Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with fuse

Car fuse poor man rig up

Eiwalker — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:29:26 -0800

How to turn my car's dome light off w/out pulling out the fuse. I've got a car -- a van, actually -- whose interior lights won't turn off unless I pull the fuse out. If I pull the fuse out, my power windows don't work either. But it's a hassle to keep putting the fuse in and out. Furthermore, I cant afford to fix it right!

For under $5 or so, I'd like to rig something up where I can have a switch -- say, in the ashtray compartment -- such that flipping the switch on is equivalent to putting the fuse in, and flipping the switch off is equivalent to pulling the fuse out.

I need five things:

1. switch
2. wire
3. fuse (to hook up SOMEWHERE along the wiring)
4. MYSTERY DEVICE to hook the fuse up with the wiring
5. MYSTERY DEVICE that plugs in where the fuse used to plug in

I'd like help with (5) and (4) for sure, and possibly (3) if you think a different kind of fuse would be easier to install.

Thank you!!

Garage circuit breaker problems.

starman — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:16:19 -0800

Garage circuit breaker keeps tripping... We had some work done in the backyard (new patio). The workers dug around the cable of wires going to the garage, careful not to damage it. As far as I know, they didn't.

Ever since that first dig, the breaker to the garage consistently trips. Sometimes it's two minutes, sometimes it's six hours.

I looked at the box going out of the house, it looked fine to my untrained eye (wire caps in place, etc.).

It's a 15 amp breaker.

My main question: Would slicing that cable cause a breaker to randomly trip?

Any other theories? Lightning maybe? If the wire is fine, should the breaker just be replaced? If it was the wire would stringing a new one around the new patio be the easiest solution? I'm still talking with the landscapers to fix this, too.

Dead Marshall Amp

hutta — Mon, 19 May 2008 00:56:00 -0800

Guitar amp problem: Marshall MG100DFX won't turn on. I stuck this (solid-state) amp in the corner and neglected it for a while, and when I came back to it, it refused to turn on. When I give it power and flip the switch, it acts exactly as if it's unplugged. The power LED does not come on, the fan doesn't spin, and it definitely doesn't amplify a guitar.

It worked fine the last time I used it, but I was switching between two amps, so it's very possible that I left it on the last time I touched it, which would have been weeks ago. It was also plugged in to the wall directly, so I suppose a power surge might be possible. It was bought second-hand, and Marshall's FAQ says the warranty isn't transferable.

I'm guessing (read: hoping) it's a fuse, but I'd like to know whether this is something I can service myself. I've been searching with Google and on the documentation on Marshall's website, trying to find information about what kind of fuse is in there, or some sort of information about where to find it when I open the thing up.

My Krups Krapped out!

FauxScot — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:57:27 -0800

My trusty Krups coffee excretor gave up the ghost, but would be easily repairable if ONLY I could find a source for the blown thermal fuse. Any idea where I could find one, AskMeFi? I have two Krups coffee makers (a model 453 and "spare" model 314) that each contain a safety-critical, non-end-user-maintainable, thermal circuit breaker.

The 453 spontaneously died, and not from overheating, but just a random component failure.

Troubleshooting it, I discovered the blown thermal breaker, and I temporarily fixed it by scavenging the spare breaker from the Model 314.

Doing a little on-line research, I discover that there are other folks out there with the same problem. I decided to solve it by finding a source.

I have abjectly failed to locate a suitable alternative. Krups directed me to a service center, smallapplicance.com, which told me to send them the unit, and they would contact me with repair recommendations. Not wanting to spend $10 shipping to find out that the unit was unserviceable, I declined and they told me that the information that I sought about the breaker was unavailable. Stonewalled!

Later, Krups' customer service rep told me that that they had "changed frequency" and the unit was no longer serviceable. At that point, I knew that further discussion would be of little value.

The thing is, I really like this coffee maker. I am anything but cheap, but I also hate dropping very useful hardware into the landfill when I don't need to. I am in the process of getting one from an ebay auction for a similar Krups unit that I can cannibalize, but I'd really like a few of these, but more than that, I hate it when I can't prevail over simple technology failures.

Thus, I'm trying to locate a replacement thermal fuse.

The fuse I have is pictured here.

