Fuse replacement.

just checking to see who's interested.

i'm going to get some 4n 6.4mm silver rod to make some fuse replacements out of. i have fuses in every one of my components one in each lead and one in my 6 way block, so it's time to replace the ones in each lead.

the bar stock is £100 delivered, i'll get them paired off and polished, should be a tenner a throw if anyone fancies electrocuting themselves.

i know some of you have to be curious....

any takers.

 

Hello SQ, is it the fuses in the plugs you are going to replace? If so there should be no need to put in anything in the fuse holder inside the plug, just hard wire the cable to the top of the pin (of the plug). The solder joint should be ok if you 'clamp' the wire with the original screw for making the connection. Or you could bodge a small hole in the clips that hold the fuse and run the cable through that before soldering to get a strong joint.:MILD:

 

only issue with that is that is that there isn't 1mm spare of cable inside the plug, everything was measured to fit perfectly,so i have to bridge the gap or cut back all the other cables to fit.

but you've got me thinking...thanks
.

 

Alternatively, you could get hold of some 4n silver wire/ribbon and just solder between fuse holder clips.
Works out a lot cheaper and should be more than sufficient.

 

I can not condone bypassing fuses. Ever. Don't do it people... that last little bit of system performance is not worth that price.

 

Good point.
Aren't the fuses inside the source/amp sufficient on their own?

 

They serve different purposes. The internal fusing will prevent a circuit fault in the unit from causing problems. However, if there is a mechanical fault in the unit that causes shorting across the power terminals then the plug fuse is there to stop the mains lead from catching fire.

Zanash has, I believe, pretty strong views on this subject as a retired fireman.

As I said... tweakery is one thing; polish your fuses and plug pins all you like. Bypassing fuses is really quite another and ranks up there with taking the battery out of your smoke alarm to use in your CD player remote.

If you absolutely HAVE to replace your fuses with silver, then please, please, PLEASE buy yourself some Xindak silver fuses.

 

no,there there to protect the equipment,the fuse in the plug is to protect the cable.if you want to bypass the plug fuse the olny safe way to do it is either increase the cable size to 4mm,or change the protective device at the fuseboard for a 5A or 10A device depending the flex size

 

I am not condoning this practice of hard wiring plugs and would never do it myself, but surely the internal equipment fuse will protect the amp, and the consumer unit fuse/ circuit breaker will protect the cable/flex.

 

That's what i though, although i won't be trying it out.

Zanash, did you ever get around to trying the silver fuses? I'm sure i recall you had some interest in them.

 

A normal piece of equipment flex will not carry 32A. A consumer ringmain will. Thus you can be in the situation of overloading the cable without overloading the ringmain so the fuse or CB in the consumer unit is of no help to you in this situation.

 

Just to ram Isaac's point home, remember that the Type B RCDs usually fitted in domestic CUs must trip within 100mS at 5x rated current, but not at 3x within that period. So for a 32A RCD it could take 150A+ through a fault to force quick disconnection... and a prospective fault current of 100A might not do it before damage occurs.

That's a lot of energy, and something to think about.
Don't do it.

 

Isaac and Felix

Yep take your points.

 

It would also invalidate your home insurance

 

A veritable can of worms.

however my hifi is on its own spur and trip downstairs, and this is on a 10amp trigger.

so i'm feeling kinda safe here.

and there will still be a 15 amp fuse plugged into the wall on the other end of my 4 way block.

are hydras, individually fused for each cable?

 

Fuse removal

May I add one thing.
Until the fuse blows or the breaker pops out you have the equivalent of Battersea Power Station sitting at the other end of the cable and instantaneous current supply can be in the region of 100s of Amps. Some serious damage can and often will result, with the possibility of fire and and, as ben556473 says, invalidation of household insurance.
Tread very carefully.

John Caswell