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Old 06-23-2017, 10:06 AM   #1
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Box Elder , South Dakota
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a short somewhere....?

Hi Its the 88 Excella newbie again

I have a 12v short off a fuse. out of nowhere the auto-reset fuse kept tripping and finally blew. (the newbie - what is that clicking noise?) I have isolated the fuse and when rewired to a empty one (same voltage) the tripping continued. I then disconnected the feed and identified and visually inspected each device that was not working. Rear Ceiling Fan, Bathroom Vanity Lights and Plug, Rear Bedroom Plug and Lights. I have not been able to locate the issue. I am thinking of taking this approach - re-establish the feed to the line and hopefully before the fuse blows completely - see what device is not working. Am I correct in assuming that the device that is shorted will not work while the other will and thus can be identified?
I know electrical issues are always frustrating but any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks
Kevin
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Old 06-23-2017, 10:15 AM   #2
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If there's an internal short in the device, it probably won't work. There could be a short in a wire or at a connector that might be harder to find. 12V troubleshooting can be a chore...
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Old 06-23-2017, 10:21 AM   #3
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I had a similar issue that wound up being a frayed wire that was touching the back side of my univolt. It took a lot of fuses before I found the wire. While it could be a bad device I would start by looking for a hot wire that is grounding out to the shell or other metal such as your charge controller.
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Old 06-23-2017, 05:58 PM   #4
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Here's a trick to help find the short without wasting fuses. Wire a 12 volt incandescent bulb in series with the fused load. In other words, one side of the bulb comes off the fuse and the other side connects to the line heading off to the devices. A tail light bulb in a socket with pigtails will work fine. Next pull all the bulbs out of any lights that are on that circuit, and switch all switches off then power up.

If there is a short to ground the incandescent bulb will glow full brightness but the fuse will not blow. Start disconnecting stuff till the bulb goes dim or goes out to isolate the short. If the bulb initially does not glow brightly start switching stuff on till it does, that load will be your short. A motor load will fool you though, it will look like a short.

I once had a camper with a roof rack screw driven thru a wire from the factory. It would blow fuses occasionally then finally got to the point where it wouldn't stop.
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Old 06-23-2017, 08:12 PM   #5
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Hi

The only thing I would add is to pull everything off the circuit you can. Unplug everything, pop out the light bulbs (or LED's), turn off all the switches. If you can easily unwire a device (= pull a wire nut) that may be worth doing as well. This may not find the problem, but it will eliminate as much from the search as you possibly can.

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Old 06-26-2017, 12:45 PM   #6
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thanks - I will try the bulb approach and see it that leads me to the issue. Thanks all
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