06-03-2016, 10:37 PM
As I've just changed the plugtop fuse on a Roberts RM50, from13A to 3A (lowest rating I've got in my fuse tray) I await Mr. Penguin's experiments with baited breath 
I also had to move the cord-grip, from the insulated conductors, to the sheath, too.
Same as it ever was !
I think things may be slightly better now, but not much. In the old round-pin days, all appliances were festooned from a smorgasboard of Woolworth's adaptors, all plugged-in to the single (unswitched) 15A round pin socket in the room, but at least appliances were better (British?) made, and plugtops generally, were unfused.
My B&D cordless drill charger died not long ago, I opened the wall-wart to find no fuse, no protection, nothing, just a charred mess!
The fuse (or MCB, etc) is definitely there to protect the wiring; some years ago, I remember watching a guy apply first power to a control cabinet; the control circuit wire went up like the fuse in the opening titles of Mission Impossible!
Instead of connecting the control circuit wire to a 4A MCB, he had connected it to a 45A motor-rated MCB.
The MCB sat there quite happy....
Oh, how we laughed!
I also had to move the cord-grip, from the insulated conductors, to the sheath, too.
Same as it ever was !
I think things may be slightly better now, but not much. In the old round-pin days, all appliances were festooned from a smorgasboard of Woolworth's adaptors, all plugged-in to the single (unswitched) 15A round pin socket in the room, but at least appliances were better (British?) made, and plugtops generally, were unfused.
My B&D cordless drill charger died not long ago, I opened the wall-wart to find no fuse, no protection, nothing, just a charred mess!
The fuse (or MCB, etc) is definitely there to protect the wiring; some years ago, I remember watching a guy apply first power to a control cabinet; the control circuit wire went up like the fuse in the opening titles of Mission Impossible!
Instead of connecting the control circuit wire to a 4A MCB, he had connected it to a 45A motor-rated MCB.
The MCB sat there quite happy....
Oh, how we laughed!
