Whats the deal with car audio fuses

[JEFFYBOI]

Let me start by saying i have 9 years experience with industrial electrical supplies. To my knowledge the element or link inside a fuse is designed for thermal overload protection so when the metal gets hot enough from the current it is designed to melt. So why is it that almost always the part that burns up is the wire or the connections on the ends of the fuse holder. If the connection is loose i can understand but if its a very tight connection and you run the proper wire size. Why is it burning up everywhere around the fuse but not the fuse itself....

[BassMunky]

those parts are thinner i think

[Wicks]

Oversized fuses and/or bad solder joints.

[JEFFYBOI]

Oversized fuses and/or bad solder joints.

Good point. If they did put a over sized fuse for the size wire installed would cause the wire to burn up before the fuse.

[JEFFYBOI]

This has nothing to do with me personally, i have not burned up a fuse for several years but im just questioning if the fuses are doing there job or not or if it is the installers fault. I just am constantly seeing pictures of peoples fuse blocks burned up everywhere around the fuse holder. So yes poor connections or over sized fuse would cause this.

[JEFFYBOI]

Has anyone done a proper install ( correct wire and fuse size all tight connections ) and had the wire or connections burn up before the fuse?

[OrionStang]

You already stated what the problem is in many cases. Alot of people fail to go through and recheck all connections from time to time. Preventative maintenance.

[Kyblack76]

I think, a lot of failure is the cheaper fuse block.

When you see any melting, (amperage pull) on the end of a cheap fuse block, even if its "tight" the materials used are poo, which really ups amperage, then heat, then failure...... Ive seen a LOT of failures on a LOT of different fuse blocks.....

[n1ghtsn1p3r]

My old AGU fuse holder melted (probably a combination of amperage and the fact that my engine was having overheating issues). I have since swapped it out for a MIDI fuse holder (and beefed up the wire from the 8ga CCA that my boss provided to 4ga tinned OFC)

The AGU fuse did look burnt on the inside, but it still worked. IDK if it tried to pop at one point and failed. it was previously used when I got it, because apparently my supervisor had used it before, had problems with it so he removed it and now is running unfused. I demanded that my car had to be fused, and that's what he had laying around. I'm probably the only one out of everybody that I work with that has a fuse lol.

[philrab]

Personally, I've never burned up a wire, or muted a connection. Good soldering and crimping technique/tools probably has something to do with it, as well as running appropriate fuses for the wire size.

I HAVE popped plenty of fuses over the years, but better that than a wire harness.