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The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

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Re: The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

#21

Post by postpawl »

blagie wrote: post #15

For the record: Some of these are a bit over-the-top, and Amazon is trash for anything safety-related, but for the record, virtually all fuses have a pretty significant margin before they blow. The risk here is very limited: - A 2A fuse needs to conduct 2A, no matter ambient temperature, manufacturing variation, age, etc. - 95+% of the time, what you're protecting from isn't a minor overload condition but a short. Th…

I saw an example of this recently during the test of some large DC fuses for solar: https://youtu.be/6o9tbhgtws4?feature=shared

Some are slow burn fuses and don’t pop until you exceed the rated amperage for a long time and by a lot of amperage. Not really what I expected. Some of the fuses do work like you’d expect and pop when they exceed the amperage by a minor amount.

Re: The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

#22

Post by blcknight »

There's a reason retailers have buyers who are experts in their domains and try to buy the best products optimizing for quality/reliability/price. I much prefer to buy things from stores like Target and Lowes now, because I can't rely on any reviews on Amazon anymore. The reviews are all fake.

Re: The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

#23

Post by donmcronald »

blagie wrote: post #15

For the record: Some of these are a bit over-the-top, and Amazon is trash for anything safety-related, but for the record, virtually all fuses have a pretty significant margin before they blow. The risk here is very limited: - A 2A fuse needs to conduct 2A, no matter ambient temperature, manufacturing variation, age, etc. - 95+% of the time, what you're protecting from isn't a minor overload condition but a short. Th…

> Everything carrying current typically has a ton of safety margin built in

The thing that worries me is what happens when everyone is cutting corners because they're relying on someone else building in safety margin. Where's the tipping point when everything becomes unsafe?

Re: The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

#24

Post by mint2 »

snakeyjake wrote: post #19

I am an empathetic fellow. I understand that people are under cost and time pressure. But if you buy a fuse set on Amazon to save $10 off what a fuse assortment kit costs on Digikey, you are getting exactly what you paid for. The signs are obvious: a nonsensical name like HOODOOVOOKOO, sold by BLXXYUSA a seller specializing in children's socks and fuses, quantity listed in "pieces", an obviously cheap plastic box, a…

Unfortunately people and companies are near guaranteed to fall for that internecine race to the bottom type behavior if given the opportunity.

Re: The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

#25

Post by postpawl »

snakeyjake wrote: post #19

I am an empathetic fellow. I understand that people are under cost and time pressure. But if you buy a fuse set on Amazon to save $10 off what a fuse assortment kit costs on Digikey, you are getting exactly what you paid for. The signs are obvious: a nonsensical name like HOODOOVOOKOO, sold by BLXXYUSA a seller specializing in children's socks and fuses, quantity listed in "pieces", an obviously cheap plastic box, a…

A lot of people trust Amazon and expect them (or their sellers) to sell a fuse that works. A lot of us make a dozen decisions about what to buy every day, and sometimes you don’t have time to do a bunch of research. This isn’t a problem that should only be pushed onto the individual buyer. There should be some required testing on safety critical products. It wouldn’t even cost that much to have an electrical engineer spot checking a few of the products.

Re: The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

#26

Post by ryandrake »

quickthrowman wrote: post #9

Electricity will kill you . For the love of god, do not buy any line-voltage electrical equipment/devices from Amazon. I wouldn’t even buy 12v/24v/48v electrical parts from Amazon. It is not worth the risk of a house fire, no matter how much money you save. I don’t care if it claims to be ETL and UL listed, buy it elsewhere. Amazon’s supply chain cannot be trusted when life safety is a factor. Please buy electrical m…

There are a couple of categories of stuff that you should probably just never risk buying on Amazon:

As you say, anything that plugs into AC mains >= 120V.

Anything that, were it to malfunction could cause a home fire or plumbing flood.

Anything that could lead to injury or death were it to fail (like car or boat parts, safety equipment).

Anything that your family or pets eat.

Anything mission critical that you depend on to run your business/income.

(any other ideas?)

