Homebrew PCBs

I'm not sure what the big deal is about printed-on fuses. I've done that many times -- in fact just the other day, when I made a bone-headed connection on the 170V PWM motor control board I was working on, several traces turned into instant fuses!

I'm embarrassed to confess that I forgot that the "ground" on the board was NOT at the level of ground in the wall when I attached the ground lead from the o-scope. Fortunately the board "fused" rather than the o-scope. It destroyed two IC's on the board in the process, but that was a small price to pay compared to fixing or replacing the scope!

And yes ... the board went in the trash and I started over -- much more carefully this time! And yes, the new board works perfectly.

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Stefan Trethan <stefan_trethan@...> wrote:

> You appear to be under the impression that fuses should be replaceable?
> 
> Usually this is not the case, fuses are there to prevent fire and/or
> other danger if something goes wrong.
> Changing the fuse will not solve the problem, since it blew for a reason.
> You are supposed to throw the thing out once it is broken, not repair it. ;-)
> 
> The only situation where a replaceable fuse makes some sense is if you
> have like an outlet or something to which the user can connect stuff.
> But more and more the trend goes towards not providing a user
> replaceable fuse because people can't be trusted to replace with the
> same rating, no matter how many warnings you print on.
> 
> ST
> 
> 
> On Tue, Mar 9, 2010 at 9:57 PM, David Griffith <dgriffi@...> wrote:
> 
> > I'm curious why someone would want to use such a fuse in the first place.
> > How do you replace it?  Are there pads for adding a fuse holder after the
> > PCB fuse blows?
> >
> > --
> > David Griffith
> > dgriffi@...
> >
>