dennis wrote:Maybe someone can help me here. The following ad is for a fuse holder with #16AWG wiring, and a 30 amp fuse. According to charts I have seen, 30A fuses should be used with #10 wire. How can a 30amp fuse be safely used with #16?
Well it all comes down to voltage and wire resistance. Low voltage wiring can be smaller as there is less heating wattage wise due to less voltage drop across the wire. But at 120v instead 32v there is 3.75 times the heating at the same wire resistance; hence, you need a larger size for 120V. Wire resistance is also the reason you must use larger than 10 AWG on long runs like between my service and the shop that uses 140 foot 50 amp 240 vac feeder. I needed 4 AWG to reduce the overall voltage drop plus when using aluminum you always go one size larger too.