DCStrom recently had Yamaha Germany do a 100,000 mile inspection (he said he will post results when able) and one item found was a melted fuse which had not "popped." It would have looked similar to this:
Fuses are fuses, right? Unfortunately, no.
Back in 2007, Harbor Freight had to recall hundreds of thousands of fuse kits which contained millions of fuses. These were the same cheapies you can buy in Dollar types of stores and flea markets anywhere in the world. While Harbor Freight cleaned out their stock, the manufacturers still pump out the cheap fuses and they ARE on the market. Eight years later, Mercedes just went through a recall last summer to replace the fuses in a number of cars.
When the fuses don't electrically open for whatever reason, there are a couple of potential sources of losing your car or bike. The wiring can melt into adjacent wiring, shorting other electrical components and the total of the main harness plus components can exceed the point where an insurance company will simply write the vehicle off. I've heard from somebody involved in an auto recall that in their testing they found the cheapest of the fuses can actually have the plastic ignite in the fuse block. It's always amazing how many unforeseen potential sources of fuel there are.
The bottom line is to only buy the more expensive reputable fuses. While I'm not going to recommend any one brand, you can generally stay safe if you simply avoid the cheapies.
When you replace a fuse make SURE to inspect the socket for the following. If you can't really clean it well then replace the entire fuse block.
Last item is that we as a group tend to install a lot of electrical accessories and install inline fuse holders. Most of us who've been around cars and bikes for a long time have seen the fuse holders fail like this:
The melting is actually where the fuse blade slides into the socket near the yellow wire. The usual cause for this is a little bit of resistance built up from rain water, grime, and time. The prevention is to simply pull the fuses now and then, and spritz in a little contact cleaner. Just the action of pulling the fuse once a year will generally expose bare copper to make the electrical connection better, especially for those who ride a lot in wet conditions or near the sea.
A related aspect is to use heavier wire and fuses than you think you need. The idea of fuses is to protect the wiring, NOT the component hanging on the end of the wire. A little resistance in the socket of a circuit running a fuse near maximum capacity can easily lead to melting a good fuse.
Fuses are fuses, right? Unfortunately, no.
Back in 2007, Harbor Freight had to recall hundreds of thousands of fuse kits which contained millions of fuses. These were the same cheapies you can buy in Dollar types of stores and flea markets anywhere in the world. While Harbor Freight cleaned out their stock, the manufacturers still pump out the cheap fuses and they ARE on the market. Eight years later, Mercedes just went through a recall last summer to replace the fuses in a number of cars.
When the fuses don't electrically open for whatever reason, there are a couple of potential sources of losing your car or bike. The wiring can melt into adjacent wiring, shorting other electrical components and the total of the main harness plus components can exceed the point where an insurance company will simply write the vehicle off. I've heard from somebody involved in an auto recall that in their testing they found the cheapest of the fuses can actually have the plastic ignite in the fuse block. It's always amazing how many unforeseen potential sources of fuel there are.
The bottom line is to only buy the more expensive reputable fuses. While I'm not going to recommend any one brand, you can generally stay safe if you simply avoid the cheapies.
When you replace a fuse make SURE to inspect the socket for the following. If you can't really clean it well then replace the entire fuse block.
Last item is that we as a group tend to install a lot of electrical accessories and install inline fuse holders. Most of us who've been around cars and bikes for a long time have seen the fuse holders fail like this:
The melting is actually where the fuse blade slides into the socket near the yellow wire. The usual cause for this is a little bit of resistance built up from rain water, grime, and time. The prevention is to simply pull the fuses now and then, and spritz in a little contact cleaner. Just the action of pulling the fuse once a year will generally expose bare copper to make the electrical connection better, especially for those who ride a lot in wet conditions or near the sea.
A related aspect is to use heavier wire and fuses than you think you need. The idea of fuses is to protect the wiring, NOT the component hanging on the end of the wire. A little resistance in the socket of a circuit running a fuse near maximum capacity can easily lead to melting a good fuse.