A neat little trick i learned while doing tv repair was the following : Take a car fuse and solder 2 wires on it. On the other end you put a socket with a bulb. Stick in the socket of a fuse that keeps blowing and the light will be bright, but in a good socket it will be dim. Of course, use a broken fuse. This is a handy tool to fix shorts without wire burns and wasting fuses.
Bart Bervoets
Yes, that's an excellent idea.
Works good on home wiring too where an old-style Edison base fuse keeps blowing. Simply screw in a 100W light bulb (same size thread); the lamp will go out or burn dimly when the short is removed.
Speedy Jim
cool, this is gonna save me many fuses while I fix that damm plate light.
Bart Bervoets wrote in this friggin' newsgroup:
That's a cool trick. Unfortunately, the PO of my house put in those annoying little things that convert the fuses to 'slow blow' types. Isn't that kind of silly for a 108 year-old house?
Those are "Type S" fuses. Although they are slo-blo, they are primarily non-interchangeable; i.e. a 20 Amp Type S won't fit in an adapter sized for 15 Amps.
Type S adapters are often mandated by city inspectors or FHA for a pre-sale inspection.
Oh....they won't accept pennies in the base either!
Speedy Jim
Yep. A dime is closer. Damned inflation has hit everything! :)
Didn't know you had houses that old over there !
LOL James
Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.
Ask the community — no account required