Counterfeit Chinese ..... FUSES

[tom66]

Ah, they're not automotive fuses, they are CAR FUSES, they will FUSE your CAR when they don't blow right!

[dannyf]

Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

Absolutely.

I always get amazed by the number of people who complain about being taken when buying cheap stuff from complete strangers in far away land through unknown channels and of unknown origins and with no recourse.

If you walk on the beach frequently, you will wet your feet - someone wise enough said that many moons ago and yet some of us still have trouble comprehending it.

We simply cannot hold other people responsible for our own stupidity / ignorance / unwise decisions. We need to grow up and own up to our actions.

[tom66]

I always get amazed by the number of people who complain about being taken when buying cheap stuff from complete strangers in far away land through unknown channels and of unknown origins and with no recourse.

In most cases we're not buying from far away nations but the local automotive supply shop. We're still getting counterfeit goods because the importers are buying the cheap crap.

Recently B&Q, a very large "DIY" shop in the UK was caught selling those "£1 iPhone chargers"... absolutely lethal devices, both to the phone & person holding it. Except, they were selling them for £9.99 a piece. You can buy genuine chargers for less! Apparently they sold well over 1,000 units before they were recalled.

http://www3.hants.gov.uk/recall-notice-3pin-adapter.pdf

Just another FAKE Apple charger slipping into the stream of junk from China - bought by an importer for peanuts and marked up to full retail.

Price is no guarantee of quality.

[c4757p]

dannyf, you are aware that the sellers are also people, right? Why should they not be responsible for anything?

Oh, right, because anything done in the pursuit of money is good by definition.

[saturation]

I've had trouble with lesser name brand fuses bought retail for some time. 

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/why-is-bk-precision-still-in-business-bk8500-programmable-load-oem-found/msg153308/#msg153308

One other source of a problem fuse is a product itself.

In some Chinese lesser name or no-name car accessory, IIRC it was a DC-AC converter, the fuse in it was counterfeit and did not blow to spec.  Luckily my auto's accessory fuse blew to spec.

[bookaboo]

Fubar have you tested these? It could be that these fuses are rife throughout the world.
The old "sort by price" attitude of importers strikes again.

You can buy them here in the 'euro' shops, they have "REVS Car Accessories CAR FUSE SET" on the blister pack. 30 fuses will set you back a €1.50.  I have a pack in front of me, bought a couple of weeks ago. I never even opened it as they look doggie through the front plastic. The smallest fuse in the pack is 7.5A, the 'fuse wire' looks the same as the 30A fuse.

Edit
Link to wholesalers: http://www.discount-wholesale.co.uk/buy/car-fuse-set-30-pieces_666.htm

Those certainly don't look good. It doesn't bear thinking about what could happen here, by nature these fuses are likely to be used in a circuit that has developed a fault... the kind of fault that can pop a 20A, 25A, 30A fuse can certainly melt a loom and cause a fire.

Whats really worrying is that these things would be brought in massive quantities by an initial importer then shoved round all the motor factors shops. A very messy supply chain. Also its fairly easy for us to spot strange looking fuse wire diameters, not so easy for the average joe.

[tjb1]

I would class myself as reasonably experienced in the field of electronics design and engineering...

Your descriptions of what you know and what you don't know would seem to suggest otherwise.

It's quite funny that you think a mechanic would be able to distinguish a fake fuse from a genuine one...

[tvtech]

Interesting thread this 

Thanks for the info Guys

[amyk]

The 3A fuse would probably fuse at 3kA though, PhotonicInduction style.

Chinese watts are a fraction of standard watts, but Chinese amps - at least for fuses - are several times more.

[fubar.gr]

I put one of the counterfeits directly across a car battery and it blew immediately. So I guess they do offer some kind of protection against dead shorts.

Now I want to blow them in a more controlled manner. I first tried to blow a name brand 10amp fuse but failed. All I have is a car battery and some 1 Ohm power resistors so I had to improvise. I started with a single resistor in series (12 amps) but nothing happened. I then went to 24 amps and still nothing. The fuse was kept under current for at least 45 seconds each time.

I added another 1 Ohm resistor in parallel (36 amps) and after about 5 seconds the fuse filament went red hot, but suddenly the current dropped to 24 amps. One of my power resistors died apparently! The fuse filament was slightly deformed, but in one piece.

So tomorrow I will make a simple dummy load with a power mosfet and a trimpot controlling the gate voltage

[macboy]

When I read this tread, I realized I had bought a fuse kit where the fuses looked particularly dodgy.

Here's the kit:


Notice how the wire gauge in all fuses is practically the same!

Also here is a name brand 10Amp fuse side by side with the chinese counterfeit:



Notice how thinner the wire is in the name brand one.

My fuse kit looked nearly exactly the same, down to the crappy voltage tester, but with different branding. Mine however had fuses marked as low as 3 A and up to 30 A. The 3 and 30 A ones are identical.  Note how your voltage tester is marked "6-12-24 V"... well, the little bulb inside glows white at 12 V. How well do you think it will work on a 24 V system? 

[macboy]

Chinese watts are a fraction of standard watts, but Chinese amps - at least for fuses - are several times more.