Hi when replacing the alternator, I accidentally arced voltage and blew the 80 AMP fuse. I replaced the fuse now I have no power anywhere in the car. I want to if I need to replace the fuse boxes or replace other particular fuses that I'm not aware have blown.

Thanks

 

What's the battery's voltage? You may have cooked it.

Sorry.

 

check EVERY fuse.

 

BTW, easy to check all fuses.

Set meter to tone setting. Aka diode test setting. Setting where it beeps when leads touched.

Now just use fuse test points. Exposed bare metal on top of fuse. No need to remove fuse.

Just iterate down each fuse, touching leads to test points. Hear beep, fuse good, move on to next. Test every fuse in panel in a few seconds.

If one doesn't beep, remove, inspect, confirm blown. Test on actual fuse blades, etc.

 

By "cooked it" so you mean the fuse boxes, the harness, or something else?

 

I'll be going to my garage this weekend to take another look. and will let you know when I see.

 

Do you mind sending a link if the tool you're talking about? I'm not sure if its just a standard voltage meter or a specific one with non-standard functions.

Thanks.

 

Most any DVM will do.

Cheap HF DVM w Diode test mode

See that funny looking arrow symbol right above the ON switch? Thats a diode symbol. Just set it to that. When leads touch, it beeps.

Think of it like a sonic ohms mode. If its 0 ohms (or anything very close to 0), it beeps.

Before you actually start using it to test, touch leads together to confirm it beeps. Makes sure you set it correctly, that meter is working, etc.






A diode is a one way valve for electricity. Only allows current flow in one direction. A typical use is to convert AC to DC,by arranging 4 diodes into a diamond pattern called a bridge. All power supplies that plug into the wall to power anything electronic have one of these bridges.

If its AC going in, DC coming out, its got a diode bridge rectifier inside. So those little boxes to charge your phone, AC in, USB (that has DC power) coming out? Yup, inside that box is, among other things, a bridge rectifier of 4 diodes.

So the meter diode mode would be used to make sure diode beeps one way, but not the other. No beeps at all (open), beeps in both directions (short), means bad diode.

But this mode is also super handy when we want to simply test continuity, and don't really care about actual ohm reading. No need to look at meter, wait for it to scale, wait to display a number that keeps jumping around, mentally confirm that number is essentially zero for all intents and purposes. Just hear beep, move on with life.

When using this mode just to test continuity, ie, not actually testing a diode, just using it to beep to know there is a connection, polarity doesn't matter. Red, black, no need to worry about which goes where.

Sometimes diode test mode on a meter will have a symbol that looks like a speaker, or sound waves. Telling you its the mode that beeps.

Some even have a diode test mode and a continuity test mode:

 

One or two battery cells within the battery may have suffered irreversible heat damage due to the short that caused the fuse to blow.

Measure the DC voltage across the (+) and (-) terminals.