Instrument cluster fuse

[baggy798]

Accidentally had my multimeter set to ADC and fried the instrument cluster fuse, if anyone has replaced it what amp rating did you use?

[mjk164]

Baggy, if it were me, I would start with a 1 amp fuse (or fuse wire) and, if that blew after a while I would go to 3 amp. The wiring diagram shows the fuse but not the rating.

[Laird Scooby]

The fuse is part of the PCB so will be difficult to find a rating for. You'll need to find a couple of short self tappers to fit the holes either side of where it blew on the PCB, fit them loosely and then link them with fuse wire. I'd guess at 3A although 1A may suffice.

[baggy798]

Thanks guys!

There are 19x 1.2w bulbs along the lower edge of the cluster, assuming they were all lit simultaneously that's 22.8w. Would it be fair to say that the fuel gauge, temp gauge, rev counter, and speedo draw at least that combined?

Let's say 50 watts for everything, that's 4.17 amp draw. Plus a bit of leeway... 5 amp fuse wire?

[Laird Scooby]

Many of those bulbs are supplied by different circuits e.g the full beam warning light is supplied by the lighting circuit, the low washer fluid by the wiper circuit etc etc.

Don't forget though with the engine running any calculations done at 12V will be wrong as the alternator output is 14.4V so you need to add 20% to the power consumed. However the fuse is there more for the instruments themselves so i still reckon 1A would be sufficient.

[mjk164]

All the lamps on the combined instrument are powered from different supplies; the fuse you have to repair is only on the gauges (even the clock has a different supply). I would still stick with 1 to 3 amps. If it blows with either of these fuses, then there is a fault elsewhere.

[bob12]

If you looked around reckon you could buy a micro fuse holder that would screw into the tab/holes. Might well be that the holes were there originally for exactly that purpose.

[Laird Scooby]

Under the bonnet of my Rovers lives a fusebox with normal blade fuses and also some that are simply strips of metal with a ring at each end. I suspect that is the fuse Volvo were thinking of or perhaps a fuse wire with a ring crimp each end Bob as there isn't much room behind the instrument cluster for anything extra t5a9-6cke+d on the back of it.

Err, that should be "tacked" but my Rottie decided to rest her head on the numeric keypad while i was typing!

[bluebrickrick]

Can I suggest that you run a pair of wires (a bit of twin core speaker wire praps) from the pcb and out under the dash to a fuse holder stuck in front of the panel with some blu tack, then you can experiment with and replace fuses as needed until you are happy with the value but without having to excavate the cluster and get out the soldering iron every time one blows............

Rick

That black volvo sticky stuff is even better if you can scrape some off somewhere !