Do a search, many have posted on this several times.
You don't know if you need refrigerant unless you have hi/low pressure gauges.
You don't know if you have added enough or too little unless you have hi/low pressure gauges.
If your willing to risk the whole AC system and you are very confident that all that is wrong with your AC system is a slow leak that has lost refrigerant, than MAYBE adding a can to the system may bring it back closer to working normally, it could damage the system worse and make it harder/more expensive to repair.
You indicate your AC problems may be associated with electrical control, how do you come to conclusion that it needs a recharge kit?
The AC has a low pressure switch to turn off the clutch, thus compressor, if the pressure in the evaporator gets too low, meaning it will ice over. That also serves as a safety switch to keep you from running the AC when its too low on refrigerant to lubricate the compressor properly.
IF THAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, IF YOU HAD AN AC LEAK THAT A RECHARGE KIT COULD BRING BACK SOME FUNCTION, THEN YOUR AC WOULD HAVE SLOWLY DEGRADED IN PERFORMANCE OVER THE LAST YEAR IF NOT MORE. IF the AC just quit, you either have a massive leak that recharging won't help, or the problem is something else altogether. Since playing around with fuses yielded some result, I'd suspect the latter, unless it was just a coincidence.
When you go to recharge, have the motor running and the AC turned on Full. As you charge, the pressure in the system will be raised and that will throw the switch and start the compressor. As the compressor runs, the suction will help empty the bottle of new refrigerant. The compressor may cycle on and off at first, since the each time it turns it drops pressure on the low side, but as you get more refrigerant it will be able to hold the min pressure above the pressure for the switch that turns it on.