Continue to Site

Welcome to our site!

Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

  • Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

13 Amp fuse for a 35 watt appliance .........

Status
Not open for further replies.

picbits

Well-Known Member
My partner has a set of hair straightners which are rated at 35 watts, 240 volts. It stated in the manual that it was fitted with a 13 amp fuse. I double checked and indeed it was.

Plugged it in to an energy monitor and for the first 60 seconds it takes 200 watts dropping to around the 65 watt mark.

Now the initial surge when first plugged in is measured at just over 600 watts so that would lead me to think that a 5 amp fuse would be far more appropriate than a 13 amp fuse.

Any thoughts ?
 
13Amp:eek: for 35 watt

those hair straiteners are just heater elements so a resistive load

the surge in the beginning is to heat them up quicker (instand use) and the elements are probably swiched parallel

See it like this you will never have to replace the fuse of this device:D

the device should be protected with a thermo controll any way

Robert-Jan
 
The fuse is rated to protect the cable Picbits, not the appliance.
Btw.. Do you have to keep switching her staraighteners off for her, like I do with my wife and daughters? LOL

Jim
 
Jim is quite correct, it's amazing how many people do not know that the fuse protects the cable to the appliance and not the appliance itself, that should have its own fuse. The size of the cable should be a good guide to the size of fuse required, thick washing machine cable should be fused at 13 Amps but thin bedroom lamp wire much lower, you can buy 2 Amp fuses for this purpose.
Les
 
Aye - I knew about the fuse protecting the cable but its still a massive overkill using a 13a fuse for a device which at most takes a surge of 3 amps.

I haven't been brave enough to open them to check if there is any internal fusing (if I broke them then the missus would kill me).

And at Jimmy - yes I had to unplug them yesterday as she'd left them on and gone to work. I was wondering what the burning smell was when I went up for a shower ......
 
Not over-kill really if the cable can handle up to 13A+ (depending on the gauge) before burning up.
 
A tip that works Picbits...

I got fed up asking them to turn them off, so I put one of the wife's favourite shoes on the floor, and made it look like the straighteners had fallen on them.. She remembered to turn them off for at least 3 days..:rolleyes:
 
hi picbits,
Some of the advice and guidance given by some of these posted answers is misleading and potentially hazardous.

eg: if for example someone had used 13Amp cable on a 35Watt appliance and a 13Amp fuse had been fitted to 'protect the cable', then if say the ON/OFF switch of the 35W appliance shorted across, you could have 13Amps flowing for a few seconds thru the 'short'.
Enough power [ about 3KW] to start a fire in the appliance.

Fit a 3amp fuse to a 35W appliance.

A good guide to the fuse required is the current rating of the cable fitted by the manufacturer.

I would suggest that you look at these two links.:)

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/fuses.htm

http://www.simplifydiy.com/electric...ses#Types of fuses used in domestic electrics
 
Last edited:
Eric,
my reply was only to point out that the manufacturer chooses a fuse capable of protecting the appliance cable. Why they would choose a 13A fuse for PicBits straighteners,, I don't know. We have 3 pairs in my house, and they all have 5A fuses
 
Eric,
my reply was only to point out that the manufacturer chooses a fuse capable of protecting the appliance cable. Why they would choose a 13A fuse for PicBits straighteners,, I don't know. We have 3 pairs in my house, and they all have 5A fuses

Hi Jimmy,
The 13A fuse, a good question, no idea why they would think a 35W appliance needs a 13A fuse.
You cant say that if a manufacturer fits a 13A cable to a 35W appliance he should fit a 13A fuse to protect the cable.!

You have the right idea with the 5Amp fuses.
I dont expect your 3pairs have 13A cable.?:)
 
To be honest with you, the cable does look like it would happily take 13amps but its not just the cable that fuse has to protect if the straightners are not fused internally (as posted above).
 
To be honest with you, the cable does look like it would happily take 13amps but its not just the cable that fuse has to protect if the straightners are not fused internally (as posted above).

hi,
Some times cabling to hand held devices can be over rated in order to make the cable more robust against twisting and pulling.
You can buy specialised cables which are designed for twisting/pulling in daily regular use, these sometimes appear thicker/heavier.

As you say lots of appliances dont have their own internal fuse.

Some have thermal cutouts in case of overheating.

My personal rule is to fit a fuse rated as low as possible that will not blow in regular use, I dont take the cable size as 'good guide', look at the appliance data.
Either in the notes that came with the appliance or the appliance label.
 
The appliance instructions stated that a 13 amp fuse was fitted in the plug. The plug also has a sticker that states its fitted with a 13 amp fuse.

I was actually reading the instructions to find out why they vibrated - sounds like they have a small motor inside them.
 
The appliance instructions stated that a 13 amp fuse was fitted in the plug. The plug also has a sticker that states its fitted with a 13 amp fuse.

I was actually reading the instructions to find out why they vibrated - sounds like they have a small motor inside them.

So its probably just the heating element thats 35W.???. the motor, I dont how much that would take.
 
I'd have thought it would be the whole appliance rated at 35 watt as that is what is on the rating plate moulded into the appliance.
 
I'd have thought it would be the whole appliance rated at 35 watt as that is what is on the rating plate moulded into the appliance.


Thats a little puzzling.?

What rating does the cable appear to be.?
Does the appliance have a CE sticker.?

Sorry to ask so many damn questions, but I just like to get things right.:)
 
The rating plate reads :

Manufacturer
Model number xxxxx
220-240v 50Hz
35W

There is a CE mark on it, a serial number and a picture of a bin with a cross through. It also has a picture that appears to be a "dont get this wet or you'll die" picture.

The cable entry also appears to be on slip rings as you can rotate the cable 360 degrees (and more)
 
Indeed - just looked that up myself.

Looks very much like an email to the manufacturers might be in order to see what they have to say.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest threads

New Articles From Microcontroller Tips

Back
Top