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Old 14-02-2013, 05:57   #1
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Ceramic fuse in engine compartment?

Our 1998 SeaRay 330 Sundancer had a drained stbd engine battery, despite having had the charger on shore power constantly. The battery is an AGM, about a year old, maybe a bit more, but certainly should still be ok.

In troubleshooting this, I discovered an inline fuse holder that seems to be coming from the ProMariner 30 charger, so I popped it open and looked, and sure enough, the fuse inside had blown. It was one of those cylindrical fuses, with metal ends, and a flattened metal wire inside the glass cylinder. It was marked F30A250V, which I figure is "fusible, 30-amp, 250-volt".

It was hard to find a replacement, and the closest I came was still cylindrical, but ceramic, rather than the typical glass cylinder with metal inside. It was marked 30A250V, but the preceding marking looked like a little F tucked into the crook of a big L. The guy at the electronics store I got it from didn't know what the symbol before the 30A was all about, but I figure it should work, I mean a fuse it a fuse, right? :-)

The only concern I have is whether a ceramic fuse is more likely to produce an external spark if/when it blows? The fuse is inside of a marine-style fuse holder, but it is inside the engine compartment, after all... The wire-in-glass-cylinder model doesn't seem capable of producing a spark, but I don't know if this is true of the ceramic kind?

Anyone know if this is a problem?

Thanks in advance...
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Old 14-02-2013, 06:33   #2
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Re: Ceramic fuse in engine compartment?

Are we talking about a ceramic fuse with an external wire or with the wire inside the ceramic cylinder (cartridge style)?

An external wire fuse will spark and the fuse holder is probably not vapour tight.
Petrol (gasoline) or diesel?

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Old 14-02-2013, 06:49   #3
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Re: Ceramic fuse in engine compartment?

Quote:
Originally Posted by robillard View Post
... The only concern I have is whether a ceramic fuse is more likely to produce an external spark if/when it blows? ...
No problem; ceramic fuses generally have a higher interrupting capacity.

http://www.cooperindustries.com/cont...s_Ceramic.html
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Old 14-02-2013, 07:02   #4
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Thanks for the replies.

I mean the ceramic cartridge type, I guess. It looks like the usual kind of cylindrical fuse, except opaque.

This is a gas boat, not diesel.

Cheers!
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Old 14-02-2013, 07:14   #5
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Re: Ceramic fuse in engine compartment?

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Originally Posted by robillard View Post
Thanks for the replies.

I mean the ceramic cartridge type, I guess. It looks like the usual kind of cylindrical fuse, except opaque.

This is a gas boat, not diesel.

Cheers!
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Old 14-02-2013, 07:34   #6
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Re: Ceramic fuse in engine compartment?

I think it is just a slow blow fuse. Common on power supplies.
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Old 14-02-2013, 09:49   #7
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Re: Ceramic fuse in engine compartment?

I've seen ceramic fuses with the wire external on European cars, as opposed to the glass tubes that used to be standard on American cars. Aside from the vapor protection not being there for an external wire, in theory they are more reliable because the fuse wire isn't soldered between the two end caps the same way. Apparently our glass tubes are prone to invisible failure as the fuse wire opens (or blows) at one end, under the silver cap, where it is invisible.

But yes, either should work, and in a pinch, I confess to having used the silver foil from a gum wrapper to convert a glass fuse to an external type. (Hey, it got us home.)
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