For those handy men out there , if you are wiring up your tug/van/camper etc with a accessory that draws a constant heavy load then dont use these fuse holders.
They are rated up to 30 amps , but are no longer a good fuse holder in the above mentioned situation.
I have just had three of these units , fitted to the same accessory, melt down causing heeps of drama, thinking it was a problem with the accessory.
However , after much checking & roadside testing found the problem is with the fuse holders.
I had several phone calls to the manufacture of the unit I was running & they were very very helpfull as they had experienced this same problem from other customers.
These holders used to be good,[like a lot of other things] not these days. The coating on the terminals is a poor conductor which sauses voltage drop & resistance , inturn heat build up & more resistance.The result was the accessory stopped working.
I was running a 25amp fuse as recomended , I replaced the holder twice only to have it fail within the hour.I nolonger use them in this application.
Vic said
06:22 PM Jul 19, 2011
Thanks for the feedback JC......glad you found the cause. What do you recommend as a replacement?
jimricho said
07:33 PM Jul 19, 2011
Thanks from me too, good post.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any standards that apply to 12v accessories such as these, unlike 240v stuff. A standard blade fuseholder, rather than the miniblade, I think would be a better option but I have found that I've had to "pinch' the terminals with pliers before inserting the fuse to ensure a good connection on these too.
I think anything above about 30 amps warrants a "maxiblade" (large) fuseholder.
"In-line" fuseholders that take the glass or ceramic fuses (3AG or M205 type) are less reliable still.
Depending on the application circuit breakers can be a viable alternative.
Jim
Loki said
08:06 PM Jul 19, 2011
Thanks from me also! I'm going to be doing some work on my hous electrics & thought they'd be suitable for the job. I may look at some sort of fuse panel as an option, probably from a marine chandler.
Cruising Granny said
09:15 PM Jul 19, 2011
How are these fuses applied? I've never seen that set up before.
jimricho said
08:08 AM Jul 20, 2011
Loki wrote:
Thanks from me also! I'm going to be doing some work on my hous electrics & thought they'd be suitable for the job. I may look at some sort of fuse panel as an option, probably from a marine chandler.
If installing fuses, ("vis a vis" circuit breakers) my preference would be to stay with the blade fuses but note the comments above about 25 amp fuses. Fuse blocks that take the standard blade fuses are available and should be more reliable than the in-line type (as shown in JC01's post). My rig has one of these installed and have had no problems. My dual battery system in the tug uses maxiblades (60amp) without problems.
The marine type panels usually use fuseholders that take the glass or ceramic fuses and as mentioned I consider these less reliable than the blade type. I've seen a continuous 5+ amp load melt one of these fuseholders.
I have used circuit breakers such as this without any problems... (available in 20, 30, and 40 amp sizes)
(use of Jaycar catalogue photo is acknowledged)
(PS: keep in mind the "KISS" principle and don't overcomplicate the installation)
edit to add picture of fuse block...
(use of Caravans Plus image is acknowledged)
-- Edited by jimricho on Wednesday 20th of July 2011 08:38:09 AM
justcruisin01 said
07:38 PM Jul 20, 2011
I went for a circuit breaker at the time , [as richo has shown]as there as not a lot of choice where I was in a small town. It worked well all the way home & still ok. These have bolt on connections for the wires & I solder all of my terminals to the wire , will not rely the crimp only as it is only a touch connection, add some dust & moisture & the corrosion sets in ,the copper wire goes green then the resistance starts & so on.
The megga fuses are a bit too big in amps for a lot of applications.The maxi fuse is a very good system for 40,50 ,60 amp setups,the main fuse bolts in & the rest are very heavy bladed.I use a couple of these units,a cheap way is to get them from a wrecker, holden commodores have a good on with about 6 fuses.If it is removed properly from the car along with some of the wiring the main to the battery is long enough to connect to you battery.
Every terminal & wire join &/or splice is soldered in my own set ups, problem free.All fuses should be 1.5 times the load of that circuit.
PS. The fuse holde I refered to was giving me a drop of one + volts.The result was that I had 13.8volts at the alternator, the battery & right to the input side of the holder with 12.6 comming out of the holder,this was a brand new holder. I needed a min, of 12.8 for the accessory to work
I have been using these holders for a long time on a lower amp load with out a problem,as they are rated to 30amp, but the new ones just dont hold up on a 20amp load.
Hope this helps without too much confussion.
-- Edited by justcruisin01 on Wednesday 20th of July 2011 08:17:52 PM
Vic said
11:47 AM Jul 21, 2011
Thanks again for the feedback JC !
