An Expensive Mistake: I blew a fuse, and now I feel like a fool!

RE: An Expensive Mistake: I blew a fuse, and now I feel like a fool!

mcb1 — Sat, 02 May 2015 04:57:18 GMT

[mention:ef601b47037147bfb9b0b4a3ab63026a:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05]

I'm glad you've identified the fuse and the costs ...I'll bookmark it for future.

One of the older guys at work taught me a very good safety circuit he used for testing switchmode supplies.

If you wire a lamp in series with the device you are testing, then any fault current will tend to light the lamp.

For his unit he had it wired as an extension cord and simply swapped a 100w or 150w lamp.

You could make it with two lamps and switches, connection points for current, or more safely the voltage across the lamp. [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-d2e77341-f5a0-4ac6-93aa-e585bc90042b/contentimage_5F00_938.png:16:16]

Mark

RE: An Expensive Mistake: I blew a fuse, and now I feel like a fool!

jw0752 — Sat, 02 May 2015 04:36:53 GMT

Hi Gough,

Sorry this happened to you. The last time I did the same thing to my Fluke it was over an inductor too. The bad news is that unless you are my age or older there is enough time left in your life so you will probably smoke it again someday. Buying a back-up fuse at todays prices will probably be a good investment as I am projecting the price for the fuse in 2025 will be $85 AU.

John

RE: An Expensive Mistake: I blew a fuse, and now I feel like a fool!

waelect — Sat, 02 May 2015 02:28:21 GMT

Fairly expensive mistake but something we all learn from.

I learnt mine from many year ago to switch of the mains when working inside equipment. More expensive mistake but I am alive.

Personally I don't mind sticking my hands in mains power, I learnt to be careful now.