neon fuse

[bangers]

i've wired 2 neons in the boot. the black with white stripe wires go to a switch. the black wires go to an earth with the earth wire off the switch. and the power wire straight to the battery with an inline fuse. i put a 10 amp fuse in and the neons came on. when i switched them off then on again the fuse blew. i then put a 20 amp fuse in and there was a spark fromn the fuse holder and the fuse blew again. i did the same with a 30 amp fuse and the same thing happened and melted the fuse holder slightly. the fuse was hot to touch. whats gone wrong? should i have disconnected the battery earth before puting the fuse in then reconnect the battery earth? have i blown the neons? what the hell happened? :bang:

 

[maginoodle]

you must have a short somewhere. did you have the neons turned on when putting the fuse in?

 

[bangers]

the first time i did with the 10 amp fuse. then after that they were turned off.

 

[maginoodle]

sounds like a short between the fuse and the switch. Is the switch mounted properly? If it can move a little bit that may let the connectors on the back short out.

 

[bangers]

the switch is mounted firmly and the contacts aren't touching. i thought maybe i'd hooked the neon wires up the wrong way around but they came on the first time.

 

[bangers]

well i worked it out. i removed the earth from the switch and it all works good now. i just have an earth from the neons.