Solving a Chevrolet Spark M300 blowing fuse problem
Often the simplest solutions are the best way to easily solve a bigger problem.
This repair deals with a (Chevrolet) Spark M300 car problem of my brother’s son. Normally I do not deal with cars or not even drive one. ( I have a drivers license but in my opinion driving a car only gives a lot of stress next to a lot of high Bills. Even just Parking costs money ). But it was about electronic circuitry and so it was something that got me interested.
The situation was a single 10A fuse that kept blowing up in his son’s car. But not immediately and sometimes not even for a couple weeks and for completely unknown reasons.
Above photo showed the Spark M300 fusebox.
My brother was able to solve this annoying problem successfully after I gave him some advise.
And in this short article I will present his product that proved to be a great help and solved his problem. This testing tool likely may also be of good use to some other readers too! No matter what car you have. (All cars have fuse boxes!)
Because the fuse kept blowing up and exactly the same happened when he used a 5A 32V fuse, It seemed that the over-current was something that only occurred at certain short times, so the average current likely was lower than 5A in general.
After searching for the cause we ruled out that it was the sealing light that caused the short circuit. And neither it was any of the door contacts or the inside trunklight. And we observed that the led indicator on the dashboard was always on when the 10A fuse was defect. And in that case the sealing light and the door contact indicator didn’t work of course.
And it seemed that also the safety belts had something to do with this shorting fuse. But it was still unclear what caused the fuse to burn. But of course it had to be a current higher than 10A.
To better explain the function of the fuse in the Spark M300 circuit, here follows one of the only two circuits we were able to obtain from official sources. The F1DA Fuse is the problem fuse in this repair.
The line (wire) 62 in the top that leaves the RD/D-BU 840 wire to the left direction goes to another circuit that connects to the Airbags. E36AH is the sealing light that activates when the car doors open or when the owner manually activates this light. X51A is the Dashboard panel, B69 is the switch that warns when the trunk is not closed yet. And E33 is the inside trunk light.
Because we didn’t want to keep replacing fuses over and over again, I advised my brother to use a large car light bulb of about 12V 5A with a 10A fuse in series. That way the fuse would be safe in case there was another momentary short circuit AND it would be clearly noticable by the lighting up of the light bulb. My brother found a small 55 Watt 12V Halogen Car bulb that he fitted in a small plastic bucked with on top a switch to be able to deactivate the light in the circuit (because these light bulbs can become quite hot in seconds).
And he used the old defect fuse to attach the test tool to the fuse box by simply plugging it in.
The above circuit is our TEST TOOL.
And previous photos gave a good impression of this great Test Tool that really helped in finding the problem. It turned out that the car cables beneath the backseats sometimes short circuited to the car’s ground connection. And my brother now was able to isolate the wire bundle to prevent it from happening again. It may not look or cost much but it did the trick and that is all that counts! I think my brother Ruud did a very good job, I couldn’t have done any better!
And in case problems like this do become almost unsolvable I recently decided to buy a Mooshimeter that is able to datalog Current and Voltage (up to 10A at max 600V) simultaneous. So it also can measure Power, or do a Diode or Resistor measurement. This meter not only is capable to datalog over a period of time of over about 6 months on a 32GB micro SD card, but works also at a very precise 24 bit resolution. And with any Smartphone or Tablet that has Bluetooth (Version Android 4.3 and higher, or Iphone) over a distance of about 50 meters. And even speaks out loud any value measured if wanted. And also has a built in oscilloscope graph like function. And can be FW updated over Bluetooth and put to sleep with your Smartphone or Bluetooth tablet too. You simply reactivate the Mooshimeter by shortly connecting both the C (common) and Ohm inputs. It is sold with 3 good meter CatIII (600V) wires with extra separate crocodile clamps and a nice portable etui safety case. And the Mooshimeter itself apparently is housed in a transparent sturdy and compact waterproof housing. Seeing all Youtube videos about this great (Crowdfunded) product it is said to be even better than any expensive (and dated) Fluke Multimeter too!
Albert van Bemmelen, Weert, The Netherlands
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Note: You can read his previous repair article in the below link:
https://jestineyong.com/shorted-mosfet-tsf5n60m-in-3-amp-12-volt-power-adapter-repaired/
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doraiswamy SR
November 10, 2017 at 4:31 pm
brilliant idea sir...
Albert van Bemmelen
November 11, 2017 at 6:26 pm
Glad you liked the idea Doraiswamy SR!
Parasuraman S
November 10, 2017 at 11:56 pm
Very brilliant indeed! Good job!
Albert van Bemmelen
November 11, 2017 at 6:07 pm
Thank you Parasuraman for your always very positive replies!
Yogesh Panchal
November 11, 2017 at 12:34 am
Albert,
Thanks for sharing a practical idea.
Albert van Bemmelen
November 11, 2017 at 6:24 pm
It indeed is a useful practical solution Yogesh. And just another equivalent of the method as explained in my old Source And Load And The Enhanced Light Bulb Method article. So AC or DC powered sources makes no difference at all. Ohm's law is always applicable in any circuit with linear characteristics.
Andre
November 11, 2017 at 1:23 am
Nice Job Albert. That a neat idea.
Albert van Bemmelen
November 11, 2017 at 6:05 pm
Thank you Andre, it indeed seems to be a neat method which can't be improved much on in any way.
Anthony
November 11, 2017 at 3:42 am
Very interesting repair article Mr Albert with great explanation and photos to accompany it ! Glad you were
able to solve the puzzle of why the fuse would blow intermittently....these are the toughest type of repairs
to solve! Hats off to you AND your brother also ! That Mooshi meter you talked about sounds very interesting!
I might look very seriously into that ! Thanks again for sharing your repair stories here.
