Why Does The AIC Rating Matter? by Compass Marine How To

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Why Does The AIC Rating Matter?

Question: Why does the AIC rating matter?

Here is an example of what can happen to a cheap ANL fuse. These are not ignition protection (IP) nor AIC rated fuses. I searched and could not find any sort of data for them other than "Made in China".

The fuses were connected directly to a LiFePO4 lithium battery bank and then the circuit was shorted. The fuse trip was so violent, it literally blew the windows out of the fuses. This is an UNSAFE failure mode for a fuse. It failed for both AIC and ignition protection safety.

Running this same test with Blue Sea Systems ANL fuses I could not get a single fuse to fail in an unsafe manner. The quality and brand of fuse you choose matters. Not all fuses are created equal.

So which fuses are safe for battery bank fusing:

ANL
Class T
MRBF

other sizes: small medium large auto

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Ed		23-Sep-2014 11:05
I had one of these create an intermittent voltage drop to an inverter. I measured 7 volts across one of these while the inverter was trying to come on line, before there was any load. The fuse showed no signs of being blown. I re-seated both ends and that did not address the problem. I removed the fuse and found that it was not ridged in the plain of the connectors. Not having a replacement at hand I soaked it in wd40- wiggled it and reinstalled it and found that it now worked.