Automotive Fuses from Harbor Freight
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Stereodude
Not really a
Probably made in China.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
How do you screw up manufacturing a simple automotive fuse?!?
I think they sell them in dollar stores. Are we not supposed to buy those?
How often do fuses need to be replaced anyway? The only time I ever replaced a fuse was in my 1976 cordoba. (No I don't still have that car, I probably last had it in 1995).
I think they sell them in dollar stores. Are we not supposed to buy those?
How often do fuses need to be replaced anyway? The only time I ever replaced a fuse was in my 1976 cordoba. (No I don't still have that car, I probably last had it in 1995).
ddrueding
Fixture
I've had to replace one of the fuses in my car a number of times. The ashtray and cigarete lighter are right next to each other (go figure). I keep change in the ashtray and am always swapping out devices in the lighter. A quarter is just the right size to fall to the bottom and short it out. You also need to drill out the center of the quarter to remove the damn thing.
Stereodude
Not really a
It's probably intentional. Someone selling fake fuses because they're cheaper to make. They sell fake eggs, fake bottled water, all sorts of stuff in China.
You don't need to replace the fuse unless it blows.
Agreed. The last time I had to replace was fuse was in a relative's 1975 Mercury, and that was back in 1979 or 80.
You know there are plastic covers for those 12V sockets, right?
ddrueding
Fixture
Mine has a built-in spring-loaded cover, but if the change is overflowing while you are changing plugs, it happens. 3 times in 4 years, I think.
Pradeep
Storage? I am Storage!
Harbour Freight has some great stuff for very good prices, but they are definitely not the first place I would get delicate electrical bits.
McMaster-Carr, on the other hand, I have had great success with in my previous job. Very cheap shipping as well.
http://www.mcmaster.com/
McMaster-Carr, on the other hand, I have had great success with in my previous job. Very cheap shipping as well.
http://www.mcmaster.com/
Pradeep
Storage? I am Storage!
The upside of the story is that at least they didn't use a .22LR cartridge to substitue for a fuse 
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
Don't you have Pep Boys, Advanced Auto Parts, Parts Plus or a auto parts store nearby?
Even K-Mart and Sears sells auto fuses.
Why would you mail order and pay shipping on such a small part?
The story sounds really bogus. If you need a fuse, you need it now, not a week from now. And, it would cost more to manufacture a fuse that wouldn't blow; more, heavier solder, wire or whatever.
Sounds like someone from GM is trying to scare the GM car owners into going to a GM dealer for repairs. That's lame.
Bozo :joker:
Even K-Mart and Sears sells auto fuses.
Why would you mail order and pay shipping on such a small part?
The story sounds really bogus. If you need a fuse, you need it now, not a week from now. And, it would cost more to manufacture a fuse that wouldn't blow; more, heavier solder, wire or whatever.
Sounds like someone from GM is trying to scare the GM car owners into going to a GM dealer for repairs. That's lame.
Bozo :joker:
If you run a garage and order a box of fuses from harbor freight that would make more sense.
I agree though, how do you screw up a fuse?
There are other things out there like grade 8 bolts that aren't anywhere near that strong.
I agree though, how do you screw up a fuse?
There are other things out there like grade 8 bolts that aren't anywhere near that strong.
ddrueding
Fixture
Harbor Freight is primarily a brick and mortar establishment, so buying stuff like this from them is not far-fetched. They are notorious for selling the cheapest stuff they could find in China; no quality control at all.
fb
Storage is cool
Perhaps they aren't that concerned with tolerances, or maybe they use slightly different materials with wrong characteristics?
Some stores sells hammers that bends after 10 minutes of use, sandpaper where the sands comes loose after five strokes and so on... So I'm not that surprised if there are makers of bad fuses around too.
Complete BS and I resent the implication. This is yet another quality post by Bozo that I will have to blow out of the water in order to prevent the spread of bad information. The information I posted is being passed around by the electrical engineers in my building. In fact, if you cared to read the post, you would realize that the intent of the post is to educate dealers and make sure they don't use crappy no-name brand fuses and that customers aren't either. Not steer people to the dealer for service.
An no, it is not 'harder' to manufacture a fuse that won't blow. It's easy to do that and requires no engineering or effort. What is harder is to manufacture is a fuse that will blow at the correct amperage. Fact is, fuses rarely ever blow unless there is some other problem that would cause them to blow. So a fuse that never blows may never be found if everything else is working OK. If somebody wanted to sell fuses but didn't want to engineer them correctly, they would just sell fuses that short the circuit with no regard for the amount of current they allow to pass. Fuses that blow too easily would be quickly detected and, usually, just not work.
I agree that the Harbor Freight stuff is usually cheap crap from China. There's good stuff that comes out of China but they tend to have the junk from their on their shelves.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
I didn't realize that the GM engineering unit repaired cars too. If there are no marks on the fuse, how do you know where they came from. And, it's awfully convienant that a box of fuses from Harbor Freight just happen to be in the cars?
I have some of the new plastic snap-in fuses in my garage. Looking at them you can't tell who made them or where they came from. Pretty generic looking. I bought them at an autoparts store nearby. According to the box they were in, they are Buss fuses. But I'll bet they were made in China. And, I'd bet the GM fuses are made in China too.
Putting anything directly accross a battery is a very dangerous thing to do. Short circut amps on a 12v car battery can exceed 400 amps. (look at the 'cold cranking amps' rating on a battery-they usually start at 300 amps and go up). The fuse should have melted instantly, plastic and all. There is no way one of those small plastic fuses could withstand that kind of test, no matter who made it.
Bozo :joker:
I have some of the new plastic snap-in fuses in my garage. Looking at them you can't tell who made them or where they came from. Pretty generic looking. I bought them at an autoparts store nearby. According to the box they were in, they are Buss fuses. But I'll bet they were made in China. And, I'd bet the GM fuses are made in China too.
Putting anything directly accross a battery is a very dangerous thing to do. Short circut amps on a 12v car battery can exceed 400 amps. (look at the 'cold cranking amps' rating on a battery-they usually start at 300 amps and go up). The fuse should have melted instantly, plastic and all. There is no way one of those small plastic fuses could withstand that kind of test, no matter who made it.
Bozo :joker:
Stereodude
Not really a
I don't think he was implying that you made it up, only that someone at GM made it up.
Stereodude
Not really a
Bozo has a good point there. You can melt a wrench by connecting it across a 12V battery. There's no way a "Fuse" (fake from China) won't burn out across across a 12V battery.
When there are issues that local dealerships find, we have direct contact with them and can, on occasion, get directly involved to assist.
You can tell the rating on the fuse by the color and I didn't include the picture of the box they came in becuause I don't currently have a way to host it (conveniently, for me atm). The original text does state the box was from Harbor Freight. Another half-baked rebuttal. Again, you are really living up to your name.
I would not be suprised if most of the fuses you find are made in China. As I stated, it's not a question of origin but, rather, quality control.
Thank you Captian Obvious. However, there's no information provided to indicate the condition of the battery and 'instant' melting would not happen if the fuse was tested correctly. It only takes a split second to perform the test. Sure, if the contact was held, melting would eventually occur but not if the short was held just long enough to test the fuse.
What's the point if your finger pointing and paranoia? Have you seen anything in the newspaper or on TV to validate your implications? The whole purpose of the post is just to state the importance of using name brand fuses rather than unlabeled cheap crap. Take it for what it is and move on.