More fuse talk

[Les Huckins <jhuckins@xxxx>]

Thanks David and DMC Joe re my missing #4 fuse but think you both missed
it slightly, my book says #4 handles the stop light switch and #18
handles the stop light lamps. Anyway, was fuse day and I checked them
all, 5 were the wrong size per the book, 4 were over and 1 was under.
It got looked at because the air conditioner was turned on for the first
time and it went 5 minutes and quit. Checked the fuses first and the
fuse was good but socket was loose and the spade tips on the fuse were
nasty looking with what seemed like some sort of gray goo on them. Was
one of the oversized fuses anyway so tightened the socket (I use two
small pointed tools to push the contacts closer together) gave the new
fuse a shot of WD-40 on the contacts and plugged it back in. Works just
fine. (Remember, I put WD-40 on every electrical contact and highly
recommend the idea). As long as I was in the neighborhood I checked all
of the fuse sizes and all of the socket contacts (by pulling on the
fuses, if they came out easily I tightened the contacts).

Good tight fuse connections are an absolute must, particularly in high
current situations. As a generalization, nearly all cases of melting of
the plastic material and destruction of the fuse holder is simply a poor
electrical connection. If not really tight, mechanically and
electrically (clean) oxidization sets in, a high resistance path starts
to occur, and it continues to worsen until something gives, sometimes
not until it actually starts arcing wherein you can smell it.
Tightening the contacts handles the mechanical, WD-40 handles the
electrical (of course if the fuse tips are not like new, clean them with
whatever method you use, or better yet, for the price, replace the fuse,
especially if it shows signs of heat, I'm sure you know that heat can
change the molecular structure of the metal).

Today is the end of my first month of ownership and thanks to the list
my confidence level is well above where I started. I'm well below the
point of arrogance but starting to get a decent grip. To those of you
who really try to help a great big thanks, to the others, a differing
point of view is often helpful too.

Les