I was staying in a caravan near the snow on the weekend and to keep warm we turned on the electric stove and an electic heater. That worked quite well except every time someone boiled the kettle all the lights would go out (which wasn't much of a suprise). What I was curious about was why it didn't go out as soon as the kettle was started but after a minute or two. Wouldn't the electronic fuses get to a certain amperage and then switch off instantly?
Cheers, Michael
In the context of mains power , preusumably 230 volts in Australia, what is an "electronic fuse"? Did you have to reset it?
Power circuit breakers trip after a time if the load is only an overload not a real short circuit which is the way it should be to allow motors to start without tripping. They have a thermal trip mechanism which takes time to trip on a small overload.
-- John G Wot's Your Real Problem?
we
didn't
Wouldn't
it was overloading it, but only by a little. they trip slower the less overcurrent you are.
-mark
the CB is a thermal type, look up the typical trip times -v- overcurrent curves, the more the over current the faster the trip time.
2x current for 2min trip time sounds about normalmaybe try switching off the heater when boiling the water.
Oh yeah, circuit breaker, that's what I meant :-)
Have you ever stayed in a caravan in the snow? :-) Seriously, this is what we did after it happened the second time. Before the kettle was turned on I did suggest turning off the stove but somehow that didn't happen. At first I wasn't sure if the van was wired in properly or running off an extension cord so thought it might cope.
If these circuit breakers are thermal what trips them, a certain amount of heat?
Michael
Something like that. IIRC: Basically a thermal fuse, once it hits a certain temp it trips. The more overcurrent you are, the faster it gets hotter. If you're only a tiny bit over, it can take half an hour to trip, or seemingly go out of nowhere.
-mark
Domestic breakers are thermal and magnetic. The magnetic system is used for very high currents that would otherwise take too long to trip.
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