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Cigarette lighter socket

gblwy

gblwy

Well Known Member
During my annual inspection I was daft enough to plug a small portable vacuum cleaner into the socket to clean the aircraft interor. It never occurred to me that the vacuum pulls 10A, so the 5A slow-blow fuse did what it was supposed to and popped after a couple of minutes.

I don't remember if it was the way I tie-wrapped stuff in the engine compartment, but I had to take the lower cowl off to even see the fuse holder, and even then it was almost impossible to get at without removing the oil tank or an air filter.

I recommend builders try to locate the fuse holder so that it is accessible with the top cowl removed. And get a spare fuse. (They don't seem a common length in the UK - although I see they are used for electric guitars and pin-ball machines!).

Cheers...Keith_the_wiser
 
Keith, I can relate!

After buying my RV-8, I was working on the wingtip. I did something (over load or short). I was baffled since the circuit breaker did not pop but my position lights stopped working. It turned out the same breaker covered position and strobes and the builder had added an in-line fuse under the floor to protect one circuit from the other.

It was far from convenient to replace that fuse.

I eventually solved the issue when I rewired the panel. I brought all the leads up to the panel and then addressed the protection issue in an obvious common location.
 
gblwy said:
I recommend builders try to locate the fuse holder so that it is accessible with the top cowl removed. And get a spare fuse. (They don't seem a common length in the UK - although I see they are used for electric guitars and pin-ball machines!).

Cheers...Keith_the_wiser
Click to expand...

I tried to follow your advice, Keith as I am doing my annual but I was unable to find the darn fuse holder, even with both cowls off. Granted it's quite crowded there and I have tie-wrapped everything and dont like the idea to untie-wrap blindly. Could you give me some clues on how to trace this thing, I don't even know/remember how it looks like? :confused:
 
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