Blade Fuses

[Bav]

Prompted by a blown fuse in the van, I'm looking to buy an assortment of blade fuses. Question is - are all blade fuses made equal or do I need to be more selective than just ordering the cheapest set on Amazon? If I need to be more selective, any advice on where to order from?

Apologies if this is a stupid question - they're my speciality.

TIA

 

[Dellmassive]

Defo not the same,

Cheaper online fuses can have thiner blades that can bend when pressed in.

All roughly do the same job.

There isn't a brand to look out for as such.

Just maybe don't go for the cheapest Chinese set you can find.?

 

[Jim Rey]

I bought a box of various eBay fuses from a chinese seller. Today I was refitting my roofliner after fitting a skylight. The 5A fuse supplying the lights blew. I prompty replaced with a fuse from a lamp bulb set and it blew also. Then, I remembered I had bought a box set from eBay a couple of months ago.
I fiited one of these (5A???) fuses. Lights still did not work but then one of the wires got very hot and I promptly killed the power.
So, after tracing the short to one of the LED lights and rectifying, I found another "proper" 5A fuse.
DON'T trust these cheap eBay fuses...chances are they could cause a serious electrical problem! Essentially they a just bits of wire made to look like fuses.
eBay set of fuses now tossed in bin.
On comparing a known good fuse to these duff eBay fuses the thickness of the wire is thinner in the good fuse.

 

[Salty Spuds]

I use these on the boat, they are a godsend when it’s lumpy & you have your head in a locker trying to bell out a blown fuse before you heave over the side.
Costly to start with, but you soon forget the price when it hits the fan.

Standard Blade LED 'Glow' Fuses

Standard blade fuses with built-in LED that glows when the fuse has blown. Enables easy fault identification. Available in current ratings from 2A to 40A.

www.12voltplanet.co.uk

 

[Jim Rey]

I use these on the boat, they are a godsend when it’s lumpy & you have your head in a locker trying to bell out a blown fuse before you heave over the side.
Costly to start with, but you soon forget the price when it hits the fan.

Standard Blade LED 'Glow' Fuses

Standard blade fuses with built-in LED that glows when the fuse has blown. Enables easy fault identification. Available in current ratings from 2A to 40A.

www.12voltplanet.co.uk

Look good. Was going to buy 3 of the 5A ones but then they want £4.95 for delivery a package that weighs 4.2g

 

[Salty Spuds]

Look good. Was going to buy 3 of the 5A ones but then they want £4.95 for delivery a package that weighs 4.2g

I bought mine from a different supplier, can’t remember which one off hand, but I bought an assortment in a storage box that live on the boat. They aren’t unique to 12V planet, have you looked on amazon?

 

[whodat]

I was looking at the usual online sites for blade fuses but ended up paying a little extra for Bosch fuses. Why take the chance on fuses that cost less than a penny?
I'd rather pay 40p for something that is going to protect my little diva.

 

[roadtripper]

Several people have found the cheaper generic mixed sets can be wildly off the mark with ratings, with generally the lower ratings not blowing until considerably above the rating and after a long time - I recall a set of 2A fuses that were totally happy for hours at 10A. Yes I'm well aware that the standard blade fuses are not quick acting to cope with surges but that's way off the mark.

Most times in a vehicle a short is sufficient to generate a very high fault current so it may not be too serious, but I'd be very wary of very low current circuits where the wire has been sized quite low to suit the low fuse. The impression is that some manufacturers rely on this and just package whatever fuses they have on the production line into the various cases - because it'll never be traced back to them and everyone just buys the cheapest there is no downside for them.

Personally in future I'll be doing my best to buy branded or trusted suppliers.

 

[Jim Rey]

Several people have found the cheaper generic mixed sets can be wildly off the mark with ratings, with generally the lower ratings not blowing until considerably above the rating and after a long time - I recall a set of 2A fuses that were totally happy for hours at 10A. Yes I'm well aware that the standard blade fuses are not quick acting to cope with surges but that's way off the mark.

Most times in a vehicle a short is sufficient to generate a very high fault current so it may not be too serious, but I'd be very wary of very low current circuits where the wire has been sized quite low to suit the low fuse. The impression is that some manufacturers rely on this and just package whatever fuses they have on the production line into the various cases - because it'll never be traced back to them and everyone just buys the cheapest there is no downside for them.

Personally in future I'll be doing my best to buy branded or trusted suppliers.

agreed . Will think twice about buying from eBay sellers now. The "box set" is now in the bin!! I am going to let the seller know that I am unhappy

 

[ginkster]

The Halfords blade fuses are good, including the LED ones. Reasonable value with a Trade or Blue Light Card, Defence Discount etc.

 

[Jim Rey]

Contacted e~Bay seller on this issue see below. ​

To eBay seller
I had a fault with an LED short which was blowing original 5A fuse in my panel. However, when I installed the 5A fuses from your box set, and before I traced the fault to a short in an LED fitting in my campervan, the wire supplying the the faulty LED almost melted and still the 5A fuse from your box set did not blow.
Therefore, I am convinced that the fuses you supplied are not correctly rated. I would be very wary regarding replacing any fuses in my vehicle with any of the fuses in your box set and consequently the box set cannot be trusted to protect my vehicle electrical system should I use any other example included in the box set. Please advise

Answer from eBay seller

Hi, please check if you are using it correctly, thanks​

To eBay seller

So how does one use a fuse incorrectly? I am going to run some further tests on these fuses

++++++++++++++++++++
I will see what the response is. I feel very angry about this. I wonder how many motorhome/campervan fires there have been that were directly responsible because a fuse didn't do it's job and cut the electrical current to a device when the current rating had exceeded the inline fuse.
I am going to run more tests on these fuses. It's not the £5.49 that I spent buying them that I am concerned about.

On the leisure side , I am also now going to replace every fuse in my campervan!! (not the VW fuse panel)