On Tuesday, 7 January 2020 15:11:52 UTC, Terry Casey wrote:
In article ,
says...


Early colour TVs could have a high inrush current enough to blow a 13 amp
fuse, even when the quoted power consumption was well below 3kW. But not
the anti-surge type fitted to the TV.

Never had one that bad but one day, a couple of the apprentice
electricians were sent out to deliver a new colour set. They
came back saying it was dead.

On investigation, I found that being mindful of the high cost
of these sets they'd been ultra careful and fitted a 5A fuse -
which, of course, matched the rating of the mains lead.

However, at switch on, colour sets took a mighty gulp of power
to drive the degaussing coils to demagnetise the tube which
considerably exceeded 5A!

The original 13A fuse was refitted and everything worked.

Thinking back to those days, I can't recall a single 13A plug
anywhere being sold fitted with anything other than a 13A
fuse, irrespective of what they were going to be used for, so
how were the public expected to be educated to use the correct
fuse for the job?

It was several years after this event that I first spotted
plugs for sale with red (3A) and brown (13A) stickers and, of
all places (unless I'm mistaken) it was in Woolworths!

My memory is fuzzy on this but weren't there tv ads saying when to use 3 vs 13A? I also remember seeing lists, but I don't recall where


NT