Author Topic: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?  (Read 9626 times)

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Offline lordvader88Topic starter

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Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« on: March 16, 2017, 06:47:14 am »
Here in Newfoundland, Canada, apparently Walmart doesn't sell small fuses for multimeters, TVs, stereo's. Neither does home depot. Canadian Tire has stopped selling their own mastercraft brand ceramic fuses for their mastercraft multimeter. Supposedly they will again with another brand or supplier or whatever.

And looking around on ebay, the price of simple glass low voltage 0.25A, 0.3A, .4A are insane in NorthAmerica, $40, 50 1 fuse. +$5 for 5 0.5A

And I had now idea the proper 1000V 44/100A HRC fuses are +$6 for 1 from China, and the price barely drops.

And THEY START AT $80 for 1 from the US


THATS INSANE
 

Offline Wytnucls

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #1 on: March 16, 2017, 06:59:37 am »
And I had now idea the proper 1000V 44/100A HRC fuses are +$6 for 1 from China, and the price barely drops.
And THEY START AT $80 for 1 from the US
THATS INSANE
5$ a piece in the US for Fluke fuses:
http://www.alliedelec.com/fluke-fuse-440ma-1000vb5/70145777/
 
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Offline iainwhite

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2017, 11:11:44 am »
Yeah, Digikey has the same $25 for 5x 440 mA Fluke fuses too  (and $46 for 5x of the 11A fuses)
http://www.digikey.com/products/en?dc=4600


I had trouble getting the 400 mA fuses for my EEVBlog/Brymen 235 in the US but a guy in the UK sells them on eBay (JPS Calibration)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/282049300801
 
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Offline EEVblog

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2017, 11:17:02 am »
I have a metric crap load of 440mA and 11A HRC fuses in stock. Just figuring out the best way to sell them...
 
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Offline SingedFingers

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2017, 11:29:02 am »
I paid 7 GBP which is around 10 USD for a 3A HRC recently for a Fluke 8021 that someone had soldered a wire across  :palm: probably because they were so expensive to replace.

I've got to give the older Flukes their due; they have a 3A HRC in series with a cheaper 2A one. I'm forever blowing the 2A ones and you can get a bag of 10 of them (ceramic body) for 3 USD equiv delivered to the door next day from RS here.

Seems to be the best outcome for the pocket.
 

Offline ConKbot

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2017, 12:28:03 pm »
>Fuse can handle being put short directly across the output terminals of a 480V 100kva transformer without exploding.
>OP is surprised they are expensive.

 :P
 

Offline lordvader88Topic starter

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2017, 12:30:36 pm »
Ok thanks guys

I have a new Brymen 869, and I popped the 0.44A fuse by forgetting to change from mA and swapping the probe, and then trying to measure a voltage. At least every thing I'm currently doing is usually under 12.5V and from a 1A wall wart.

I have to remember to treat the dial like the reverse gear of a car. I don't ever remember accidentally reversing, or going forward when I wanted to go back.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2017, 12:34:19 pm by lordvader88 »
 

Online tszaboo

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2017, 01:15:52 pm »
Yes, midget (it is a technical term) sized HRC fuses are expensive. Why would Home depot carry it? It is not a costumer stuff, it is only used in professional equipment. I am not suprised, when I cannot buy Metabo drills in the store on the corner, only Bosch.
5-8 dollar is the price you can expect for these. Dont buy it from china, you are asking for trouble. Fluke 440mA and 11A fuses are 7 and 9.3 dollar from digikey.
 

Offline lordvader88Topic starter

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2017, 01:59:11 pm »
Yes, midget (it is a technical term) sized HRC fuses are expensive. Why would Home depot carry it? It is not a costumer stuff, it is only used in professional equipment. I am not suprised, when I cannot buy Metabo drills in the store on the corner, only Bosch.
5-8 dollar is the price you can expect for these. Dont buy it from china, you are asking for trouble. Fluke 440mA and 11A fuses are 7 and 9.3 dollar from digikey.
No here they don't even carry small glass fuses like for a TV, same for Walmart of all places.
 

Offline SingedFingers

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2017, 02:15:36 pm »
They sell screws and tin foil though - what could go wrong  :-DD
 

Offline djnz

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2017, 02:31:40 pm »
I wouldn't buy those fuses on eBay - lots of counterfeits. For such stuff, I'd either get the real deal from a trusted source, or just short the fuse (which I won't do). An illusion of safety is very bad.

For searching websites of reputed distributors, the following part numbers are all good:
EDIT: Also added part nos. suggested by others in the thread.

Fuse 11A, 1000VAC, 1000VDC
Fluke 803293
Fluke 203406
Fluke 203403
Littelfuse FLU 011.
Cooper-Bussmann (Eaton) DMM-B-11A
SIBA URZ DMI 50 199 06.11
Mersen (Ferraz Shawmut) FSM11 (X232481)
Keysight 2110-1402

440mA 1000VAC, 1000VDC
Fluke 943121
Fluke 203414
Fluke 203411
Littelfuse FLU.44
Cooper-Bussmann (Eaton) DMM-B-44/100
SIBA URZ DMI 50 210 06.0.44
Mersen (Ferraz Shawmut) FSM44/100 (W232480)
Keysight 2110-1400

Some of these are the exact same part (for example ordering a fluke part will get you one of the others), but the prices are different, so search for all of these to find the cheapest. 11A ones should be about US$9 (fluke / siba) US$6 (keysight), 440mA should be about US$5.


« Last Edit: March 21, 2017, 03:54:55 am by djnz »
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2017, 05:30:33 pm »
I usually buy fuses from Digikey, except Fluke fuses, those are obscenely expensive there.

