Fiat Ducato Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 I was doing some electrical work on my van, and somehow the positive and negative wires of a ceiling light ended up touching while they were hanging down while I was busy else where. I switched the power on to check another wire with a multi meter, suddenly I smelt burning turned around and my control panel was smoking and stinking. I immediately switched it off, and on closer inspection I noticed that the 15A fuse had completely melted and burnt the panel slightly, also when pulling out the melted fuse I pulled out the housing for one of the blade fuse legs. My first question is - Can this be fixed or will the circuit board be nackered now and need replacing? my second question is - why did this happen in the first place? surely the fuses are designed to break the internal wire and thus breaking the circuit, stopping further damage. I am just about to upload a couple of photo's need to resize them first. Thanks in advance for all your answers, help and advice as usually received. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 I'd solder them back in if at all possible and use a 5amp fuse in future. If the board track is damaged you can repair it with a wire link. I don't know why the 15amp fuse didn't blow instantly, it acted like it was overloaded rather than short circuited. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Dave Posted October 24, 2016 Share Posted October 24, 2016 The issue of the fuse not blowing is probably due to the resistance of the lighting circuit which i suspect will be thin gauge wire. 15 Amps does seem excessive for a lighting circuit and agree that a 5 amp or less fuse should be fitted in its place especially if led bulbs have been fitted to replace halogen. The problem you may have is that the wiring from the panel to the fitting may have melted somewhere inaccessible in the wall or roof void that is a possible problem and would be a worry. The panel will be repairable but try to replace the fuse contacts on the PCB as the springiness (if that's a word) will have been lost due to the heating effect and will not provide a good connection. No doubt this is a lesson learnt. Just a thought cheap chinese fuse are rubbish and cause endless issues with fuse boxes overheating. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiat Ducato Posted October 24, 2016 Author Share Posted October 24, 2016 Hi good morning to you both, thanks for the reply, yes, you are right I think the cable I used was 16Amp rated twin, and I did purchase some blade fuses off ebay for like 99p when they arrived they seemed cheap looking but used them anyway. Obviously the bad combination of the two as led to this problem. Poor judgments on my behalf. Lesson learnt here. Yes I intended to just solder the fuse holder back in place, I've un screwed all the little nuts that hold the front and back plate together, however I cannot see how the power and pump switch pass through if they are just push in pins or soldered in place. Don't want to force them. Regards Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keninpalamos Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 I had a problem with my Hymer (Fiat) when using the cab heater motor using it any higher on a 2 setting as apposed to 3 or 4. The fuse was located on the far right in the fuse box which is in the glove box but had melted at some stage in the passed and a line fuse fitted hard wired to the back of the the fuse box. Even this used to get very hot so I decided to investigate. Very simple answer was that the heater motor was U/S and needed to draw so much power that everything else was getting hot but not the cab or me. A new motor and replacement of the blade fuse terminals and contacts in the fuse box and line fuse and wiring removed it now works fine. I wouldn't bet on it but it was was probably a dealer bodge job some years previous. The reason the fuse never blew was overrating due to other units sharing the same fuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiat Ducato Posted October 30, 2016 Author Share Posted October 30, 2016 Just a quick update the electrical problem as now been resolved. I dismantled the control panel and had re-solder the fuse holder back in place and unfortunately the 2 on/off switches had got very hot and melted, so ordered 2 similar size ones ones off ebay and soldered them in place. All working fine now. The hardest part was removing the old switches and solder. Took ages of using solder braid to suck up the old solder to get a clean surface to solder the new switches in place. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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