Kettle leads - do you use the correct fuse?

John_P

Just curious whether people just have a bunch of kettle leads that probably all have a 13A fuse in or have a dedicated cable for each amp with the correct value fuse.

I must confess it's been a lot of years since I had the correct fuse and I suspect many people are like me with a bunch of power cables in the bag.

robinbowes

I have a bunch of interchangeable "kettle" leads, but they generally all have low-value fuses in them.

It doesn't actually matter all that much since the amps should be fused correctly. The plug fuse is just to prevent the cable burning in the event of a catastrophic short/failure.

R.

ecc83

This matter comes up in music related forums all the time and the basic answer is, don't really matter.

Now I doubt anyone is more OCD than I when it comes to electrical safety but the fact is that even a wimpy, 5 amp 2 core lamp cable is easily capable of carrying the fusing current of a 13A fuse (if you had 15mtrs of it under a carpet, maybe not but ordinarily, yes. )

Yes, IEC cables and plugs ARE rated at 10 amps but that is very, very conservative, especially since they rarely exceed 2mtrs in length.

I am sure I have said this before but when the bad KT88s went to "purple heaven" in a 200W amp they took out both HT fuses, the mains fuse AND the 13A in the plug.

Dave.

Vaiai

Good to know - I wasn't sure about this either but the amps fuses are more likely to go first I imagine.

mart

John_P said:

Kettle leads - do you use the correct phrase?

FTFY.

Sporky

As ECC didn't do it, I feel compelled to point out that they're not kettle leads (which are IEC 320-16), they are IEC320-14. Kettle leads have a notch out of the plug and are designed to withstand higher temperatures, though kettles have had integral leads for a jolly long time now.

Apologies for the pedantry.

robinbowes

You will of course note I said "kettle" leads.

Sporky

robinbowes said:

You will of course note I said "kettle" leads.

But you posted in amps!

Kettle leads, should you still have one, should definitely have a 13A fuse.

robinbowes

I replied to the OP. 

Sporky

And I didn't pay attention.

Sorry!

robinbowes

 

thomasw88

http://www.russandrews.com/yello-power/


of course

ICBM

ecc83 said:

This matter comes up in music related forums all the time and the basic answer is, don't really matter.

Now I doubt anyone is more OCD than I when it comes to electrical safety but the fact is that even a wimpy, 5 amp 2 core lamp cable is easily capable of carrying the fusing current of a 13A fuse (if you had 15mtrs of it under a carpet, maybe not but ordinarily, yes. )

Yes, IEC cables and plugs ARE rated at 10 amps but that is very, very conservative, especially since they rarely exceed 2mtrs in length.

I am sure I have said this before but when the bad KT88s went to "purple heaven" in a 200W amp they took out both HT fuses, the mains fuse AND the 13A in the plug.

What Dave said. The rating on even the thinnest IEC cable is an absolutely worst-case, long-term when covered by a thermally-insulating carpet, run at exactly the full current draw indefinitely, and even then very conservative limit - designed for nothing more than to prevent a house fire under those extreme conditions. In normal use they'll take 13A with no trouble, and certainly for far longer than it takes the much lower-rated fuse in the amp to blow. The 13A fuse in the plug should be no more than a last-ditch backup in case the cable itself gets crushed and internally shorted or something.

Zodiac51

Total none-issue, in the rest of europe, plugs don't have fuses...

ecc83

Zodiac51 said:

Total none-issue, in the rest of europe, plugs don't have fuses...

True, France e.g. has a spur system fused at 16 or 20 amps at the source (but 20A supplies are usually reserved for washing machines and other high current devices)

A spur system is wasteful of cable and of course lack of a plug fuse means you could have a fault only a bit over 16A with a flimsy cable and an eventual fire!

Dave.