Think about it though, what does the average consumer need fuses for anymore? Stereo equipment has auto-resetting protection on the speakers in most cases. Other consumer gear the fuse is usually soldered in internally. Most of the time if the fuse blows, there's something else wrong with it anyway. The days of the average semi-handy person fixing something by replacing a blown fuse are for the most part over.
 

Offline lordvader88Topic starter

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2017, 09:22:03 pm »
I checked Staples today, an office supply/ printer/phone/PC type store (Canadian chain store and I guess US too ?). And they don't sell fuses. And the tech desk even said

THEY HAVE REPLACEMENT PLANS

So as I cynically suspected, Walmart and others, figure that if the average non-techie blows a fuse, they will get a new monitor, printer, stereo, etc

Cram them all to hell, especially since no one around here ever gets to go through dumpsters and find "broken" electronics that just need a fuse replaced.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2017, 11:56:09 pm by lordvader88 »
 

Offline Paul Moir

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #13 on: March 16, 2017, 09:29:16 pm »
Note that Digikey won't send the Fluke branded / part number fuses to Canada.  They are not an official supplier here; last time I used Newark.  Digikey will sell the Bussman branded ones for the crazy price Bussman wants though.  I guess Fluke must have negotiated on price for replacements.  Thanks Fluke!  :)
 
I'm telling you man, it's Amazon-Prime-Free-Two-Day-Shipping or bust.
 
« Last Edit: March 16, 2017, 09:36:26 pm by Paul Moir »
 

Offline retrolefty

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2017, 09:36:20 pm »
I think that there might be a uninformed perspective from some that CAT rated fuses should be priced like generic small glass fuses. Fuses rated to comply with the various CAT ratings are not such generic fuses and their prices generally reflect that. And such compliance rated fuses are not likely sold at small brick and mortar stores, not enough sale volume to stock. Still shopping around on-line and mail order is sure to turn up fair prices for them.


« Last Edit: March 16, 2017, 09:38:34 pm by retrolefty »
 

Offline raspberrypi

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #15 on: March 16, 2017, 09:38:20 pm »
We just replace whole units instead of fuses. Thats how china is going to take over the world when global warming starts to cut off food supplies and oil runs out. They are already buying up farm land in africa.

Its crazy how everything is just throw away. $0.01 cent part breaks, just go to walmart and buy a new one for 200 bucks.
I'm legally blind so sometimes I ask obvious questions, but its because I can't see well.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #16 on: March 16, 2017, 10:55:14 pm »
I've had multiple stereo receivers given to me "broken" that simply had blown fuses on the speaker outputs.

In most cases though what good does it do to replace the fuse? I can count on my fingers the number of devices I've fixed just by replacing the fuse. Occasionally a fuse will suffer a mechanical failure, occasionally a microwave oven door interlock will stick and blow the fuse, but most of the time if the fuse blows it's because a failure has occurred and replacing the fuse will just blow it again immediately.
 

Offline EEVblog

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #17 on: March 16, 2017, 11:11:18 pm »
I'm telling you man, it's Amazon-Prime-Free-Two-Day-Shipping or bust.

I can put my fuses on Amazon, only question is what QTY. The 11A comes in boxes of 10, and the 400mA in boxes of 20.
That's likely too many for most, would bags of 5 be OK?
 
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Offline james_s

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #18 on: March 16, 2017, 11:45:09 pm »
Depends on the price. A box of each would probably be a lifetime supply for me, but they'd have to be cheap if I were going to buy that many.
 

Offline lordvader88Topic starter

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #19 on: March 17, 2017, 12:01:55 am »
On the kourney home today I did pass a hardware store thats sells Fluke's and their fuse's for sure. But they were closed. So I look forward to Monday and go there and learn their prices.

With the FORCE as my ally, I will not blowup another HRC due a simple mistake.
 

Offline lordvader88Topic starter

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #20 on: March 17, 2017, 12:07:26 am »
For about the price of 5 fuses on ebay from the US to Canada, (they share a border), you could buy a Brymen 869

$80 per fuse. I wonder what lead to such prices in North America ?
 

Offline lordvader88Topic starter

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #21 on: March 17, 2017, 12:33:50 am »
For about the price of 5 Bussmann 1000V 44/100A fuses on ebay from the US to Canada, (they share a border), you could buy a Brymen 869

$80 per fuse. I wonder what lead to such prices in North America ?
 

Offline lordvader88Topic starter

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #22 on: March 17, 2017, 01:10:35 am »
I should fix my bad spelling and grammar in general
 

Offline Paul Moir

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #23 on: March 17, 2017, 11:13:04 pm »
I can put my fuses on Amazon, only question is what QTY. The 11A comes in boxes of 10, and the 400mA in boxes of 20.
That's likely too many for most, would bags of 5 be OK?

Not sure how the labour or amazon works out, but I think ideally it would be a bag of 5 11A + 10 400ma.  I seem to blow fuses in about this ratio.  However if 10 11A fuses + 20 400mA fuses cost less than $30, I would just buy that.  Less than 5 makes no sense to me at all unless the cost of 5 exceeded $20.

Just one opinion to toss into the hat.

Lordvader88:  those Bussman fuses are always expensive since they have a limited (well, really a captive) and non-price-sensitive market:  the industrial market.  They just so happen to get used in Fluke multimeters too. 
Also you can simply get a multimeter that has incorrect input jack use warning, which addresses the most common root causes of blown multimeter fuses.  This will limit your need of using the FORCE to at least 50% so you can save your metachlorians for choking people.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2017, 11:20:23 pm by Paul Moir »
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Fuse prices and lack of sellers - Has the world gone INSANE?
« Reply #24 on: March 18, 2017, 12:03:48 am »
I think I've blown the 11A fuse once. I've blown the 440mA fuse at least 5 times, it's a lot easier to do that.
 


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