Studio light pours out smoke

Cianos

Hey there,
I have a photography studio light that came with a photography kit. It comes with a 500w bulb. I hadn't used the light for some time, and when I went back to test it, the light comes on fine, but smoke started pouring out of the housing.

I dismantled the housing and found that the smoke was coming from wiring that was leading to an outside knob with "fuse" written on it.

In this photo you can see the fuse knob...it looks like it can be screwed in/out but it can't. (click images for bigger pic)



Here you can see the wiring going in to the on/off switch and the diverted wires to the fuse knob where the smoke comes from.



Would anyone have any idea what is causing the smoking and how I might be able to fix it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

RoundyMooney

Knackered fuseholder, I reckon.

It should normally be removable, either by screwing it off, twisting and pulling etc., but probably 'cos one of the contacts is making poor contact with the fuse itself, and has caused it to melt due to heating, it's not doing so.

It's probably a five amp fuse. The right thing to do would be to replace it with a new one. If it were me, I'd bypass it altogether and fit one of similiar size in the plug-top. I'd only do so though, if I were keeping the thing-the danger being that someone else would replace it with a standard 13A fuse.

Remove the incoming brown spade connector on the fuse unit, remove the loop from there to the mains switch, and replace the brown incoming connector on to the switch itself.

Be sure to label the unit with something along the lines of "5A Fuse fitted to plug top" on the base of the light, though.

Cianos

Thanks very much for the reply. I pulled the fuse holder to see if it'd come off and it popped off...and a very charred fuse came with it;



(sorry about poor pic quality)

I'm not sure what Amp the fuse is, but I can just about make out "T3.15AH250V" on it.

Should simply replacing this solve the problem of the smoke? On the fuseholder at the underside of the housing I just noticed a singular melted spot of plastic.

If it were me, I'd bypass it altogether and fit one of similiar size in the plug-top. I'd only do so though, if I were keeping the thing-the danger being that someone else would replace it with a standard 13A fuse.

Remove the incoming brown spade connector on the fuse unit, remove the loop from there to the mains switch, and replace the brown incoming connector on to the switch itself.

I'm planning on selling the whole thing and am trying to resolve this issue before I sell it on. So would this still be advisable? Also, the two wires leading to the fuse unit are brown

Thanks again for your help.

RoundyMooney

The next fuse will only heat up as well. maplins etc., should have a replacement fuseholder, or try a local electrical wholesaler.

The connections are both brown, as the fuse is and needs to be on the live, phase side.

In this instance the fuse is before the switch;


Live

---

Fuse----Switch----Lamp(L)X(N)Lamp

---

Neutral.

RoundyMooney

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Search.aspx?menuno=12436

Cianos

Thanks very much again for the help. I think I'll bring it up to O'Reillys in Bray and maybe they'll have the spare fuseholder and will be able to show me how to fix it as well.

If not I'll order from Maplins and have a go myself!

DublinDilbert

As with what the others have said, replace the fuse holder if you can.

If you can't replace it, there isn't much too them, clean up the contacts with fine sand paper and replace the fuse with one of a similar ratting & see how that works.