Hi All,

My Aerobed pump has gone faulty and using a bit of fault finding have highlighted the cylindrical black object on the attached PCB as the issue component. when bypassed the pump works so assume its this and therefore would like to know what it is and where to get a replacement from.

The pump works from its integral 10v DC batteries and also via a car lighter charger but cannot work when plugged in to mains so assume this is some kind of fuse or filter but as an untrained have no clue so would be very appreciative for expert advise please!

Regards,

Jon

 

It's hard to tell, but I think it is just a fuse with heatshrink tubing over it, especially given the Underwriters logo on it.

[EDIT] - sorry, had to run off to do something, so to continue...

You can check it with an ohmmeter. It is probably a fraction of an ohm if OK and open circuit if bad. If it is open you can carefully cut off the black tubing and probably find the rating stamped on the metal ends.

If it is a blown fuse, the big question is why it blew. Sometimes fuses are used very close to their rated current and will occasionally blow because of that, especially after long use. It seems more likely that the pump itself is drawing excessive current, possibly due to wear or need for lubrication.

You can get some idea of the magnitude of overcurrent from the appearance of the fuse if it is a glass tube type. If the inside of the tube is blackened or looks "silvered" the fuse probably blew with high overcurrent and something else has failed. If the element looks like it just peacefully melted in two, there is a better chance that nothing else is seriously wrong, though something could be drawing somewhat more current than usual.

Without having a suitable bench power supply for testing and without knowing the actual current required in the circuit, I would probably replace the fuse and see what happens, provided it didn't look blackened. I recommend eye protection when powering up after replacing the fuse, just in case something goes bang.

 

Short it out. ...

 

It's hard to tell, but I think it is just a fuse with heatshrink tubing over it, especially given the Underwriters logo on it.

[EDIT] - sorry, had to run off to do something, so to continue...

You can check it with an ohmmeter. It is probably a fraction of an ohm if OK and open circuit if bad. If it is open you can carefully cut off the black tubing and probably find the rating stamped on the metal ends.

If it is a blown fuse, the big question is why it blew. Sometimes fuses are used very close to their rated current and will occasionally blow because of that, especially after long use. It seems more likely that the pump itself is drawing excessive current, possibly due to wear or need for lubrication.

You can get some idea of the magnitude of overcurrent from the appearance of the fuse if it is a glass tube type. If the inside of the tube is blackened or looks "silvered" the fuse probably blew with high overcurrent and something else has failed. If the element looks like it just peacefully melted in two, there is a better chance that nothing else is seriously wrong, though something could be drawing somewhat more current than usual.

Without having a suitable bench power supply for testing and without knowing the actual current required in the circuit, I would probably replace the fuse and see what happens, provided it didn't look blackened. I recommend eye protection when powering up after replacing the fuse, just in case something goes bang.

 

Many thanks, i shall bare it back and have a look, i'll let you know!