How To Guides

What is a capacitor?

Use these techniques as reliable indicators to determine the health of capacitors in your circuit.

Fuses vs Circuit Breakers

The correct amp fuse ensures the safe operation and longevity of your electrical appliances.

Know the difference between slow-blow vs fast-acting fuses to find the right one for your needs.

Think you have a blown fuse? Here are some tell-tale signs that some of your fuses may have reached the point of no return.

A blown fuse is usually one of two common culprits.

If your multimeter stops reading amperes you may have blown a fuse! In most cases, you will still be able to read the resistance, voltage, and other values. Fluke has many different part numbers. If you need to replace a DMM fuse you can use either DMM or DMM-B part numbers.

An overload may occur if there are too many appliances plugged in in a room, sending too much current to the breaker. Power will go out in just that section of the home.Your electrical panel should be labeled. If the fuses in your box are have glass windows, visually inspect them.

Several years ago, Samsung released TV models with underrated/faulty capacitors. Symptoms of failed capacitors are: pink dot/start up problems, slow start up, after start up the picture starts to disappear, flickering of the TV screen, clicking noise, sound/power LED is on but no picture.

If the fuse is blown, remove it. Be sure the power is off and no voltage is present. Fuse pullers make this step easy but if you don’t have one, grab screwdriver or pliers. Gently pry the fuse out by the ends. If the fuse tubing is glass, be careful to not crush the tubing.  

Be sure you know which fuse is blown before buying a replacement. Although it is easy to inspect glass fuses for continuity, most fuses are solid and cannot be inspected visually. We like testing our fuses with either a multimeter or a continuity tester.