Question for the electronic minded

[Thunderhawker]

My compressor for my airbrush keeps blowing fuses. It runs for about 20 minutes, then pop! Can I change the type if fuse? Its currently using a 2.5 Amp 250 Volt fuse, fast-acting. Can I change to a slow-blow, or is there another solution?

 

[Evil Dave]

you can but you would probably cause more damage. I\'d say you got a short somewhere.

 

[Dragon Forge Design]

who is the compressor made by, name and model?

 

[Shawn R. L.]

Is the motor properly greased and oiled? The motor might be bogging down and sucking up too much juice?

 

[lanekile]

That is odd. Is it a 240 volt compressor or a 120 volt compressor. I am a journeyman electrician, and if it happens after a bit of run time as stated it is probably getting a little worn and you could probably go to a 3 amp fuse and still be very safe.

I would say a short if it was happening instatly but, as you said that is not the case.

Hope that helps

 

[Thunderhawker]

Its this one

 

[Antnol]

Well the specs say its only 120 V so if you have it plugged into a 240V outlet that will cause the problem. Have you altered the plug at all to make it fit in the outlet?

 

[johnboyjjb]

Depending on the type of fuse you might be able to procure a replacement circuit breaker instead of new fuses.

 

[lanekile]

He has it in a regular 120v recepticle, the fuse is just rated up to 250v. And I am sure that it is fused on the device itself, and also they do not make 2.5 amp circuit breakers.

As stated above just find a 3 amp fuse at Home Depo and see how that works for ya meow.

 

[airhead]

Probably need the slow blow fuse.

You said this is after it has run and cycled? When the motor is trying to restart with a tank that is not empty, but has a pretty good load against it.

The motor stalls momentarily in the startup which causes a direct short as far as the instant blow fuse is concerned.

 

[lanekile]

Cheif I dont mean to tell you what you think you know but if it was a short it would pop instantly.

 

[Thunderhawker]

So, airhead, what you mean is I should let the tank fill, then turn it off until I need to refill the tank?

 

[airhead]

Originally posted by lanekile
Cheif I dont mean to tell you what you think you know but if it was a short it would pop instantly.

And that is what it is doing - when a motor first starts, it draws a LOT of amps for just a split second as it gets going. That is why larger motors have capacitors to give them a bit of a kick to get started. A quick blow fuse will not work well with a motor (neither will a GFCI, but that is another thread).

Which brings me to another thought, does your motor have a capacitor? It might have gone bad.


THawk, I may have been making a bad assumtion here.... does the compressor cycle? Shut off and come on, etc? or is it constant on? Is it blowing a fuse in the middle of a run or when restarting?

Can you adjust the amount of pressure that it puts in the tank before it shuts off?

 

[Thunderhawker]

Sadly its all moot now, as its blowing every single fuse I put in. I am in contact with the manufacturer and will likely have to send it back.