That uhm, sucked...

MobileAudio219 · Post by **MobileAudio219** » Sat Oct 17, 2009 9:04 pm

So I had little free time this evening and set my gains (via DMM and test tones) and got everything tweaked.. Well tonight I was heading over to my sisters house and all of a sudden the music stops...

Hmm, I got to my sisters and the amp was OFF, so I broke out my DMM and there wasn't any power going through the main power wire. D*MN, must of blew the fuse. I popped the hood and checked the fuse, looked good... So I checked the power going into the fuse holder, good. Checked the power going out of it, bad... So I set my DMM to where it beeps when the prongs are crossed and tested the fuse itself, nothing...

Funny thing is, when I seen the P.O.S AGU Fuse/holder I thought to myself, self, stomp that P.O.S into the ground and go get an decent ANL Fuse/Holder... I remember reading something about the AGU fuses on BCAE a while back... I guess that's what I get for being stupid/lazy... Lesson learned.

It was a 4 gauge kit and 60 amp AGU fuse (came with amp kit.) Amp should of been big enough for the amp, and small enough for the wire (I know, fuse for the wire, not the amp.)

Anyways, hoping to buy an 80 or 100 amp AGU locally tomorrow so I can have music again, then I'll order a stupid ANL fuse/holder in a few days...

END/Rant.

:angry15:

Ryan from Ohio · Post by **Ryan from Ohio** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 5:35 am

So the fuse popped or the fuse holder broke?

I run those fuses folders all the time on 4 Ga without an incident ever.

Bwcad1 · Post by **Bwcad1** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 6:15 am

Ive had tons of problems with agu fuses and holders i absolutely hate them. i had one that would blow fuses but it wouldnt blow them the normal way as in the strip of metal never broke but the internal connections would just melt apart so the fuse looked good but was infact blown.

MobileAudio219 · Post by **MobileAudio219** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:02 am

Bwcad1 wrote:Ive had tons of problems with agu fuses and holders i absolutely hate them. i had one that would blow fuses but it wouldnt blow them the normal way as in the strip of metal never broke but the internal connections would just melt apart so the fuse looked good but was infact blown.

Ding, ding, ding, ding.... It melted at the end caps (internally), you can't tell it's blown just by looking at it. That's where the trusty DMM came in handy.

So the fuse popped or the fuse holder broke?
I run those fuses folders all the time on 4 Ga without an incident ever.

Ryan, the problem with the fuse/holder is heat. The AGU fuses build heat, then the sealed case holds the heat in. That heat melts the connection at the end caps. The problem gets worse when you start getting closer to the fuse rating (and I was fairly close.) An open style case and a good quality fuse will help, but at the end of the day it's still a sh*tty set up.

Ryan from Ohio · Post by **Ryan from Ohio** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:03 am

Well that does suck.

Still never been an issue for me.

MobileAudio219 · Post by **MobileAudio219** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:29 am

Ryan from Ohio wrote:Well that does suck.

Still never been an issue for me.

I think it's more of an issue when you start getting close to approaching the fuse rating. It'd probably be OK with a 80 amp fuse, but nobody local carries them. I'm just going to pick up a new ANL fuse holder as I personally hate the AGU fuses.

I did go pick up a package of BUSS 60 amp AGU fuses for now... Everything is back up and running good..

loudwagon15s · Post by **loudwagon15s** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:13 am

i've had bad experiences with those types of fuses too. One time my neighbor came to me wondering why his amp went into protect at about 1/2 volume. After going over a bunch of ish when i had a voltmeter on it at about 1/2 volume it would drop and send the amp into protect. The fuse was.....partially blown (i guess you could call it) it looked fine and worked, but only if a little bit of current was flowing through it. Put a new fuse in it and it was fine.

MobileAudio219 · Post by **MobileAudio219** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 10:20 am

loudwagon15s wrote:i've had bad experiences with those types of fuses too. One time my neighbor came to me wondering why his amp went into protect at about 1/2 volume. After going over a bunch of ish when i had a voltmeter on it at about 1/2 volume it would drop and send the amp into protect. The fuse was.....partially blown (i guess you could call it) it looked fine and worked, but only if a little bit of current was flowing through it. Put a new fuse in it and it was fine.

Yeah man, I'm not a big fan of them. I would highly recommend people avoiding them...

Bwcad1 · Post by **Bwcad1** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 11:55 am

Low voltage kills amps... and agu fuses can cause that...

MobileAudio219 · Post by **MobileAudio219** » Sun Oct 18, 2009 2:44 pm

Bwcad1 wrote:Low voltage kills amps... and agu fuses can cause that...

They suck!

I think wal-mart sells ANL fuse/holders for like 10 bucks, then another 5 bucks for the right size fuse. The rest of the amp kit was decent (for the price), my real complaint is with the fuse/holder....