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Fuses - Stupid Question


Stuart

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Good afternoon

I am going to give this a stab

The right side of the board can be ok and there is no visible

way looking at the board to know

The left side of the board is also powering the red led so there

is a visual indication - if the fuse is good on the left the red led

will be flashing or on steady dependant on your communication

status with the computer

If your controller is a stand alone I am not sure but believe the same is true

Frank A.B)

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Thanks Frank, I appreciate the response!

To be safe, I just switched out both, but as far as I can see there is no visible way of telling on the actual fuse as opposed to the clear fuses where you can see it's blown.

Cheers,

Stuart

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I had a controller that blew both fuses due to rain and Asian beetles. It was easy to tell the difference. Good fuses are white. The blown ones were brown.

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I would never doubt you George, but it made me curious. My neighbor gave me 15Amp fast acting 3AB 0r ABC ceramic fuses and they are dark gray. They check fine. It this not the right type?

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Hmmm... now I'm not so sure. I ordered some replacement fuses from LOR with my last controller and they are white. I haven't checked any other of my controllers to ascertain what color the fuses are, but the one which suffered rain/bug damage had two brownish fuses in it and I just assumed that meant they were blown.

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Good evening

The 15 amp that I bought are grey

I also bought 1 amp also grey

I use the one amp for initial diagnostic and startup testing

just a little extra protection

Frank A.:)

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George Simmons wrote:

Hmmm... now I'm not so sure. I ordered some replacement fuses from LOR with my last controller and they are white. I haven't checked any other of my controllers to ascertain what color the fuses are, but the one which suffered rain/bug damage had two brownish fuses in it and I just assumed that meant they were blown.


I would have to disagree. I had my display up for about a week, before I started the show (today). And the left eight channels (1-8) were out after just 4 hours of running. I new right away it had to be a fuse, But the fuse was the same bright white color as the new ones. I changed it anyways, just to give it a shot. And it was working like new again.

But one thing have have to say, I'm unpluging it for the outlet next time. WOW, they are not kinding about the shock factor! lol
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DAM-IT! I just blew another fuse! I have blowen 2 fuses in less than 4 hours. All plugs are secured, tight and waterproof. Any ideas. I have each side pluged into its own 20 gfi breaker. The breaker is not tripping because the fuse is a 15amp. But I can not figure out why it keeps on blowing!



Help

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Anything on that side more 8+ amps on one channel? Each is limited to 8 amps, though you should leave 20% leeway.

Wait, that wouldn't blow a fuse, maybe a triac (doubtful unless you went way over.)

What do you have plugged into that side? You might want to move things around, you'd just need to change your channel config and import it into your sequences then swap the cords.

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I've had one C7 bulb that shorted out internally to the base. The only sign I ever found of the flaw was arc damage where the base made contact with the socket. I blew 3 fuses as soon as the channel turned on before I figured out what strand it was in. I never did find the issue until after we took it down, and used a multi meter, watching the resistance as we unscrewed each bulb in turn...

If you don't know what your load is, odds are you are over loaded, expect that loads may go up 10-15% when the strings are wet.. If you are sure you have a good margin, look for a short, or intermittent short.

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One of two things come to my mind. First you got some dead critter(s) out of sight on the back side of the board. Or you are near the 15 or 20A limit and maybe during that same part of the show you have more turned on than at any other part of the show and the fuse is running hot. Well that little bit more is pushing the fuse over the edge per say and popping it?

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I figured out the problem. And when I tell you all, your probley going to say Duh! I have 3 25 count C9 light sets connected end to end ino each of the first four channels of my #1 controller. lol. Hey I did say I was a NEWBIE!

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Frank A. wrote:

Good afternoon

I am going to give this a stab

The right side of the board can be ok and there is no visible

way looking at the board to know

The left side of the board is also powering the red led so there

is a visual indication - if the fuse is good on the left the red led

will be flashing or on steady dependant on your communication

status with the computer

If your controller is a stand alone I am not sure but believe the same is true

Frank A.:P


For the record. The left side fuse Channels 1-8 only controls lights.

The right side fuse Channels 9-16 control lights and also the on board electronics( flahsing or steady LED).

Chuck
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