Something I am pondering

[kmcallorum]

Ok,
Love the smart strings.  But the hub and fuses.. Agh.  I have a string that worked great for about a month, then for some reason decided it wanted to short the fuses.  I moved them around my hub, trying desperately to get it to work watching 4 more fuses blow.  So out of 16 I have I think now 3 working.


There needs to be something that we can attach in between the strings and the hub that will blow the fuse on something quickly resettable that will in proper handling not blow the fuse on the hub.  I have cut this string down and played around trying to find the weather infused short but so far no luck. 


So now I am down to one working fuse on my hub, ordered more and started to replace that little green guy down inside that slot that is hard to get to, I started on this test hub to solder to the back of the board so I can get them in and out.  But still have a string that shorts the fuse and then back under the microscope and pull the one from the front move it to the back and try again with less lights, short again.  Try again.


I wish there was some sort of device( and there may be, you guys might know better) that I can place between the ssc and the hub that I can reset, so as to not have to solder the board one more time.


Kevin

[rwave]

Why not just add a resettable fuse (the kind recently discussed) on the SSC?  And leave the green one on the hub as is.  Redundant fuses are not a bad idea, just make sure the resettable one "blows" first!

Richard

[Steve Gase]

Resettable fuses sound good IF they are manually resetting.

In another thread the self-resetting were discussed and there were serious concerns expressed and sufficient cause not to go that route.

[TexasStingray]

I'm kinda new at this and just might be just shooting with my eyes closed. Is it possible the problem is in the SSC and not the lights them self.

Just a thought.

[Steve Gase]

I'm kinda new at this and just might be just shooting with my eyes closed. Is it possible the problem is in the SSC and not the lights them self.

Just a thought.

good thought...  The ssc doesn't usually have a problem if it is protected from the weather, but the cat5 connection to the ssc is often a point of failure.  The design of the sscs and the affect of stretching and twisting in the wind... And the older strings with their waterproofing issues makes the string the more likely  cause... But not the only possibility.

[egenoup]

Usually if you are blowing fuses, you have a short, so you should be able to test for shorts before plugging into the hub.  Data line shorts USUALLY do not cause fuses to pop.  Put a meter set to continuity or ohms setting and put the meter across the string to test.  If the meter registers continuity or the ohm's reading is near zero, then you most likely have a short and it will cause the fuse to pop.  One common problem is getting the pigtail wires in the wrong position.  Make sure you double check this.  Also make sure you are not using a cross-over cable between the hub and the SCC.

just my 2 cents...

[kmcallorum]

It's one of the bulbs. Just an FYI, the ssc is fine.  Mi am just hunting for that one bulb.  Just a thought to some kind a breadboard connection with a resettable fuse to find the issue.

[chrisatpsu]

sometimes the wire insulation is frayed near a node. you can look around the bases to see if there's a short there.

[EasyGo]

There needs to be something that we can attach in between the strings and the hub that will blow the fuse on something quickly resettable that will in proper handling not blow the fuse on the hub.  I have cut this string down and played around trying to find the weather infused short but so far no luck.

I think I'd wire a 12-volt bulb in series with a 12-volt power supply, hook it up to the string (avoiding messing with the hub until your sort out the short circuit), and start working my way down the line to see if I could find the problem.  The bulb should light brightly if the string is shorted, and should dim or go out when you remove the short.  Something like an automotive 1156 bulb will limit the fault current to a couple of amps.

Note that this is intended only for while you're finding the short, not as a fuse replacement in normal operation.

Jon

[kmcallorum]

EasyGo,


Now that's something like I am talking about.  I will have figure out exactly what to do, but this is something of a troubleshooting method.  I agree it's just till I find out what shorted this string out.  It worked for 4 weeks, then one day decided it had enough in the winds of december in these hills of georgia.


But this is something I am looking to try.


Kevin

[jnealand]

I would think twice about soldering the fuses on the bottom of the hub.  I know it can be a little difficult to get in between the cat5 connectors, but think about how hard it might be to have to put a soldering iron between them.  A good pair of long needle nose pliers helps a lot.

[chrisatpsu]

if you place the fuse o. the bottom of the hub, you can still solder them on from the bottom.