OT Request. for electronic help

[ChefJohn]

I have a piece of Electronic Equipment - A Valence Saphion Battery Pack.
"I have 2 High Power cables" 1 for my trusty 600e with a 500 Mhz P3 - 280Mb RAM
This works well. However the "high Power Cable" for my Compaq Pressario (this has a 1.4 P4 & 1 Gb of Ram but the Think pad seems Slicker and swifter but that is a subject for a different request).

I was able to drag out of the Tech Support for Valence - Good Product concept - POOR Support. That perhaps the fuse for the Compaq cable had blown.... With nothing to loose I cracked open the case and did determine the small surface mount device labelled FUSE had a "infinite resistance" - at least that is what my DVM read. I do have a Good Soldering Station and can solder some.
So how difficult is it to replace a surface mount unit - there are about 6 devices on the board next one is a good .25" away?

How do I identify a replacement for the fuse - can't see any numbers on the device?

Could I go Old school with a more external fuse and jumper it in place? there does appear space for an older type fuse - perhaps suspended in the air.

Any ideas for a suitable fuse either surface mount or ....
The Compaq uses a nominative 19.5 Volts and the Power brick gives the following spec... 18.5 volts 2.7A.

Thank you in advance

[rkawakami]

It's fairly tough to work on tiny, surface mounted components but it can be done if there's enough room around the part(s) in question to safely get the tip of the solder iron in there. Use a low wattage (~25w) iron with the finest tip you can get. A temperature controlled station would be best.

Fuses are difficult to identify without any kind of markings. You would of course need to replace it with the same amperage rating as the original. I've had fairly good luck in finding fuses out of the mouser.com and digikey.com online catalogs. You may have to download several manufacturer's datasheets to check the physical size and any part number codes before you find a match.

As far as the battery pack is concerned, I don't know enough about that. What is the output voltage of the pack, 12V? Valence seems to provide packs for automotive applications. If the "high power" cables are DC-to-DC converters then you may have exceeded the current specs for the Compaq and blown the fuse. If you can determine the maximum output current and voltage specs for those cables then that might give you a clue.