Glass fuses are often used in traditional vehicles, The length of the fuse is proportional to the Amperage rating for SFE fuses. This chart is on a Littelfuse brand box of fuses. The short one (SFE 4) is rated at 4 Amps. The longest one (SFE 30) is rated at 30 Amps. I am not familiar with the AG fuse rating system. The above picture shows a 20Amp rated fuse holder with 4 Amp, 6 Amp, 14 Amp and 20 Amp glass fuses. Personally, I use blade fuses and have switched to the fuse blocks with a LED indicator light that glows red when a fuse blows out. I'm a retired electrical engineer and I have a good understanding of why new cars no longer are built with glass fuses. My off-topic truck has 37 states on it and my often-deleted Volvo custom has a round trip to Lead Ain't Dead - All the old-fashioned fuses are replaced with blade fuses. Note: This fuse holder, and a small collection of new glass fuses are going to @1Nimrod - Someone has to keep the traditional builds pure. Russ
Re British fuses - These were usually installed with a current load of half their "blow point" i.e. a 50 amp fuse was good for 25 amps continuous; would blow instantly at 50 amps.
So, in a case when you don't have the right fuse, what's the amp rating of a 22 caliber long rifle? (for those who aren't aware, there are TRUE stories of boneheads using them.... and the 'interesting' results)
I went looking for some glass fuses for an OT truck the other day and had to go to three places to find a fuse. They can be hard to find now.
Great info . glass fuses are getting harder to find, the kits can be bought at industrial equipment suppliers and motor rebuilders . I’ve not had luck finding glass fuses at jobbers. and what about the European ceramic fuses lol Haven’t seen a new one in .......... sheesh ever !!
Man, how would you like to be at a convention for the Society of Fuse Engineers. Lots of hot topics to talk about.
My new servo motor sewing machine has some oddball size glass fuse. Had to order spares off of Amazon, no one locally had them. I ordered 10, in case they become obsolete.
Back in the late 80’s I bought an assortment of fuses, must of had 100 or so of assorted sizes. Probably still have 75 left. Just have to remember where I last put them.
The electronics shop down the street from me has a wall section for glass fuses of every size/amp rating, slow blow and fast blow type. A lot of electronic equipment still use glass fuses.
The electronics stores used to be a good place to shop for fuses...before they all closed. they still have them at local parts stores. Also available new online, from several sources. And nos on ebay.
European ceramic fuses are a bigger headache than the glass fuses! I gave all my corroded ceramic fuse blocks to a Volvo restorer. A Russ wacky definition: RESTORATION: The art of lovingly returning all the original design flaws and failure points to an old car. NOTE: RARE PARTS are those parts that failed prematurely during use, consequently are in short supply... Russ
Great information guys! All my old cars still use these. So far, between ones I have saved for years and very few that have blown recently, I haven't had any issue needing any. However, I also can't remember the last time I tried to buy any at a local parts store.
We have a great store here. All the little electronic bits you may ever need Their site does not show it but it is chrissupply.com
Yeah, Jim's right, I used to have about half a dozen good electronic stores near me, plus Rat Shack. Now I'm down to the last remaining store, these guys: http://www.orvac.com/ There are a lot of online sources yet though. I use to be able to buy vacuum tubes at several local sources, that's all online these days (or I rob them from old electronics I purchase from garage/estate sales). I used to get all my high voltage caps from Orvac, they've stopped carrying all the high voltage stuff, it's all online now.
This is my go to place in Riverside. In addition to electronic stuff including glass fuses, they sell shrink wrap tubing in 4 foot lengths in all diameters. https://www.electronicswarehouse.net/
Like TrailerTrashToo said the big problem with creamic fuses was corrosion at the ends causing no end of problems. My mate was on a loading shovel elctrical course, before the trainees done their fault finding the instrutor had taken the end off a glass fuse so it broke the wire near the end then he put then end cap back on so that it looked good and replaced it in the fuse board just to confuse the trainees.
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