Are Chinese fuses safe?

[Retrovert]

Didn't think that through.......speaking of Darwinian failures

It's ok. I'm UL rated so you didn't get a fatal shock.

Now if this had been gear made by Alan, it would be valuable and expensive human shorts out to protects shoddy and inexpensive fuse.

 

[arts]

 

[Beatnik]

https://images.harborfreight.com/hftweb/recalls/fuse_sets.pdf

 

[Retrovert]

https://images.harborfreight.com/hftweb/recalls/fuse_sets.pdf

From the recall notice:

MANUFACTURING INCONSISTENCIES MAY EXIST WITH THE MATERIALS, CONNECTIONS OR SIZE OF THE FUSE ELEMENTS, WHICH COULD RESULT IN THE FUSES FAILING TO PROTECT THE CIRCUIT FROM EXCESSIVE CURRENT RESULTING IN DAMAGE TO A VEHICLE AND POSSIBLY A FIRE.

Consumers should IMMEDIATELY STOP USING THESE FUSES, EVEN IF THERE IS NO APPARENT PROBLEM and email Harbor Freight Tools at recall@harborfreight.com to arrange for a return of all the fuses and to receive a refund.​

Looks like this is not the first time Harbor Freight had a problem. . Ten years ago it had another recall for the same issue:

http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/05/autos/fuse_recall/
As many as 295,000 sets of car fuses, each containing 120 fuses, are being recalled because some allow more electrical current through than they should, according to a newspaper report.

The number of fuses involved in the recall might ultimately be reduced, said Marc Friedman, General Council for Harbor Freight Tools, the company that sold them. The company is researching the actual number of fuse sets that might be involved.

The fuses were sold over a two-year period beginning in August 2005, by Harbor Freight Tools, a California-based auto supply retailer. The fuses were manufactured in China, but the name of the manufacturer has not been disclosed.​

I guess a skilled tech didn't eyeball each fuse prior to shipment to verify the properties (including amperage) and manufacturing techniques, and users didn't instantly recognize that the properties were a fiction. We clearly need better education in schools. I think every student should have a four-year program in visual fuse metallurgy. (In addition to a four-year program in subject-verb agreement and a crash course in not using text-speak in office emails.)

Thanks for sharing that as yet more proof that fuses do matter and to further debunk the specious claims alleging that safety for fuses from unknown factories do not exist because it's "just a fuse".

How many fuses must fail before a problem turns up and the NHTSA gets involved? How many fires? That's the frightening question.

 

[GChief]

Retrovert, did you not know that your sarcasm “only show the person is CLOSED MINDED.” And that all of us techs currently in the field don’t know what the hell we are talking about when it comes to counterfeit and sub-standard parts coming from China. I am standing by to be educated by the clueless...

 

[Retrovert]

Retrovert, did you not know that your sarcasm “only show the person is CLOSED MINDED.” And that all of us techs currently in the field don’t know what the hell we are talking about when it comes to counterfeit and sub-standard parts coming from China. I am standing by to be educated by the clueless...

Oh. Shucks. You're right. The world is being close-minded and dogmatic about sub-standard counterfeit parts. From now on we must be more inclusive and acknowledge that all equipment, electrical or mechanical, has room for a wide-variety of shoddy parts which will fail in the field, resulting in failure, injury, fire, and death. This is the future!

I, for one, welcome our new counterfeiting overlords!

PS: Where do I sign up for the super-duper, top sekret, magickal course in visual metallurgy? Because that sounds really interesting and cost effective! Do I get a diploma upon successful identification of fuse properties by eyeballing them? I could put it on my refrigerator!