Melting fuses anyone?

[veg]

Taken the battery out of the Griff so had a look at the fuse panel. I had put a 30amp fuse in for the fans and so was going to change it to a 40 amp. Took out the fuse and you guessed it green molten plastic. Out came the fuse board and hey presto one knackered fuse slot.
£75 + vat from a scrappy for a new fuse/relay board so cut back the edge of the fuse box and soldered in a new fuse holder for a high power stereo.
How close to a fire..........Gulp!

>>> Edited by veg on Friday 8th August 21:22

[davidd]

Mine used to do that, usually a very good tug with some pilars would sort it. In the end we rewired the fans so they each had their own feed/fuse.

D.

[tig]

Mine fried the standard 40A last year - trashing that corner of the fusebox. I rewired from the battery to a new relay, then through 2 separate fuse holders to each fan. Put a 20A fuse in each holder. That'll teach it, I thought.

Wrong. Yesterday I pop the bonnet to help let some hot air out and only one fan is running. The plastic fuse holder for the other fan looks like its been blowtorched.

I cant get my head around this cos surely any excess current would blow the fuse before melting the holder. And surely(2) the heating pipes under there dont get this hot ?

[tig]

Dragging this post back up with a couple of pics. I just cant see how the fuse can melt before it blows. Unless my wifes feet are overheating...





(The 25A fuse on the right was a temp fix when I got stuck). Whats left of the other one is a 20A.

This is where I got the 30A fuse holders.

I'd certainly appreciate any suggestions for this one.

[GreenV8S]

It'll be contact resistance between the wires and the fuse holder, or the fuse holder and the fuse, heating the fuse holder until it melts. Doesn't take much resistance when the thing's got ten amps going through it.

[tig]

Thanks - I'll check the connections on either side. Time to get a larger crimping set perhaps.