fuse blowing

[joepiecuch]

a kaiju, in daily use uneventfully for well over a year, suddenly blew the fuse at startup this evening; it did it again without the 300bs in place. before i yard it in to the workroom, i wonder if anyone has some idea what is the most likely culprit in play here?

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Debris is a strong possibility. 

 

[joepiecuch]

dust accumulation can't cause a short, or can it? hard to imagine what else could get into the vents...it's on a rack with a shelf above it.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Sometimes old clipped off leads can be hard to spot and can move around unexpectedly well after completing a project. 

 

[joepiecuch]

it must have been something of that sort. i could see nothing obvious, so stood it on its side and gave it a few vigorous knocks, then blew a bunch of compressed air across everything, paying particular attention to both sides of the circuit boards. it works fine now, which is of course pleasing, but a little frustrating...saw nothing fall out, so is the offending whatever-it-was thing still lurking and biding time, waiting for another opportunity? in any case, thank you very much, as always.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Sometimes the debris self immolates when it causes the short.