does fuse rating matter? please respond

[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

i was wondering because my amp has 25 fuses and i was wondering if i had to use the same one if they blow or if i could go bigger with like a 35fuse

thx

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[LuNaTiC 10+ year member]

do not ever go OVER the reccomended amp rating!Ill tell u that right now, but, u can go under it, there just a slight better chance it willl blow.

 

[Matador 10+ year member]

do not ever go OVER the reccomended amp rating!Ill tell u that right now, but, u can go under it, there just a slight better chance it willl blow.

yep, u dont wanna create some fireworks inside ur car, do u?

 

[davidfre21 5,000+ posts]

i suppose i wont then

thx

 

[geolemon 10+ year member]

i suppose i wont then
thx

With the fuses actually in (or at) your amps, they are there to protect the amps componentry. Basically, if more than that much current was allowed to flow through your amp, it wouldn't be the fuse that would blow - it would be actual componentry on the circuit board melting, and that could spell the death of your amp.

Some amps in history (and realistically, very VERY few) were overbuilt, with componentry that was above and beyond what was needed for what the original amp design called for.

In these cases, sometimes competitors found that they could run lower impedance loads on their amps than they were technically rated for, and the amps would actually survive. But it takes current to make power, so they had to increase the fuse size at the amp to support that load also. Also, consider that most of these competitors are only burping tones that last a duration of a few seconds - the amp wouldn't heat up much in that little time at any rate.

For a daily driver, I wouldn't honestly care what amp you had - even if it was one of those known amps - there's many reasons why it's not a good idea. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

On the other hand, the fuse that's up front in your car, that's not there to protect your amps... that's to protect your car, your electrical system. That's to protect against your power wiring coming in contact with the car's chassis - a short circuit scenario, like if you put a screw through the wire, or a seat track wore a hole through the jacket.

If that happened, a monsterous (but unknown) amount of current would instantaniously flow, popping that fuse up front. So going bigger on this fuse is generally not an issue, although the larger you get, the less protection you might have against smaller, "resistive short" scenarios.

Bottom line, keep your amp fuses what they came with, and adjust that fuse up front to the smallest you can get away with without blowing it when you crank your system.