Re: Replace fuse block with circuit breakers?

["David Teitelbaum" <jtrealty@xxxx>]

If you are planning to replace the fuses with circuit breakers you
must calculate the correct size breaker to replace the fuse which
involves considering the current carrying capacity of the wiring, the
size and type of load, and whether it is an intermittant load or a
continuos load. You will need the engineering data from the
manufacturer of the circuit breakers to do this. In some cases the
size of the fuse was dictated by the wire size and in some cases it
was sized to protect the load. You also have to figure worst-case on
some loads. Don't forget to calculate in the ambient temperature
because circuit breakers are much more sensitive to ambient than
fuses. For instance on most American cars headlights and wipers ALWAYS
are protected by circuit breakers. The logic here is that even with a
short circuit the power would recycle so you would still have some
functionality of the lights or wipers. You must also consider multiple
failure modes and backfeeds. This can get complicated even for an
Electrical Engineer. My point is that this is not as simple a project
as it might appear. A properly maintained and functioning fuseblock
with fuses is not so bad.
David Teitelbaum
vin 10757


--- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Jan van de Wouw <delorean@xxxx> wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 21:31:56 -0800, Jon wrote:
> 
> > While this sounds good on paper I regret to inform you that a
> > fuse is the only fast response in case of a circuit overload.
> > Circuit breakers take too long to throw because the bi-metal
> > inside of them has to heat up to break the connection.
> 
> The breakers as used originally in a DeLorean WOULD be too slow
responding.
> But there are newer models that use both a bi-metal for overload
> and a sort of coil/transformer/solenoid setup to react to shorts.
> 
> Real downside to this is they're even more bulkier
> than the breakers the DeLorean allready features...
> 
> --------------------------------