I've blown several fuses for the 12V outlet on my xB by using an air pump to inflate car and bike tires. This has mainly happened when turning the pump on, where the current draw is probably its highest. It helps a little to turn the pump on first then to connect to the tire, but that can be a pain when you need to check the pressure with a separate gauge. the gauge on the pump itself has too much range (0-250 PSI I belive), so trying to see that "35" is is kind of inaccurate.

I swapped out the fuse with a 20A (instead of the standard 15A) and now I can pump away!

As I see it, the currrent draw of the pump exceeds 15A only momentarily. Am I doing any harm to the vehicle? Am I risking burning up any wires?

 

is short bursts i don't think so. but to be safe i would run an extra accesory plug with an inline fuse from the battery. your pump designed to run on 15 amp with the compressor?? those should not exceed the 15 amp fuse.

 

Thanks for the tip. I need to check on the rating of the pump to see what it should be drawing. I might actually install a 12V outlet in the hatch, where it would be more convenient. If I do that I'll do like you suggested and run a fused line from the battery.