Posted by David Sherman on Thursday, October 14, 2004 at 0:19AM :
In Reply to: 24v Circuit Breakers - M37 Source? posted by Brad Z - Iowa on Thursday, October 14, 2004 at 0:11AM :
A breaker that's dropping voltage has got to be getting hot inside, unless the current going through it is very small. I don't know about the M37 breakers in particular, but it sounds like you'd have nothing to lose by taking them apart and seeing what's going on inside. Most likely there are rivets you can drill out, and then replace them with machine screws when you're done. If anything looks overheated and burnt, the breaker probably isn't salvageable, but if it's just corroded from lack of use or storage in a corrosive area, it should be possible to clean everything up and put it back together again and have it work. I've done that with other breakers. Just be careful that small parts and springs don't go flying out when you take it apart. If you really want to go the lazy route, just work it back and forth a bunch of times and see if it improves. When doing this, it helps if you can get a fair amount of current flowing through it while you exercise it in order to help burn oxidation off the contacts. A headlight circuit would probably be about right.