On 01/01/2020 14:08, Scott wrote:
On Wed, 1 Jan 2020 05:21:54 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

On Monday, 30 December 2019 22:12:42 UTC, wrote:
Leads were often very thin, basically what we now call speaker wire.
Using under 3A fuses is wise if such wire is used.

Leads were also longer as people had fewer sockets. Remember the days you'd get a good 2 or 3 yards of flex on a table lamp.

Now all EU appliances are supposed to be okay with unfused plugs as that's normal in Europe, and leads are shorter to provide less resistance so a higher rated fuse/MCB blows quickly enough.

Lucky Golden Hedgehog leads from China are still on the thin side though.

If the purpose of the fuse is to protect the flex (as is often said),
does this mean all flexes can cope with 16 amps (European radial
circuit)?

Yup, that's the general idea... In most countries the option to protect
the flex at less than 16A is not usually available, so specifying the
maximum earth loop impedance of the lead is all you can do. Hence why
1.8m of 0.5mm^2 flex is common.

(whether actually true for some of the more dubious ebay tat etc is
another mater)


--
Cheers,

John.

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