Re: inline fuses
Keoke, you had argued that the wire resistance increases, not me. See your quote below:
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The minute that wire starts drawing heavy currebt its resistasnce also begins to rise the current in the circuit decreases and the voltage drop accours across the wire. the total power dissapated in the circuit is essentially constant.Bundling wires in the harness adds to the themal problem due to proximity effect. Good Night All.
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My point was that wire resistance doesn't increase, it doesn't limit the fault current, and therefore, the fuse has plenty of current available to blow or the wire has plenty of current to melt if there's no in-line fuse installed. Your last post now seems to argue this same point, which is contrary to your quote above.
We're making this a lot more complicated than it is. A fault will draw current depending on the resistance (impedance in an AC circuit) of the fault. The increased current will either cause the wire to melt, a fuse to blow (melt), or a circuit breaker to interrupt the current. Size the fuse less than the continuous current rating of the wire, & the fuse will melt first. How much less is up to you, but Dave makes some good points for not going too small. If the fuse (or circuit breaker) is sized appropriately, time will be irrelavent. Yes, low fault current will take longer to melt a fuse than high fault current and a fuse rated at lower amperage will blow quicker than a fuse rated at higher amperage for the same fault current, but either way, if it's sized correctly, it'll always melt sooner than the wire it's protecting.