It has the following nomenclature imprinted in its metal frame:

Tf 318 C (Tf is the fuse temp, presumably 318 degrees C)

29 OE (which could mean OEM.... ?)

155431028 N (Krups part number or vendor part number?)

CSA, VDE, UL (the usual suspects in safety ratings)

(-) (looks like omega with a dash in it. Manufacturer logo?)

So here are my questions... does anybody know where I can get some of these? Anybody work for Krups who can look up the part? Anyone know where I can find a stud-mounted, nominally 300 degree C thermal fuse in this size? Failing that, something in the ballpark that can handle 10 Amps. (I've looked at various manufacturer's web sites, Digikey, Mouser, etc.) Knowing the manufacturer would be the most direct route.

This will not change the world, but it will surely qualify you as a world class nerd if you can give me a decent lead! I will bow in humble adoration and sacrifice a goat in your honor. Your name will be revered here in rapidly thawing Vermont! Is that a deal or what?

Any leads gratefully accepted.

Can I legallly be denied access to my fuse box?

pikaboy202 — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 16:02:38 -0800

MA filter: Must I have fuse box access if I rent an apartment? I live on the 2nd floor of a 2 floor house. The landlord lives downstairs and has complete access to the fuse box. I, on the other hand, cannot access the fuse box. This makes for very frustrating times when the fuse blows (often) in my apartment and I have to ask the landlord to reset the fuse. It's worse when the landlord is off at work and not home to reset the fuse because then I have to wait hours for my power to come back on.

In Massachusetts (Milton), must a tenant have access of their own fuse box legally? If this is the case, where can I get a copy of this regulation so I can show my landlord and get him to either give me access to the fuse box or install one in my apartment?

Mounting Google Picasa Account in Leopard

davidstith — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:32:08 -0800

Looking to mount my Google Picasa account in Leopard. Has anyone attempted this? I have MacFuse but have yet to find a solution to map it all together.

Electrical Engineers / Computer Hardware Enthusiasts: Replace fuse in computer power supply?

itheearl — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 23:57:24 -0800

Electrical Engineers / Computer Hardware Enthusiasts: Replace fuse in a computer power supply? I was recently given a 1U rackmount P3 server from a place where i do some computer work.
The fuse in the power supply was blown. You can actually see a film on the inside of the glass where the fuse element melted.
The was a glass BUSS fuse, must be a 5x20 mm size, with markings 'F6.3A L 250V'.
Is this a long-blow or a short-blow fuse?
(I was thinking the L might mean long, but not sure)

The fuse was in a holder (meant to be replaced?), none of the other components in the power supply have visible damage, and I had the computer going for just over an hour on another (desktop) power supply.
(There are also three of those little blue disks (MOVs?) right next to the fuse holder... if i recall, those provide some sort of surge protection?)
The computer itself is a clone, with less dust than i'd expect to see in a year old desktop computer - let alone a computer that was built in late 1999.
If i can get the power supply fixed or replaced ($50 +... ouch), the unit would make a great storage server or media player (think .avi on a tv).... but i'd much rather spend that $50 on a pci to sata card or a pci video card with tv out... and i'm not willing to jurry rig the thing up to a full size power supply on a permanent basis.

The most recent 'date modified' i could find on any of the files was 12/10/2006, which would lead me to believe that computer was running fine until at least that date... and that winter weather may well have caused a power surge.

Radio Shack has a '6.3A 250V 5x20mm Slow-Blow Glass Fuse (4-Pack)' Catalog #: 270-1068...

I was thinking of replacing the fuse,
testing the power supply with a paperclip (green to black), a dummy load (10 ohm 10 watt resistor from red to black), and an led (grey to black),
then using it on a junker computer,
and then using it if that works...

Once back in the computer, the supply will be enclosed by two layers of fairly thick steel... as long as i dont have it near carpet or drapes, i'm not going to burn down my apartment complex... right?

(Specs on power supply at: http://www.sparklepower.com/pdf/MPW-6150F.pdf)

Encrypting files and obscuring the filenames too?

dmd — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 08:17:35 -0800

How can I store files on an untrusted linux server such that only I can read them - and such that only I know what they are? I'd like the files to be encrypted and the filenames not to reflect the contents. The catch: I'd like this to be as transparent as possible for me to actually use. Nobody else but me needs access to these files, but I'd like to be able to use the files from day to day as if this encryption and filename obfuscation were not in place.