Re: The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

#27

Post by lupusreal »

snakeyjake wrote: post #19

I am an empathetic fellow. I understand that people are under cost and time pressure. But if you buy a fuse set on Amazon to save $10 off what a fuse assortment kit costs on Digikey, you are getting exactly what you paid for. The signs are obvious: a nonsensical name like HOODOOVOOKOO, sold by BLXXYUSA a seller specializing in children's socks and fuses, quantity listed in "pieces", an obviously cheap plastic box, a…

Just a shred more empathy please: These are automotive fuses being bought and installed by normies, not geeky tinkerers. Most normies have never heard of digikey and, if not for PSAs like this video, wouldn't know to avoid Amazon until they get burned.

Re: The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

#28

Post by lnsru »

blagie wrote: post #15

For the record: Some of these are a bit over-the-top, and Amazon is trash for anything safety-related, but for the record, virtually all fuses have a pretty significant margin before they blow. The risk here is very limited: - A 2A fuse needs to conduct 2A, no matter ambient temperature, manufacturing variation, age, etc. - 95+% of the time, what you're protecting from isn't a minor overload condition but a short. Th…

In addition to other things I am certified electrician in Germany. Your claims are wildly oversimplified. Every fuse has a type, rating and trip current. I pick them by planned application, installation type and cable length. Copper cables cost money, the safety margin is THE fuse. Otherwise cable insulation gets too hot and wears too fast.

Re: The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

#29

Post by blagie »

donmcronald wrote: post #23
blagie wrote: post #15

For the record: Some of these are a bit over-the-top, and Amazon is trash for anything safety-related, but for the record, virtually all fuses have a pretty significant margin before they blow. The risk here is very limited: - A 2A fuse needs to conduct 2A, no matter ambient temperature, manufacturing variation, age, etc. - 95+% of the time, what you're protecting from isn't a minor overload condition but a short. Th…

> Everything carrying current typically has a ton of safety margin built in The thing that worries me is what happens when everyone is cutting corners because they're relying on someone else building in safety margin. Where's the tipping point when everything becomes unsafe?

My suggestion would be to travel the world, and see how people live in places with different margins. Life is sort of okay. Look at Soviet-era Eastern Europe, India, the diverse approaches across Africa, China, the rest of Asia, etc.

People get by. There isn't a sudden collapse or implosion.

It's also easy-to-manage. If there are suddenly a lot of electrical fires, regulators will step in before it goes out-of-control.

For my personal tastes, the US is too liability and safety-conscious on a day-to-day level, and not nearly safety-conscious enough on a system level. Risks like fires, where I live, are small enough that I'm not worried about them.

Antibiotic-resistant super-diseases? AI apocalypse? Thermonuclear war? Cyber-Armageddon (where every network-connected device is maximally bricked in the span of 30 seconds)? Climate change? Some weird super-pollutant? Systemic economic collapse? Civil war? Genetically-engineered super-bug? Running out of water in Arizona (or your other local issue)? ...

We have major disasters typically around once a century in any given location (WWI/WWII/30 years war/Bubonic Plaque/hurricane/etc.). It's hard to predict which one will happen; some are very unlikely, and some are pretty likely. If something hasn't happened in 50+ years, we stop worrying about it, and we completely ignore future previously-impossible risks.

I'm much more worried by those sorts of things than by fire safety.

Re: The Downfall of Amazon: Top Ranking Electrical Fuses Show Dangerous Results [video]

#30

Post by janice1999 »

snakeyjake wrote: post #19

I am an empathetic fellow. I understand that people are under cost and time pressure. But if you buy a fuse set on Amazon to save $10 off what a fuse assortment kit costs on Digikey, you are getting exactly what you paid for. The signs are obvious: a nonsensical name like HOODOOVOOKOO, sold by BLXXYUSA a seller specializing in children's socks and fuses, quantity listed in "pieces", an obviously cheap plastic box, a…

> You cannot be angry at them for giving you exactly what you want.

What they want and were sold is a working fuse... which this is not. If I starting calling myself a medical doctor and advertising cheap surgery I would hope someone would try to stop me.

You can't claim to be empathetic and expect everyone to be a domain expert in absolutely everything to avoid getting poisoned, burned or killed by sellers lying to people.

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