Fusible link upgrade possible?

67Dart273 said

Most fuse links are rated for more than 30A

Most fuse holders............"aren't."

Those links SHOULD be a "last ditch" deal. In other words, in the vast majority of vehicles, they should never have cause to blow, sometimes in the vehicle's lifetime. I don't think the one in my 67 ever did, EG.

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^^^ Exactly as above. AND these holders tend to corrode easily and you are now increasing your number of contacts and crimps that can corrode and fail.

Another thing to note: fuses and fusible links are both thermal blow devices. Both take an overcurrent for a specific length of time to blow out. Either one can fail to blow in a short amount of time with a mild overload. So, don't think you are buying protection with a fuse versus a fusible link. All you are gettging is ease of replacement and trading off contact reliablity.

Note that mild overloads can be a problem as shorts may not be a dead short, but just a mild short that draws high enough current to melt insulation and start smoking/fire.

The marine cricuit breaker sounds like a good idea but depends on the exact mechanism of the breaker operation. Breakers can be thermal trip types where you have the same possible issue of not tripping with a mild overload. It looks like the marine types are thermal, but the good thing is that they will trip much more readily with mild overloads versus a fuse or fusible link. This also means they may have nusiance trips more easily so need to be uprated a bit. But I would expect the mild overload protection to still be better overall.

Fusible link wire can be bought at NAPA.