Kind Regards
Albert van Bemmelen
November 11, 2017 at 5:15 pm
Thank you for your nice comment Anthony! I haven't come to any difficult problem that required the use of my new Mooshimeter, but believe me as I say that it is money well spend! If you want to see how the Bluetooth Mooshimeter app program exactly looks and feels you could just download and already install the free app on your Android (4.3 and +) tablet or phone or Iphone and test it before buying one (the Mooshimeter costs about $125/125 Euro).
Anthony
November 11, 2017 at 6:04 pm
Thanks again Mr Albert,
Cheers
Albert van Bemmelen
November 12, 2017 at 1:38 pm
The Mooshimeter app warns the user when the device isn't compatible Anthony. But after installing the app the Mooshimeter environment likely won't show before a real Mooshimeter device is detected and connected through Bluetooth. But you can have a look on Google Play how the app looks. And it is even possible to use more Mooshimeters simultaneous over Bluetooth on your Phone or Tablet. Simply by scanning for any available Mooshimeter like you would scan for active Wifi routers before connecting to one.
Lawrence Mc Coig
November 11, 2017 at 5:01 am
I liked method to find intermittent fuse blowing problem.
Motorcycles have been my most problem free reliable rides once the bugs are ironed out after purchase. Small cars seem cash cow for car maker. Ask around and see what ride might work for you.
Albert van Bemmelen
November 11, 2017 at 5:26 pm
Thank you Lawrence for your nice reply. Sadly riding cars is just not my thing because after long drives I always get lower backproblems. Especially after riding in a small car because I'm rather tall you see. And if I have to bow down from the roof of the car into the window just to be able to see the traffic lights, you see why it doesn't agree with me. So walking or bicycling suits me much better!
mahmoud_tajpour
November 11, 2017 at 5:44 am
Hello dear colleague MR. Albert an Iranian author writes a book called the prophet of the thieves.Now according to this book you are the prophet of repairs.Hope always win and succeed.
Albert van Bemmelen
November 11, 2017 at 5:42 pm
Thank you dear colleague Mahmoud for your appreciated blessed words. The title 'prophet of repairs' indeed sounds really nice, but even a prophet knows that you can't always win and succeed. As everything has its place in time and space. And without negative there is no positive (to stay into electrical engineering). Without chaos there is no movement. And as they say in physics: after any transformation no energy gets lost, it only continues in another form.
Robert Calk
November 11, 2017 at 8:38 am
Good job, Albert. The Light Bulb circuit saver( I hate calling it a trick) comes to the rescue again. Most of the time the simple ways are the best ways. I was going to make something like that to carry in my car tool box and forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me.
Albert
November 11, 2017 at 5:22 pm
Thanks Robert. I was wondering why this product not already exists as a tool you can buy from eBay or Aliexpress. But that probably is because it is so simple to make. This little DIY project indeed can be a real time- or not lifesaver we should carry with us in our car toolbox like the safety hammer!
suranga Electronics
November 11, 2017 at 3:08 pm
Mr,Albert
Good Job. Well Done.
Albert van Bemmelen
November 11, 2017 at 5:54 pm
Thank you Mr.Suranga. I really have to thank my brother for giving me the opportunity to write about his repair in this article.
nitn vetal
November 11, 2017 at 11:19 pm
Very nice solution you are find you are great
Albert van Bemmelen
November 12, 2017 at 12:22 am
I hope it will be of good use to you too nitn. And thank you for your appreciated comment!
Henrique Jorge Guimarães Ulbrich
November 12, 2017 at 8:37 pm
Dear Albert, I agree with your expression: Often the simplest solutions are the best way to easily solve a bigger problem. This is exactly the case. Bravo!. Just one doubt: I am confused with the term sealing light. Wouldn't it be ceiling light?
Albert
November 14, 2017 at 1:28 pm
You are right of course Henrique! These things happen if I do not check a word I never wrote before is written correct. (English is not my native language. I'm Dutch but love the English language!). Thank you for pointing that out!
Justice
November 13, 2017 at 9:35 pm
Thanks Albert I guess electronics is same all over whether in the car or electronic equipment, one should not be scared to tackle anything. Great work thanks for sharing.
Albert van Bemmelen
November 14, 2017 at 4:56 pm
Thanks Justice, nice thing about Electrical & Electronic circuit basic laws indeed is that they are simple formulas that never change and always apply. Voltage is Current times Resistance is easy to understand (and probably the first formula we learn in school). It looks like only some laws of Physics recently have changed considerably.
According to Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity, and his also simple looking E=MC2 equation, light is traveling at the highest speed possible. But now neutrinos have been recorded travelling even faster than the speed of light. As long as those changes do not interfere with our simple Electrical formulas, we always can solve most problems in any circuit!
Lad
November 16, 2017 at 5:08 am
Albert, congratulation on your success.
I know that a light bulb is used during power supplies. But still I do not know a proper theory why it helps to use a light bulb. Can you please say a word or two about that?
Can you post a link of the Mooshimeter?
Thank you
Albert
November 16, 2017 at 9:41 pm
Thank you Lad, here is a link to the Mooshimeter manual: https://cdn.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Tools/MooshimeterManualRev1.pdf
But you better check out all Youtube videos to get a good impression on what this nifty and portable device can do, see for instance these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTflqGN5l3c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDcbryViABQ
About your question why we use a lightbulb, the answer is simpel. When there is a short the bulb will consume most if not all of the energy instead of the fuse. And the short current will be at max as high as the current that runs through the Bulb itself. The same thing we do when we test AC adapters or other devices on short circuiting with an AC lightbulb in series. You may find it all explained in my older "Source And Load And The Enhanced Light Bulb Method" article. It is all simple and most effective!