Fuses

There seems to be two discrepancies in the "official" type of fuses to use in the RV-12iS. My kit came with ATO/ATC 1/4" fuses - these are the typical ones you probably see in your car.

The Maintenance Manual, FTS and POH all state that any fuse 3+ amps should be the type that illuminate when blown.

Issue #1: The maintenance manual, page 8-6 states:

NOTE: REPLACEMENT FUSES FOR ANY CIRCUIT IN WHICH A 5 AMP FUSE OR LARGER IS SPECIFIED MUST BE OF THE TYPE THAT ILLUMINATE WHEN BLOWN

Click to expand...

Issue #2: I blew a 30A fuse by accident and it didn't illuminate..all of my fuses seem to be the normal, non-LED type.

I'll admit that I had to google what was supposed to happen. Here is a demo of them in action:
https://youtu.be/nSuBGU5__cs?t=122

Does anyone have these special fuses in their plane?

Looking at the schematic, it seems that the engine must be running in order
for the 30 amp fuse to glow. As far as I know, all RV-12s kits have the "Lit"
type fuses. Mine does. Try connecting the blown fuse to a 9 volt battery.
Van's sell those fuses and so do auto parts stores. Go to this website:
https://shop.vansaircraft.com/public/parts.txt and search for LIT.

You can buy replacement fuses that light up at Stein Air.

Mich48041 said:

Try connecting the blown fuse to a 9 volt battery.
Van's sell those fuses and so do auto parts stores. Go to this website:
https://shop.vansaircraft.com/public/parts.txt and search for LIT.

Click to expand...

I'll try this. I can't remember which 30a fuse it was, I can't remember the exact circumstance, but my thought was that if it blew, it must have voltage on one side of it, and ground on the other (or at least some voltage differential), and should have lit. Anyway, when I took a close look at the fuse, it didn't look any different than a regular fuse.. but I suppose I may have missed the tiny LED embedded in it. I'll update this thread with my findings.

I bought “light up” fuses at Harbor Freight for spares.