Bad Fuse or Hidden Short?

Monday night I took the family for a ride in our 94 Accord LX because
it was about to turn 200k miles. Very ironically, at 199,997 the
instrument panel fuse blew and we didn't get to watch it flip all
those 9's to 0's. I easily replaced the fuse and thought all was good.
Then this morning it blew again. It seems to blow when I turn the head
lights on and off and/or flip the brights on and off. This is strange
beacuse the headlights are on a completely different circuit.

Has anyone out there had a similar problem? Is the problem worse than
an old cheap replacement fuse? Do you think I might have a short
somewhere? Could this be indicative of needing a new alternator?

Any and all suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,

Dan

 

Right, I have an aftermarket AIWA stereo in the car, but it has it's
own fuse of the same, if not lower rating. I know that the backlight
to the cigarette lighter is on this blown circuit. I have had issues
with the wiring in this area before. Maybe a bare wire to the
backlight is grounding out on the raido or something else in that
area.

Thanks for your help.

-Dan

 

when wiring my GFs old prelude for a stereo, I ended up tying into the cig
lighter for constant power. Did you wire up the deck yourself? Or did some
'professional' do it for you?