Another mains fuse hits the streets

There was a law on another forum not to even joke about this because of how unsafe it would be, and that because it's an audio forum someone *would* actually try it.

Says it all really

 

I don't think any of us can say for certain what might be 'in Russ Andrews eyes', that is, other than possibly a posh retirement home in Spain that has been paid for in full by 'the suckers'.

 

The only thing that distinguishes ceramic fuses from glass is that the ceramic body will not shatter when the fuse blows. Littlefuse describes their's as being 'Ideal when high current loads are expected'. Otherwise, their fast blow 2A 250V 5x20mm ceramic, for example, is electrically identical to their same spec glass version.

 

It's actually quite clever. Price your audiophile fuse at £5, which is slightly ridiculous, and no one will ever hear about it. Price the same fuse at £5,000, which is bat-shit crazy, and internet twerps will spend a dozen pages talking about it so you don't need to advertise and only need to sell four to make a living.

 

Speaking as someone who once had to lay a 6 foot equipment rack on its back in order to remove the remnants of 3 shattered 15 amp glass fuses from the fuseholders I approve the use of ceramic HRC fuses in mains applications.

 

That is very disappointing, however, I suspect that at the asking prices of foo fuses there is likely to be a very attractive profit margin built in for any dealers who might be persuaded to sign on.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the imaginary 'Synergenetics Fuse Factory' design/engineering/marketing dept. joint meetings.

Design/Engineering: "We'll take this Bussmann 2A 250V and roll on a coloured label."

Marketing: "We like it, turn these fast-blow into fast money!"

Bugs Bunny (CEO): "Ahhh, and we'll go with maroon for colour and product name, because only a maroon will buy them at 5k a pop! Ha, ha, a 'pop', get it?"​

 

It’s a bit more involved than that.

Ceramic fuses are defined as ‘High Breaking Capacity” and it takes more current to blow them than a glass fuse of equivalent rating.

They are also filled with an insulating material like sand which prevents the formation of a conductive film if the fuse blows under a very high fault current. With a glass fuse it is possible for the rupture of the fuse element to vapourise and actually create a conductive film between the two end caps, thus re-establishing the connection that the fuse blowing broke in the first place!

In addition, the existence of the sand provides thermal insulation for the fuse element from the outside world, meaning that the rating of a ceramic fuse stays much more constant across a wide variety of external ambient temperatures. The behaviour of glass fuses can be unpredictable at very high or very low temperatures.

Of course, the downside is you can’t easily see when they’ve blown!

 

nobody on this planet will ever convince me that "audio" fuses are worth it.

 

Even better sell your 13A fuse and fit one of these https://cpc.farnell.com/masterplug/...n-15a-sleeved/dp/PL14200?MER=sy-me-pd-mi-alte

No fuse

 

No need for the scared face, it's not a legal requirement to have a fused plug with the correct circuit.

 

There are round pin plugs so unlikely to be used in a domestic setting. They're often used for stage lighting - my understanding is that they don't need a fuse as the dimmer they're connected to contains a fuse.

 

I still occasionally find them in older properties, especially the 2amp lighting version.

 

Never mind the fuses what you need is this mains lead
https://www.hifiwigwam.com/attachments/ha1yfxyoe0f61-jpg.110245/

 

This turns the old adage of square pegs into a round holes on its head ! Round pegs into square sockets. There was a fad somewhere around the late 70s/eighties hifi heydays where these 15 amp round pin plugs and appropriate sockets were fitted instead of 13 amp ones. This on ring mains too (radial for hifi hardly in its infancy then). Think this was covered/supported/reviewed/whatever in one or other hifi mag(s) of the time; can't think how I'd even have a distant memory otherwise.

 

Agreed the scared face was tongue in cheek

 

Every Tron product comes fitted with Ceramic fuses as standard and has done so for the last 26 years. It's just good engineering practice.

For info: Ceramic fuses are normally sand filled. The sand supports the fuse wire. During equipment turn on and depending on the load the fuse has to deal with, the in rush current can make the thin fuse wire "jump". In a glass type fuse where the fuse wire is not supported, this "jump" can cause the fuse wire to fatigue and this will lead to the fuse wire breaking over time, that is if the fuse wire is not supported. Additionally, it is extremely rare for a ceramic fuse to shatter like a glass type fuse can if the fuse blows, so the ceramic type is a much better fuse design...

 

Much as I miss his posts, I will disagree with the statement that power cables, as others, make no difference. In a revealing set up it's not hard to hear a difference. Whether they're value for money or not is a whole different question.

edit:
I would have to qualify that by saying they're coming off dedicated rings for front end & power 4&6m cable with current hungry solid state power as amps, but even silver siltech ruby hill vs MIT oracle is hughely different on pre and phono stage.

 

First mention I've seen for yonks of dedicated rings. A bit unusual compared to radials and I'm not sure of any advantages but I don't know how the ring is terminated in the (presumably) dedicated consumer unit (one RCBO or MCB or how configured?). Radials are simple; 1 cable, 1 RCBO/MCB but unless you have a radial for each piece of kit, it's a toss-up between the benefits of a hydra/split cable to more than one piece or a ring carrying multiple sockets.

Not sure about this, but interesting nonetheless.

 

Which one do you think is faulty ?