- A cartridge fuse panel.Fuse panel image by Charlie Rosenberg from Fotolia.com
Fuses prevent power surges from destroying electrical devices and wiring by physically cutting the flow of power through an electrical circuit. Most fuses are made of a thin piece of metal that runs between two contact points. If the current flowing through the thin piece of metal is too strong, the metal overheats and melts, breaking the circuit. You must replace the fuse before the circuit will function again. Different fuses have different melting points, depending on the amperage they are designed to withstand. Different fuse applications call for different shaped fuses and fuse receptacles. - Older buildings were typically built with a central fuse panel containing one fuse for each electrical circuit in the home. Buildings have either Edison-type plug receptacles or Type-S plug receptacles for their fuses. Fuses screw into Edison receptacles like light bulbs. Fuses plug directly into Type-S receptacles. The size of each Type-S receptacle corresponds to the rating of the fuse that goes in it. Most modern buildings use circuit breaker panels instead of fuses because circuit breakers do not need to be replaced every time they interrupt a circuit. Special breaker fuses are available for home fuse receptacles. These fuses fit into a standard fuse receptacle, but they function like a circuit breaker.
- The colors on these blade-type fuses represent their amperage ratings.car fuses image by Witold Krasowski from Fotolia.com
Vehicles typically use blade-type fuses. Blade-type fuses have two blades attached to a rectangular plastic body. The receptacle accepts the blades and allows just enough of the body to hang out to enable you to remove the fuse. This design allows many fuse receptacles to be placed in close proximity. Blade-type fuses are color-coded to represent the rating of the fuse. The receptacles are not usually color-coded. You need to know which fuses go in which receptacles. - Cartridge fuses are typically used in electrical devices to prevent individual components from overload. Cartridge fuses are barrel shaped; each end of the barrel is a separate contact, and the middle of the barrel is made of glass or ceramic. The fuse wire runs between the two ends. Cartridge fuse receptacles come in a variety of shapes but always hold the fuse by its contact ends. Typically, the receptacle consists of two sets of metal clips that the fuse snaps into. In other cases, the receptacle may be a tube, and you insert the fuse into it.
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