According to :
On 30 Aug 2004 12:52:43 GMT, (Chris Lewis)
wrote:
According to Dave :
What is the 'lightbulb' trick?
Simple way to test fuse circuits for shorts:
Find a small wattage lightbulb, screw it in place of the fuse. If it
lights, you have a short. If it doesn't light, you don't.
Make sure there's nothing else turned on the circuit.
I tried that once, but I have breakers. Where do you screw the bulb
into a breaker?
Obviously, you can't.
If you have nerves of steel, sufficient foolishness, and a low wattage
120V lightbulb in a lamp holder in a pigtail, you can accomplish the same thing
by disconnecting the circuit from the breaker, turning on the breaker, and
bridging the breaker screw to the hanging circuit wire with the pigtail lamp.
But that would be foolish.
Slightly less foolish would be to disconnect the circuit, run one pigtail
wire under the breaker screw, and the other pigtail wirenutted to the circuit
wire, _then_ turn on the breaker. If the lamp lights, you have a short.
I don't bother doing that. It's just very convenient with fuses, and fuses only
work once. Breaker don't work just once. Usually.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.