ICOM VHF Caputz?

jviss

.
Feb 5, 2004
7,089
Tartan 3800 20 Westport, MA
On my radio the fuse is at the opposite end from the radio - a few inches from where it connects to the on/off breaker at the DC distribution panel. And as jackdaw indicated that connection at the radio end is a female bullet connector.
As long as it's between the breaker and the radio, it will work.
 

walt

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Jun 1, 2007
3,535
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
It's really quite simple, and works perfectly if you install the radio per the manufacturer's recommendation, which includes the external protection fuse. Correct polarity, the protection diode is reverse-biased and doesn't conduct; reverse polarity and the diode is forward biased, and conducts. The fuse blows so quickly that the approximately 0.7V forward bias voltage drop of the diode is not enough to do any damage.
Yep.. exactly right. The wiring diagram shows a 10 amp fuse and if this was installed correctly and the OP hooked up the polarity backwards, the only damage should be a blown external fuse - easy to fix. Easy to confirm also by just checking to see if 12 volts is getting to the radio. If you have 12 volts to the radio and it doesnt work.. some bad stuff likely happened internally to the radio.

That protection diode is normally reversed biased and never even turns on unless the power input polarity is reversed. I think the diode is only rated for 3 amps but that is steady state and and can likely take a lot higher current for a short period of time which is the case where the fuse blows.
 

SG

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Feb 11, 2017
1,670
J/Boat J/160 Annapolis
Updated: Not sure about your question. Can you please clarify?

In this case the radio did get a surge of reverse polarity; and, then I thought that if the diode did it's job, the 3 amp in-line fuse would blow. The diode might then be spared; however, if the fuse didn't blow quickly enough, then I thought the diode would "take one for the team" and be damaged, but protect the circuits within the radio.

I thought the way it's supposed to work is: The diode is protecting principally against only reverse polarity? It has (almost) no resistance against correct circuit polarity flow; and, (almost) complete resistance against reverse flow. The fuse is supposed to blow when the circuit is "blocked-up".
 

walt

.
Jun 1, 2007
3,535
Macgregor 26S Hobie TI Ridgway Colorado
Here is the spec on that reverse protection diode https://www.digchip.com/datasheets/parts/datasheet/740/DSA3A1-pdf.php

It has a one time surge current rating of 120 amps.

I thought the way it's supposed to work is: The diode is protecting principally against only reverse polarity? It has (almost) no resistance against correct circuit polarity flow; and, (almost) complete resistance against reverse flow. The fuse is supposed to blow when the circuit is "blocked-up".
I think this is correct.. The reverse polarity protection diode and the fuse work together for the case of accidental reverse polarity. The fuse may have other purposes, we dont know. We normally think of fuses to protect the wire in the case of a short but this is a great example of another function. If that reverse polarity diode did blow because someone intentionally left out the fuse, I think there are potentially many circuits in the radio that are likely fried.
 
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jviss

.
Feb 5, 2004
7,089
Tartan 3800 20 Westport, MA
Updated: Not sure about your question. Can you please clarify?

In this case the radio did get a surge of reverse polarity; and, then I thought that if the diode did it's job, the 3 amp in-line fuse would blow. The diode might then be spared;
That is correct.
however, if the fuse didn't blow quickly enough, then I thought the diode would "take one for the team" and be damaged, but protect the circuits within the radio.
That is not correct. What would happen is that if there was no fuse, or it didn't blow quickly enough, the diode would blow, at which point you would then have the full reverse polarity voltage from HV to GND, damaging the downstream circuits.
I thought the way it's supposed to work is: The diode is protecting principally against only reverse polarity? It has (almost) no resistance against correct circuit polarity flow; and, (almost) complete resistance against reverse flow. The fuse is supposed to blow when the circuit is "blocked-up".
That is correct, except I don't know what you mean by the circuit being "blocked up." The fuse is supposed to blow when the diode conducts, and since that path has little resistance, enough current flows to blow the fuse quickly.
 
Mar 20, 2004
1,739
Hunter 356 and 216 Portland, ME
I also have a 422. That thing on the drawing is the female bullet connector as was said. the fuse is an inline glass fuseholder further down the power wiring harness.
 
Jun 21, 2004
2,782
Beneteau 343 Slidell, LA
Hi All,

My Battery terminals accidentally dropped onto the 'WRONG' terminals at exactly the same time...creating a rather large spark and blowing the 60 amp in-line fuse for the battery charger (good thing those fuses are there!) but now my vhf isn't working either...
J&R
Jack,
Did you repair or replace??