Lat 38 said
12:35 PM Jul 23, 2011
Note: The original inline blades were very good and were used by most van manufacturers. Unfortunately, there was an influx of cheap Chinese copies that perform poorly. Even the electronics stores were carrying them. Dick Smith had them, but after a raft of complaints, went back to the better units. It's simple & easy to get the guy at the store to test it. They can test resistance and voltage under load. Doesn't cost and saves a lot of problems later.
As for the fuse /wiring size, wiring should be rated at least 3 times greater than any expected load and fuses at 1.25 x, as per standards.
For those handy men out there , if you are wiring up your tug/van/camper etc with a accessory that draws a constant heavy load then dont use these fuse holders.
They are rated up to 30 amps , but are no longer a good fuse holder in the above mentioned situation.
I have just had three of these units , fitted to the same accessory, melt down causing heeps of drama, thinking it was a problem with the accessory.
However , after much checking & roadside testing found the problem is with the fuse holders.
I had several phone calls to the manufacture of the unit I was running & they were very very helpfull as they had experienced this same problem from other customers.
These holders used to be good,[like a lot of other things] not these days. The coating on the terminals is a poor conductor which sauses voltage drop & resistance , inturn heat build up & more resistance.The result was the accessory stopped working.
I was running a 25amp fuse as recomended , I replaced the holder twice only to have it fail within the hour.I nolonger use them in this application.
Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any standards that apply to 12v accessories such as these, unlike 240v stuff. A standard blade fuseholder, rather than the miniblade, I think would be a better option but I have found that I've had to "pinch' the terminals with pliers before inserting the fuse to ensure a good connection on these too.
I think anything above about 30 amps warrants a "maxiblade" (large) fuseholder.
"In-line" fuseholders that take the glass or ceramic fuses (3AG or M205 type) are less reliable still.
Depending on the application circuit breakers can be a viable alternative.
Jim
Thanks from me also! I'm going to be doing some work on my hous electrics & thought they'd be suitable for the job. I may look at some sort of fuse panel as an option, probably from a marine chandler.
If installing fuses, ("vis a vis" circuit breakers) my preference would be to stay with the blade fuses but note the comments above about 25 amp fuses. Fuse blocks that take the standard blade fuses are available and should be more reliable than the in-line type (as shown in JC01's post). My rig has one of these installed and have had no problems. My dual battery system in the tug uses maxiblades (60amp) without problems.
The marine type panels usually use fuseholders that take the glass or ceramic fuses and as mentioned I consider these less reliable than the blade type. I've seen a continuous 5+ amp load melt one of these fuseholders.
I have used circuit breakers such as this without any problems... (available in 20, 30, and 40 amp sizes)
(use of Jaycar catalogue photo is acknowledged)
(PS: keep in mind the "KISS" principle and don't overcomplicate the installation)
edit to add picture of fuse block...
(use of Caravans Plus image is acknowledged)
-- Edited by jimricho on Wednesday 20th of July 2011 08:38:09 AM
I went for a circuit breaker at the time , [as richo has shown]as there as not a lot of choice where I was in a small town. It worked well all the way home & still ok. These have bolt on connections for the wires & I solder all of my terminals to the wire , will not rely the crimp only as it is only a touch connection, add some dust & moisture & the corrosion sets in ,the copper wire goes green then the resistance starts & so on.
The megga fuses are a bit too big in amps for a lot of applications.The maxi fuse is a very good system for 40,50 ,60 amp setups,the main fuse bolts in & the rest are very heavy bladed.I use a couple of these units,a cheap way is to get them from a wrecker, holden commodores have a good on with about 6 fuses.If it is removed properly from the car along with some of the wiring the main to the battery is long enough to connect to you battery.
Every terminal & wire join &/or splice is soldered in my own set ups, problem free.All fuses should be 1.5 times the load of that circuit.
PS. The fuse holde I refered to was giving me a drop of one + volts.The result was that I had 13.8volts at the alternator, the battery & right to the input side of the holder with 12.6 comming out of the holder,this was a brand new holder. I needed a min, of 12.8 for the accessory to work
I have been using these holders for a long time on a lower amp load with out a problem,as they are rated to 30amp, but the new ones just dont hold up on a 20amp load.
Hope this helps without too much confussion.
-- Edited by justcruisin01 on Wednesday 20th of July 2011 08:17:52 PM
The original inline blades were very good and were used by most van manufacturers.
Unfortunately, there was an influx of cheap Chinese copies that perform poorly. Even the electronics stores were carrying them. Dick Smith had them, but after a raft of complaints, went back to the better units.
It's simple & easy to get the guy at the store to test it. They can test resistance and voltage under load.
Doesn't cost and saves a lot of problems later.
As for the fuse /wiring size, wiring should be rated at least 3 times greater than any expected load and fuses at 1.25 x, as per standards.
Hope that helps.