Swiss Digital Fuse Box, the fuse reinvented

Steve - We are a litigious nation. Any chance an insurance company doesn’t have to pay a claim, the better for shareholders.

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Hifi cables are probably the most over-specified product in existence. A 2.5mm cable should be fine for just about any hifi system. Here in the UK a 1.25mm mains cable will get to about 80 C before a 13A fuse blows, whereas the insulation must be able to withstand 140 C. So the chance of a cable failing these days is about zero.

When we rebuilt a couple of years ago we removed some wiring from about 110 years ago, thin copper covered in fabric and run through a steel pipe. I presume the steel was the fire retardant.

One of my earliest memories was of flames coming out of the back of a TV - late 1960s?

I am seriously thinking of getting one for my P20. I love the idea of putting a big solid slug of metal in place of the fuse! But which metal? How long before audiophile sluggos appear on the market? Unicorn horn sluggos at $699 each will probably win.

I am a thrill seeker. You, possibly not.

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Yet, if not UL certified and some crazy thing happens, a lawyer will pop up like you said “Beetlejuice” three times and POOF! there goes your claim.

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I’d go for the depleted uranium slug personally as no one is gonna mess with it, and think of the “magik” it brings to the equation.

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I have mine in front of a P10.

Using the copper Sluggo….

TBH, I am afraid to try the brass Sluggo that was also supplied….afraid I might think I hear a difference between the two.

:flushed:

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I think it would sound too hot.

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Considering its depleted I wonder, though it may still have a bit of a bite to it.

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I used to do some litigation with film companies. I remember on a film there was something that over here we would have sorted with a conference call or Zoom (as video-cons are now called). The film company sent 9 lawyers from the USA to London, there ended up 20 of us, I remember walking out and wondering what on earth happened. Is there a principle that the amount achieved is inversely proportional to the number of lawyers involved?

Personally, I’d be in favour of bringing back duels or the ducking stool. No Appeals.

On a more serious note, one of the problems with internet audio is stuff shipped from overseas. There was a case (it went to the Supreme Court) about bike handlebars. The metal certification was different in Japan where they were made than in the UK, they snapped and my guy (who was going down a steep hill) got a severe brain injury and was lucky not to break his neck. I think now the law in the whole of the EU and the UK is generally that the importer has to ensure the product is safe and compliant with any regulations. They are responsible for product liability issues. @o2audio says he is set up for exporting. Does he know the rules around the world? I just make it a firm policy never to buy any mains-powered devices direct from outside the UK or EU.

There is another bit of European law that I know well, the Commercial Agency Regulations. When Paul blew out all his US dealers he just gave them notice and that was that. No recourse. Cannot do that here. Commercial agents (importers, distributors, dealers) have a right to automatic compensation for loss of goodwill. So agents have good motivation to set up proper businesses, do things properly and provide customer service. It was Paul’s UK distributor who got me interested in PS Audio products in the first place, about 10 years ago.

Hey Al…

It would seem that a copper sluggo would have better conductivity, there is either a brass or
bronze alternate sluggo…which to me is not as good as conductor as copper…

Me I am strongly biased toward graphene which is a far better conductor…so for me
just on the science of conductivity alone SR graphene for me…

These articles say it all for me…

Al my friend …some adventures. some thrills …I get the principle of the switchblade fusebox…just not
willing to install in my gear and experiment…on this I am very much wait and see…

For thrill adventure:
Once back 2019 did go for ride in a WWII B17 superfortress…there are not many left flyng, Particularly
after this past Dallas Fort Worth air show when a WWII Bell P-63 Kingcobra rammed the B17 in midair …
cutting it in two all lives lost… if $$$$ were available take a ride in a WWII P51 Mustang…that would be a thrill!!

Best wishes

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Great post David!
Cheers!

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That would be troubling.

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Why conductivity all of a sudden? The stated aim of this product is to reduce the resistance in the fuse bay to zero, and just about any half-decent conductive metal would do it.

