Showing my dumbness: how critical are voltage ratings on fuses?
Not very. You can always use a fuse with a higher voltage rating than
specified.
Since the fuse has close to no voltage drop across it,
it seems as if
the voltage is really none of its business until it blows, and even then
it just needs to have enough dielectric strength to be sure it really
won't conduct, and I would think any glass tube would be OK up to many
hundreds of volts ... Unless what we're really talking about is the film
of former fuse filament (the F.F.F.F.) that flashed onto the inside of
the tube when the fuse blew. Which seems very fancy.
Baically yes. There's also the point that an arc may form betwene the
ends of the fuse whire when it blows, and you don't want that arc to
carry on arcing. The olvate rating is the maximum votlage it will
certainly safely break.
Other than special types, such as those 2-blade fuses used in modern-ish
cars, almost all fuses I see over hrre are good to 250V. They can be used
on mains, on 120V circuits, on lower votlage stuff, etc. It is _very_
uncommon to spedify the votlage rating when buyign a fuse, unless it's
some soem special purpose, such as a partucualrly high voltage unit.
In any case am I wrong in thinking a fuse can be used at *far* lower
than its rated voltage w/o ill effects? 25V seems like an oddball rating
Sure.
which would be dumb to pay extra for when a 125V or
250V fuse would work.
I wonder if 25V is a tpyo or truncation for 250V, which is a very common
voltage rating for fuses.
-tony