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Fuse fatigue?

wasclywabbit

wasclywabbit

When the going gets wierd, the wierd turn pro.
I was listening to some tunes just now when I noticed my sub had stopped working. Pulled the power fuse and found it blown. The strange thing is it didn't look like a blown fuse, just kind of discolored like it had been overheated for a while. Replaced it with a new time delay fuse and all is well, so there's not a problem with the sub amp. It's a 150 watt MOSFET amp. The sub is probably 20 years old so I suppose it could have been the original fuse. So to my question, do fuses just wear out over time?
 
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Just recently refurbished an amplifier that has 4 rail fuses (2 per channel) at 2 amps. The unit was initially tested before rebuild and did work, though a rebuild was obviously needed. After rebuilding, 2 of the fuses (same channel) suddenly went open. Replaced them and all was well afterward. They could have been original and would be 55 years old. The other 2 fuses are holding up ok.
 
I honestly thought this was going to be about how certain fuses give you listening fatigue… You know how people talk about digital fatigue and all of that… I thought you were going to say you can only listen through certain brands of fuses LOL. I wouldn’t put it past us audiophiles to discuss such things.

On a note related to your actual post, I have experienced a similar thing with a distillation device we make at my company. In some cases we end up needing to replace the actual fuse holder to solve the problem long term. I am not sure if this is specific to our distiller or could also apply to your subwoofer. I always theorized that the fuse holder must be either corroding, tarnishing, Or whatever mechanism that holds the fuse in place is weakening and causing marginal contact… Which will develop a hotspot. So if you keep blowing fuses maybe look into replacing the fuse holder.
 
Hawkeye83 said:
On a note related to your actual post, I have experienced a similar thing with a distillation device we make at my company. In some cases we end up needing to replace the actual fuse holder to solve the problem long term. I am not sure if this is specific to our distiller or could also apply to your subwoofer. I always theorized that the fuse holder must be either corroding, tarnishing, Or whatever mechanism that holds the fuse in place is weakening and causing marginal contact… Which will develop a hotspot. So if you keep blowing fuses maybe look into replacing the fuse holder.
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Now that's an interesting thought.
 
I find an appropriate length of the finest 6" steel nail is immune to fatigue, and never blows - who knew? - I do get through a lot of fuse holders though, I wonder why? :)
 
Hawkeye83 said:
I honestly thought this was going to be about how certain fuses give you listening fatigue… You know how people talk about digital fatigue and all of that… I thought you were going to say you can only listen through certain brands of fuses LOL. I wouldn’t put it past us audiophiles to discuss such things.

On a note related to your actual post, I have experienced a similar thing with a distillation device we make at my company. In some cases we end up needing to replace the actual fuse holder to solve the problem long term. ..
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To me it seems like a more robust fuse holder should be on the radar for a quality/durability improvement. Oh, not knocking the product, it's just being on the lookout for stuff like that is a part of what I do for products built by the company I work for.
 
That makes sense. If the fuse holder isn't robust, with great contacts, those $100+ "super fuses" may not help ... if, in fact, they really do work as claimed. Can anyone point to info regarding how expensive hi-fi fuses achieve their superiority. I'd imagine they'd have to have less resistance to current flow, but I'm not sure how that might be accomplished.
 
Exposure to short term inrush currents that overload the fuse, but not long enough to blow it, can cause the fusible element in a quick-blow fuse to sag.
 
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