A fuse-sized piece of brass has resistance of about 0.00005 ohms, copper about 0.00001 ohms. Basically nothing. There is probably more resistance in the fuse holder material.

Graphene is often used as marketing guano. This is a direct quote from one of the fuse suppliers I’ve been in touch with:

“The Graphene mix indicated is not an internal change it is the application of Graphene strips ( but not in all cases or levels of the products) to the exterior casing as can be seen in the image you have sent ( image on the left).”

And the purpose of sticking strips on the OUTSIDE of a ceramic fuse? You couldn’t make up such rubbish … but people do make it up.

If it is rubbish…why then does it work so well…?

You are one very very noisy dude…,

Best wishes

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That particular fuse is made by Bussmann, also confirmed by email, you can buy them for $0.30. Or with a label and a bit of graphene (so they say) on the side you can pay up to $10,000.

I’ve been doing some research, I find more than one brand operating from the same little office in Hong Kong, other similar operations in the same corridor, setting up shell operations in the USA and Europe, getting absurdly over-the-top reviews from the same person that they plaster everywhere, no patents, no trademarks, clearly false scientific claims, and some of the products are clearly illegal. There’s been a backstory to this product.

This sort of thing is in my zone, I been doing it for decades, it takes minutes in coffee breaks. It just amazes me how people want to believe it and soak it up. I’m not some ASR objectivist, I buy audio mostly by listening, don’t care much for measurements, I even have some of these products, but I smell a very big fat rat.

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Never mind that these do work…yet all you offer
is:

Noise noise noise and yet more noise…the noisy ballet and opera…
Sorry fella…

Best wishes

It’s not even new. Someone flogging slug type things from 2016 and programmable electronic fuses have been around for ages, just not for mains voltage (I wonder why?).

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I’m with Steven on this, not my area of expertise, I’ve said my piece(s) on electronic fuses, but very obviously this (business and liability etc.) is Steven’s area of expertise, and these wire fuses smack of dodgy practice all the way once these practices have been explained.

Either:

  • they are changing the physicality and physics of these fuses and are breaking the law by selling them (which they state they are not), or
  • they are taking one pound devices, putting a different label on them and selling them on.

If they are doing something like irradiating them, or freezing them, then

  • either it does nothing
  • or it changes some physical property of the fuse, so they are changing its properties so breaking the law (in the UK at least).

Can’t be clearer than that.

Whatever their “non contact, non physical-world” process is, it’s either useless, or illegal (and probab;y still useless since it is not allowed to change the physics of the fuses).

The fact that it is an industry run from a shady office using dodgy marketing techniques just elevates it to the height of predatory scam.

Me, I like the image of the “factory” being some bloke (preferably with a roll up hanging from his mouth and Radio 1 on in the background on an old transistor radio) “omming” at the fuses, or perhaps doing Reiki on them, and then putting them on the website for hundreds to thousands of pounds.

That is actually a job I could do :smiley:

I take it all back - these fuses are fab - where can I apply for that job?!

All these words don’t stop anyone from trying these fuses, if you can afford it, I guess, fill yer boots.

If it does something real in your HiFi, then cool, and that won’t be affected by any “negativity” on here, since it’s a real difference, and not just expectation bias. *

* Edit - but do remember safety, insurance, and warranty issues.

It is (and has been) a fascinating deep(er) dive into the world of shady practices associated with this hobby :slight_smile:

Ommmmm (just practicing for my next job)

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Question - are fuses tightly regulated in the US?

Because if not then aftermarket fuses in the US might have actual physical changes to them - I dunno what, maybe gold wire or whatever might work, maybe even actual real graphene strips as the fusable conductor element, although that seems unlikely since a fuse has to have some resistance else it would not heat up and melt and graphene research for conductors seems to be closing in on super-conductors.

Still, interesting thought :slight_smile:

This thread is about the SDFB, not wire fuses.