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Old 01-30-2013, 10:12 PM
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dieselmania dieselmania is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jay_bob View Post
An old electrician/controls field engineer trick for finding a short:

Use a bulb in place of the fuse. Try a double ended bulb like in the glove box or dome light.

This provides a safe series impedance to help find the fault without hurting things. And it stops glowing when you found the short.
I always do that when looking for a short at any voltage. You do have to be aware however that any load in the circuit will cause the lamp to glow, with it's brightness being determined by the resistance of the load. A dead short will allow the lamp to glow at full brightness, but once the short is removed the lamp will still glow at a lower brightness if there is a load existing on the circuit, like another lamp for instance.
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