If it is the I²R effect that causes the fuse to blow then surely a higher current rating will increase the temperature it blows at!
I said regarding temperture selection design
profit said:
Besides where/how it is physically placed or buried one also has to consider the I²R self heating affect.
And to your question, no. First it's not a fuse it's a thermal cutoff. The wax pellet inside the device is made to melt at a specific temperature and how it gets to that temperature is irrelevant to the wax.
The higher current rating means that it will just require more current to finish it off it the external temperature does not get it first. The blanket will only draw the current it needs.
A 130'C 2 Amp TCO is designed to open at 130'C. However if the device draws more than 2 amps then it too will open the TCO. Everything has a limit and the amp ratings is only that . You will find that the higher current TCO are larger/bigger and can be more of a problem to physically locate. If you have a short, then both a 2 Amp or a 10 amp TCO is toast.
From my pics above the second metal one is rated at 10 A and in first pic, they are from 1 to 3 Amps in increasing physical size
julian said:
Ha! - I notice that it lies tightly between two resistors [brown grey red] and it was covered by a white grease. Is the heat that causes it to blow generated by them??
Of coarse, I didn't design the gizmo but probably yes. It's most likely part of the design, however, as stated there will also be internal heating due to the current that flows within the mechanism. You need to match it if'n you want to maintain the original safety .
julian said:
[have a nice pic but dont know how to upload it]
Thanks
Julian
Click on
Go advanced and scroll down
manage attachments and then navigate to where you have it sitting on your HD with the
browse button.
cheers
Julian , what does the label on the blanket say in regards to watts?