. Car pretty much immediately hated it, idk why, 5amp fuse just a tap with a 5amp fuse in it, but it started throwing start/stop malfunction, ESC malfunction, airbag light, and a flashing glow plug.

The dealer had to fix a rim that they damaged so when I dropped it off I asked if they could just check it out. They said sure, they just called me telling me the tap was in the brake fuse (which I knew) and it would be 600 dollars to look into it.....and see if any modules were broken and whatnot. I asked if they could just slap the regular fuse back in clear the lights and see if they come back and they said no they are persistent faults all from this fuse tap.

While I believe that for some reason the tap triggered everything I have a very hard time believing it is a 600 dollar diagnoses with possible damaged modules. I didn't run the car without a fuse in it, I didn't put a larger fuse in, it's a 5amp in a tap on a 5amp slot like I've done on half a dozen cars. So just looking for an opinion on this before I go in there tmrw. Considering I just dropped 30 grand on a car a week ago forking over another 600+ cuz I tapped a brake light fuse is pretty annoying.

[Alabama]

Hey everyone, first post, just bought a real clean 2016 A6 quattro premium plus TDI. Currently driving about 400 miles a week through NYC so thought I would throw a dash cam in the car just for some peace of mind. I ran the power down the A pillar and I used a fuse tap to tap fuse #3 on section C for the brake light. Car pretty much immediately hated it, idk why, 5amp fuse just a tap with a 5amp fuse in it, but it started throwing start/stop malfunction, ESC malfunction, airbag light, and a flashing glow plug.

The dealer had to fix a rim that they damaged so when I dropped it off I asked if they could just check it out. They said sure, they just called me telling me the tap was in the brake fuse (which I knew) and it would be 600 dollars to look into it.....and see if any modules were broken and whatnot. I asked if they could just slap the regular fuse back in clear the lights and see if they come back and they said no they are persistent faults all from this fuse tap.

While I believe that for some reason the tap triggered everything I have a very hard time believing it is a 600 dollar diagnoses with possible damaged modules. I didn't run the car without a fuse in it, I didn't put a larger fuse in, it's a 5amp in a tap on a 5amp slot like I've done on half a dozen cars. So just looking for an opinion on this before I go in there tmrw. Considering I just dropped 30 grand on a car a week ago forking over another 600+ cuz I tapped a brake light fuse is pretty annoying.

Welcome to Audi ownership! AZ member Audisthesia has written about doing fuse taps for a dash cam. Maybe search for his threads for inspiration?

[petarat]

I ran my dash cam into the horn fuse because that one is constant on and I don't get any issues with it other than a minor vcds power consumption error. I think it is 100% worth it to do the constant on and key on separate fuses so you don't get a dead battery like I did one time.

[Kmcgloin]

I ran to the brake light because I figured brake lights SHOULD be switched, and I had read a few posts by people with a6s who had run to the same fuse with no issues. I'm just trying to figure out how tapping a fuse could end up "damaging" the stability control, or any other downstream module. I am admittedly pretty new to the world of complex electronics in cars but that part isn't making much sense to me. If I had put a 10a in a 5a fuse sure, but I didn't. I guess they hard wired the camera into the 3rd fuse on the A box of the driver's side fuse panel so I guess at least I got that much.

[Audisthesia]

Welcome to Audi ownership! AZ member Audisthesia has written about doing fuse taps for a dash cam. Maybe search for his threads for inspiration?

I’m against using fuse taps…aka add-a-fuse. I don’t think it’s a good idea to mix things into existing factory fused circuits, I prefer to add my own additional, separate fused circuit in unused slots in the fuse panels. There are a lot of sensors in these cars that monitor voltages and signals. So while something may power up just fine, it can still throw error codes. There are plenty of empty slots to add additional distinct circuits in these cars without any cutting,splicing,tapping; doing so eliminates any possibility of causing trouble with other stuff.. Not to mention it’s a clean OEM look.

As far as switched and unstitched, you’ll notice entire panels are either one of the other; both can be found on drivers side panel location for US cars.