Fuse question..

So.. Last night in the middle of practice. I lose power to my new Ace Tone combo organ. It is 40 years old, but has maybe 2 hours of total play time on it. In short, it looks and plays brand new.

The power light went out and I tried to rectify the problem by using a different outlet. No help.

I pulled the fuse out of it (it reads 0.2A) and it didn't appear to be blown (no smoky or sooty look to it), but it appears to have tiny beads of moisture in the glass. The filament is super-fine but appears intact, although it is hard to tell. It was really hot in the rehearsal studio last night and pretty humid. I dunno if that would cause the fuse to go or not.

Does this sound like a fuse problem? I'm gonna run by Radio Shack on the way home and see if I can get a replacement to test, but I figured that I'd ask you folks as well..

Thanks!

I've definitely had fuses that were blown that did not LOOK blown. Fuses are cheap. Replace it.

Only if the amp KEEPS popping fuses does it point to a problem elsewhere.

Remember: Buy more than one replacement fuse, or...
(The following tech tip is a tongue-in-cheek joke. Thank you)
..replace the fuse with one with a much higher current rating and with "slo-blow" function. When the current sucking thing inside the contraption begins to smoke, it will make its diagnosis much simpler! Remember to keep the fire extinguisher close at hand!
(End of facetiousness)
Have a nice day!

Alright.. Part 2 to my question..

The fuse I pulled out of the organ is a 0.2A fuse. I went to buy new fuses yesterday, but all I could find were 0.25A. Will this kill my organ, or should they be okay to try out? I haven't put in a new fuse yet, and I wanted to check around before I go plugging in a slightly higher rated fuse.

I'm really unversed in the electronics end of things, so any help is appreciated.

Thanks!

It would probably be OK, but if you go up in amps like that, I recommend you do NOT get a slo-blo fuse. Because it's rated at higher amperage, it'll blow later than the original fuse anyway, and you don't want the new .25 fuse to be "still holding on" while something inside your organ fries.

If there's something wrong in the organ that is popping fuses, a .25 NON slo-blo should be fine.

But, of course, it sure would be better to get a .2 anyway... better to be safe than sorry.

ruger9 wrote:

It would probably be OK, but if you go up in amps like that, I recommend you do NOT get a slo-blo fuse. Because it's rated at higher amperage, it'll blow later than the original fuse anyway, and you don't want the new .25 fuse to be "still holding on" while something inside your organ fries.

If there's something wrong in the organ that is popping fuses, a .25 NON slo-blo should be fine.

But, of course, it sure would be better to get a .2 anyway... better to be safe than sorry.

This is what I got.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103752&tab=summary

yep. "fast acting" is the opposite of slo-blo.