What happens when a fuse blows on an amplifier?
The fuse is in the amplifier to protect the amplifier’s circuit from tube failure and other extreme voltage issues! When the fuse blows, its not the fuse that’s actually bad. Obviously a blown fuse will no longer allow the amp to function… and that’s by design.
What happens if you have a bad fuse?
If the fuse is bad, upon retrieval and inspection the wire inside of the fuse will broken, burnt, or otherwise disconnected. A blown fuse will have to be replaced with a new one in order to restore function to the circuit. A blown fuse should also be investigated to determine what caused the fuse to blow in the first place.
Do you always have spare fuses in your amp?
If you operate a tube amplifier, the golden rule is to always have spare tubes AND FUSES in your gig bag. Especially important – all of your spare fuses should be pre-inspected to be the correct value fuse your amp requires.
Can a 15 Amp Fuse be replaced with a 20 amp fuse?
If it is because the current surge when a motor starts blows the 15 amp fuse, you could replace the standard 15 amp fuse with a time delay fuse. It would still blow when the current exceeds 15 amps but it would allow a much higher current to flow briefly, like a few seconds, so that the current surge from a starting motor would not blow the fuse.
What causes a fuse to blow on an amp?
If you’re amp has rectifier tubes, the next step is to determine if the blown fuse was caused by a failed rectifier tube or a power tube. If your amp doesn’t have rectifier tubes, you’re already halfway there and its time to zero in on a bad power tube!
What are the symptoms of a fuse problem?
One of the first symptoms of an issue with a fuse is loss of power to one or more of the vehicle’s functions or accessories. Fuses are installed in line of specific circuits in order to protect those circuits from potentially overloading.
If you operate a tube amplifier, the golden rule is to always have spare tubes AND FUSES in your gig bag. Especially important – all of your spare fuses should be pre-inspected to be the correct value fuse your amp requires.
What happens when a fuse on an amp melts?
In the case of tube amplifiers, when a tube shorts or fails it draws excess current. When the failed tube draws current beyond the value of the fuse, the wire in the fuse literally melts and cuts off the electricity to the amp.