| Author | Message | ||
     Joojoo |
My Dashboard fuse blew yesterday (moisture related for sure) and I replaced it with a 7.5 spare. Did the trick. I dont know anything about electrical parts....Can I get these fuses at the local auto shop, or do I need to buy them from a Buell dealer? Jack | ||
| Lazyme21 |
Fuses are fuses man. Go to any auto parts store and get some new fuses. | ||
| Starter |
There ain't no place other than the dealer that sells fuses like that in Aust. | ||
| Fullpower |
very common automotive fuses. i stock them in my little shop. you should not have any problem finding them at a regular auto parts house. | ||
| Lovematt |
Was wondering...does using Dialectric Grease make sense on just the fuse contacts? Just curious...I live near the ocean and air is foggy with salty taste sometimes. | ||
| Darthane |
Matt - won't hurt them and will delay corrosion. Terminals in general take a while to corrode unless they have been damaged, as they are coated (normally in tin). Ditto what fullpower said - every car in the world uses that same type of fuse. | ||
| Dasxb9s |
No. Close but no cigar... You want some electrical contact substance that does not inhibit the flow of current. dielectric grease is wrong, it was used to lube the contact point where a rotor contacts a distributor cap to eliminate the chance of arcing, while providing friction reduction at that contact point. A dielectric IS NOT conducive to current flow. di·e·lec·tric (di i-lek/trik) n. A nonconductor of electricity, especially a substance with electrical conductivity less than a millionth (10–6) of a siemens. Right idea, wrong substance/term. edited by dasxb9s on July 20, 2004 | ||
| Darthane |
Das - dielectric grease will not inhibit the flow of electricity in this case - believe me. We've used it to prevent corrosion/waterproof connections underhood on the last two vehicle builds I've been on. You HAVE to use dielectric grease - anything that conducts electricity is just asking for a short. edited by darthane on July 20, 2004 | ||
| Dasxb9s |
Darthane... I have seen but can't remember by who a substance that does the opposite of the dielectric grease. Yes, it will work, but it ain't the right stuff. There is stuff made just for the application of electrical connectors. Of course... gold plating would be good... but I doubt you will never see it in fuses! Good conductivity and no corrosion!  | ||
| Starter |
Copper Anti-seize does the job as well. Very well I may add. | ||
| M1combat |
But we're trying to prevent arcs... I think dielectric would be best. As long as you can be sure that there is indeed metal to metal contact I think dielectric would be best. MO only, YMMV  . | ||
| Dasxb9s |
Darthane and others... I worded myself wrong when I wrote it did the opposite. It has different uses though common properties, I felt I must add... I think we are both (all) saying the same thing a different way. Back in ye olden days when car had points and condensers... the rotor under a distributor cap had unique things to deal with different from the new/modern electronic replacement for that old technology. You had a contact from the coil through the rotor which mechanically rotated to arc across to the interior post where each plug wire connected to the cap. You had a contact point that had two issues. One, to pass high voltage (low amperage) from the coil to each sparkplug. Two, it moved at high rpm. Lubrication without current inhibition was needed...ALSO... the lube could not be a good conductor or current taking the path of least resistance would jump (arc) to a contact out of order and cause problems. This grease needed dielectric properties while acting as a lubricant. ALSO... it there was no dielectric lube on the rotor, and arcs could actually burn a path on the interior of the distributor cap and basically change the firing order. SO... the dielectric grease in ye olden days was a lube and a arc inhibitor. It prevented arcing by making a dielectric grease shield to ensure the path of current flow was from coil through rotor to sparkplug wire sequentially as it spun around in the distributor cap. A lubricant (thin film) and a dielectric (thick glob, relatively speaking of course) shield. Electrical contact grease. A substance in the form of grease which is meant to do the following (not to include lubrication for fast spinning items), inhibit corrosion, inhibit arcing, inhibit moisture on contacts, not inhibit flow through a contact point. While both have common traits... and can be used in opposite applications with a acceptable level of performance... two different uses with one common aspect, prevention of arcing to near by conductors. So... is dielectric grease a substance that falls withing the definition of "dielectric" as posted earlier? NO! Is it intended to inhibit arcing to surrounding conductors? Yes! In the olden days was it meant have lubricating properties for a high rpm rotor? Yes! Would I use dielectric grease on common electrical contacts? No! Would I use electrical contact grease on a rotor? No! So semantics is part of our opposing comments. We basically are saying the same thing a different way when we talk of what is needed. Which I am sure is why no place on that electrical contact grease tube in the photo, nor in the description from where I snatched it does it say dielectric. Though effectively it is very similar to the old dielectric grease from when I was your age. My advise... use Electrical Contact Grease. | ||
| Darthane |
If you can get either one, yes, get the contact grease. Trust me, though, the dielectric will work just fine (it did through 100,000 miles of hot and cold weather testing, I'm sure your fusebox will be peachy). | ||
| Lovematt |
Wow...what did I start. The information is very good tho and I have learned a lot. So it seems the grease is best and to use a small amount only on the metal portion of the fuze. That's cool. As for my original question, I asked using the dialectric stuff since that was originally used on my '68 Elco when it had points...now it is HEI and there is no need. Thanks for the great feedback guys! |
