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Testing Circuit Breakers

Subject: Testing Circuit Breakers
From: Robert L. Nuckolls III <72770.552@compuserve.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Apr 1997 16:09:49
/While at SnF last week, I got a good deal on a handful of "Klixon" circuit
/breakers. They are from salvage, but appear to be in good physical
/condition. I'm wondering I'm wondering if I should test them to make sure
/they're okay. Most are 5a, but I've also got a 10a and a 2a. The only test
/equipment I have is a budget Radio Shack multi-meter, and a 12 volt
/battery. What else do I need to be able to conduct a reasonable test? How
/do I go about hooking up a test circuit? I do have a "Micro-Monitor" which
/I haven't installed yet. It has an ammeter function which ranges from -9 to
/75. I suppose I could hook it up and use it for testing purposes. Any
/ideas?


  Gee . . . if you REALLY gotta use those things . . . here's what you do.
  Rig a setup to drive about three headlamps in parallel from your 12
  volt battery.  Try each of the breakers in series with the headlamps
  to see if they trip.  The small guys will trip sooner than the bigger
  ones but the important part is that they DO trip.  This is 99% of everything
  you wanted to know about them.  Then, I'd go ahead and use them in the 
airplane.
  The probability of them DRIFTING in calibration by a significant amount
  is very small.

  Bob . . .


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