TO: ALL WOOD COUNTY ARES MEMBERS (OFFICIAL)
ALL ARES AND NON-ARES AMATEURS ANYWHERE (INFORMATION)
FROM: KEN HARRIS WA8LLM ARRL DISTRICT 3 EMERGENCY COORDINATOR
WOOD COUNTY EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS INC.
WOOD COUNTY BULLETIN NR 17.03 DATE: January 15, 2017
SUBJECT : WHAT BLEW THE FUSE?
How many times have you had to work in a piece of electronic equipment that has quit working, only to find that it is, or was, a blown fuse? The piece of equipment seems to work after you replace the fuse, but do you ever ask yourself, what caused the fuse to blow in the first place? It's possible the fuse may have just been getting old, with a lot of heavier than normal current flow through it over the years and the link inside may have just deteriorated over a that period of time.
On the other hand the fuse may have blown due to a sudden high spike of current, such as from a lightening strike, and done it's job to protect the electronic equipment and prevent a possible fire. Before you just replace the blown fuse with a good one, look over the piece of equipment for any obvious evidence as to why the fuse may have blown. If there is no obvious problems try a new fuse. If the new fuse blows again, then there's a bigger problem that may take a while to fix. If the new fuse does not blow, then you may have been lucky.
But, just because the new fuse didn't blow right away doesn't mean that you have fixed the problem. The new fuse may not blow for some time, indicating there is a growing problem in the piece of equipment that will have to be found before it causes major damage to the equipment, and cause it to fail right when you need it the most.
Ken Harris WA8LLM
WCEC
Wood County WV