Possible problems: I have a relatively slow link to the server (cable modem speed), I only have a user account, and probably most damningly, FUSE is not available. (What I'm saying here is that some big monolithic encrypted filesystem is probably not the way I can go here, unless you can think of some way around these problems.)

Brakelights Broke?

MarkLark — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 09:52:58 -0800

1994 Altima - Brake lights always on? What's the deal? My wife couldn't get her car to start this morning. A bit troublesome as we had recently had the alternator and battery replaced. We thought perhaps she didn't shut the door tight enough and/or left a light on inside the car.

After jumping the car, I noticed that the brake lights were on. The car (manual shift) was in neutral and the parking brake engaged. Even after disengaging the parking brake the lights were on solid (not that the parking brake should affect the rear brake lights, but I wanted to be sure). We finagled with the brake pedal as well thinking it might not be releasing fully, but it seems to be working fine. It's not getting caught on anything and is returning to the normal position.

I checked the fuse, and it appeared fine. I don't have any spare fuses to swap out and check with, unfortunately. They're usually pretty obvious when they're burned out, right? The middle arc-thing should be charred and broken - not the case here. When I removed the fuse, the lights did go out (but of course that means no lights when pressing the brake pedal.)

After letting the car run for a while to charge up the battery, we tried turning off the car - the brake lights were still on... so that was definitely the problem.

She was already late to work so I told her which fuse to remove when she gets to work so it (hopefully) doesn't kill the battery, then can put it back in when she leaves work. Driving with your brakelights always on certainly isn't optimal but driving without them working would be even worse.

So, does anyone have any idea what might cause the brake lights to stay on permanently, even when the car is turned off, and the fuse seems ok?

My clutch is scraping, do I need to replace the whole thing?

juniper — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:32:52 -0800

1997 VW clutch is making scraping sounds when fully depressed, but is working fine otherwise. Do I need a whole new clutch kit? Simultaneously, the interior fans (cooling) are dead, and the parking brake light is stuck on. Blown fuse? Also, this is the third time I've had to repair this car in two years, so I'd like to trade it in. Do I fix it first, or just take what they give me for a broken car?

V=I*R

|n$eCur3 — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 16:18:00 -0800

Physics filter: The original fuse for an Ikea lighting system was rated for 6.3A and 250V. After a power surge, I noticed that the fuse had been toasted. Upon visiting 3 hardware stores, the best I could find was a similar fuse rated for 3.15A and 125V. Since V=I*R, it follows that the resistance is identical when the original fuse is compared with the replacement. Does this mean that these fuses are functionally equal?

Edit MySQL content directly from text editor?

rossmeissl — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 11:57:33 -0800

I use Textpattern to manage my Web site. I really want to use my text editor to edit my templates. This is how editing templates in Textpattern normally works:

Open template in the adminstration interface.

Select the contents of the textarea and Copy it.

Switch to text editor of choice

Paste template code into text editor

Edit template

Select the template code in the text editor and Copy it

Switch back to browser.

Paste template code into textarea.

Hit the submit button.

I want to be able to edit my templates directly from my text editor. Since the template code is stored in a database, this means there has to be some intermediary interface. My first thought was to somehow mount the textpattern database directly to the filesystem, perhaps using FUSE, but I can't figure out how to get that to work.

Any ideas?

Why is my car stereo fuse blowing?

dual_action — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 13:03:14 -0800

Car stereo fuse blowing extravaganza! Please help salvage my stereo system. About four years ago my father installed a JVC car stereo in my 1994 Ford Aspire. Two weeks ago I was driving home on a bumpy dirt road and my stereo popped and shut off.

I've needed to replace the fuse twice in the last week - once while driving home (again on the bumpy road) and today after I hit a fairly large pothole.

My question is - where do I start looking? Is this a problem with the stereo itself or the cars' electrical system? Grounding problem? Relation to the bumpy road? Should I start buying fuses in bulk or just stop using the stereo? Google gives me nightmares of fried circuits and junkyard visits. Any help is most appreciated.

Side note - the heater / blower fan also quit on me about two weeks ago, the fuse tested OK, so that is probably the blower motor or resistor. Is this related to the stereo fuse problem?