The fuse is not shorting anything out. What is happening is there is a failure caused by the load introduced by the inverter. With the fuse removed, the inverter does not work, and is therefore not causing a load (the battery gauge bypasses the fuse). Unfortunately, by this alone we cannot tell if there is a battery failure or an onverter failure causing this to happen.
Ideally, if you can beg or borrow another VMINI, and swap batteries, you shold be able to determine which is the bad component by seeing what the problem follows (inverter or battery).
Short of not having a second unit, you can remove the battery and plug the charger into the inverter and switch it on. After about 30 seconds, all lights should stabilize (inverter and charger). If so, then the inverter is likely OK, and the battery is bad. If the lights blink and quiver, then the inverter is likely bad, and the battery is likely to be OK. (please not the use of "likely").
Please note, total battery life is expected to be around 3-4 years, maybe less if used heavily. Also, exposure to water will render the battery unusable.
If you send the entire unit in, we can determine and correct the fault(s), or you can try replacing the battery if you think it may be the culprit.
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