The fastest fuses blower

[Legacy Posts]

Hi!

Since I bought a MultiMeter one month ago, one of my principal activity is to change the blown fuses in it. I blow them faster than my shade.

All by my fault, I'll admit.:o

The 2 classic way I blow them is by first checking the amp. of something and after checking the voltage, forgetting to put the test wire in the good socket. An instant blow.:laugh

The second way is when I want to check the amp. on the 12 v. side of the inverter. Like yesterday, I want to know the amp. of a 300 watts 120 v. hair blower. I plug the blower switch on an then I put the inverter to on. Instant blow again!! Yess!! :banana The surge is so high on the 12 volts side that it will blow the fuse (10 amp.) even when I tried the same with my TV that take only 53 watts.

If you think you are faster than me on that matter, please "state" your claim!!:)

Alain

[Legacy Posts]

the fuse should have blow
300 watt ac hairdryer? ok sound abnormaly low but it does not matter.
old rule volts time amps equals power still applys
12 v time 10 amps (the fuse rateing) = 120 watts
what size inverter are you useing it sound like a very small one or you have the wrong size fuse installed.
just trying to help dont mean to be rude

[Legacy Posts]

This would be 120 watts at 12 volts. But it is 300 watts at 120 volts.

As I see it, it is 300 watts divided by 120 volts = 2,5 Amperes.

My hair blower is a normal 3 speeds, 300, 600 and 1200 watts blower. It is working with my 400 watts inverter but only at 300 watts. Higher, the inverter will stop. No fuse will blow.

If you open the inverter first and then the dryer at 300 watts there will be no problem. But if you plug the dryer, switched on at 300 watts and then you open the inverter, it will blow a 10 amp. fuse on the 12 volts side. The surge is too big. At least, it is true for my Canadian Tire inverter.

By the way! 300 watts for drying the hair is not a lot. Blowing wind would probabely be better.

The fuses that are blowing are the ones inside of my multiMeter. Not on the trailer. The idea of this post was only to show how much I can be BirdHead (and not too sad about it) sometimes.;)

Alain

[Legacy Posts]

Alain, if you're having trouble blowing fuses, find yourself a cheap clamp on ammeter, usally can get one about 50-80$ Ccanadian.
make sure it does ac/dc amps, I got mine at an electrical wholesaler.
No more blown fuses. I blew a couple myself, and a guy working near here blew his meter up in his hand, making our mistake.

[Legacy Posts]

yes but i must point out .
in a perfect world
input = output
watts in = watts out
300 watts in = 300 watts out
120v ac times 2.5 amps = 12v dc times 25amps
if output fuse is 10 amps it is going to do its job!

inverters have 2 rates surge and continued
i suspect 400 is suge rateing
and something around 200 continuance

check with manufacturer but it really sould like your 10 amp fuse should be more like 25 amps.

fuse burning and not burning with differant load has something to do with the running amd starting currents. its been to many years and other information has filled the ol memory file cabnets cheers

[Legacy Posts]

Al,

I think you are right. But I will not put a 25 amp. fuse in my MultiMeter. To easy to destroy it completely.

I will just forget about the amp. until I find a clamp meter. I already have a very good one but it is measuring only ac voltage.

Joe,

Maybe your guy working near there was using normal glass fuses? They told me to use ceramic fuses in my meter because they would not explode, like the glass ones in certain situations.

Everybody,

This Meter, I bought it specially to keep an eye on my battery voltage. It is a decent meter for non professionnal use with an accuracy of more or less 0.5% on the voltage reading. Correct me if I am wrong but I think that it is the minimum accuracy someone should look for to have a good idea of the state of charge of a 12 volts battery. Higher accuracy would come with a bigger price.

What bugs me is when they say in the manual for instance: accuracy +/- 0,5% of reading +/- 1 digit. What do they mean by "+/- 1 digit" ?

Can you explain!!?? :shg


Alain

[Legacy Posts]

mis read your message i thought the fuse that was going was in your ac power inverter not you muliti meter
humble appologes ooops.:red

[Legacy Posts]

Hey Guys
Everybody has to be good at something.:laugh :laugh Don't take this seriously.:wave

[Legacy Posts]

i got all 10 of mine lol
sorry again bad pun
i take it it is a digital multi meter of which where just comeing in to fashion when i retired so i have no idea .
analog and eye ball used to work fine , now eyes need help
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