Fusible Links

Anonymous-0 · Aug 4, 2012

Why are fusible links used in lieu of fuses or circuit breakers?

MarkB_MI · Aug 4, 2012

Cheaper and more reliable. It doesn't make sense to use a replaceable fuse to protect a high-current circuit that's unlikely to be shorted. Fusible links are cheap, immune to corrosion and can be inserted in locations where a fuse would be impractical.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 5, 2012

Thanks, I thought there must be more than just economics.

scotc · Aug 5, 2012

That, and the engineers who use them are as demented as the guy who invented them. With a fuse you can see if it's blown, not so with a fusible link. I have two that went bad in my truck, yet every way of checking them that I have been told says they are good.

MarkB_MI · Aug 6, 2012

"every way of checking them that I have been told says they are good"

Huh? I only know of two ways to test a fusible link: resistance and voltage, with voltage under load being the preferred method. If, under load, you have the same voltage on both sides of a link, it must be good.

Please explain this failure mode that can't be detected with ten dollar multimeter.

Fusible Links

Anonymous-0

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MarkB_MI

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Anonymous-0

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scotc

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MarkB_MI

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