• Post Reply Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic
permaculture forums growies critters building homesteading energy monies kitchen purity ungarbage community wilderness fiber arts art permaculture artisans regional education skip experiences global resources cider press projects digital market permies.com pie forums private forums all forums
this forum made possible by our volunteer staff, including ...
master stewards:
  • Nancy Reading
  • Carla Burke
  • r ranson
  • John F Dean
  • paul wheaton
  • Pearl Sutton
stewards:
  • Jay Angler
  • Liv Smith
  • Leigh Tate
master gardeners:
  • Christopher Weeks
  • Timothy Norton
gardeners:
  • thomas rubino
  • Jeremy VanGelder
  • Maieshe Ljin

Nostalgia… of a technical sort

 
pollinator
Posts: 675
Location: Western Canadian mtn valley, zone 6b, 750mm (30") precip
105
trees composting toilet building solar wood heat ungarbage
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
While tidying a closet... We just ran across these today in a box of miscellaneous patch cords, electrical stuff and varied fittings. The old type of automobile fuses that were common to just about every make & model.

These must’ve been replacement fuses for the vehicles we moved onto this property with — a Volvo station wagon, and a Datsun pickup. The cars were used (and therefore, “old”) when we’d bought them, well before driving them here. And wherever they are now, if they haven’t been hauled to some wrecking yard & crushed, they’d definitely be called “vintage”.


One little box is printed with the trademark of GEC Canada, and in very fine print says both “Fuses” and “Fusibles”, because Canada is officially a bi-lingual country. The other box simply has the trade name Littlefuse. “Littelfuse” is about as off as an ‘off brand’ could be… hmm, made by what company? Generic product, I suppose they were as good as any brand.

Anybody remember these fuses?
Fuse-Boxes.JPG
[Thumbnail for Fuse-Boxes.JPG]
Auto-Fuses.JPG
[Thumbnail for Auto-Fuses.JPG]
 
steward & author
Posts: 38404
Location: Left Coast Canada
13657
8
books chicken cooking fiber arts sheep writing
  • Likes 8
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
hehe, our vehicles still take those.  
didn't know they were out of fashion already.  
 
Joel Bercardin
pollinator
Posts: 675
Location: Western Canadian mtn valley, zone 6b, 750mm (30") precip
105
trees composting toilet building solar wood heat ungarbage
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
So after we sold first the Volvo, then later sold the Datsun P.U., we started buying second-hand Toyotas (4-wheel drive). And since they were well designed & engineered, durable and good on snowy roads, whenever we've replaced we've bought another Toyota. I'm fuzzy on when Toyota started using a differently designed fuse but it's definitely been well over a decade ago — maybe 20 years?

Are some makes still using the fuse of the type in the pics I uploaded?
 
pollinator
Posts: 2142
Location: Big Island, Hawaii (2300' elevation, 60" avg. annual rainfall, temp range 55-80 degrees F)
1064
forest garden rabbit tiny house books solar woodworking
  • Likes 5
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Remember them? I didn’t know that my car still didn’t have them! Oh gee….. I feel soooo old !
 
steward
Posts: 16058
Location: USDA Zone 8a
4272
dog hunting food preservation cooking bee greening the desert
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Your post reminds me of when I asked this question:

Anne said, " My first thought was to remove the fuse though dear hubby said he didn't even know where they were.  Do modern vehicles even have fuses?



https://permies.com/t/192344/ungarbage/Ford-stuck-Interior-lights

Funny thing is that my new to me 2015 Subara is now having the same problem.

Makes me wonder if someone isn't turning those overhead lights on in the middle of the night?  Out here in the boondocks?
 
gardener & hugelmaster
Posts: 3694
Location: Gulf of Mexico cajun zone 8
1970
cattle hugelkultur cat dog trees hunting chicken bee woodworking homestead ungarbage
  • Likes 4
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
Littlefuse is/was a very common brand in the US. Not sure who they are made by.
 
gardener
Posts: 520
Location: Rocky Mountains, USA
307
homeschooling forest garden building writing woodworking homestead
  • Likes 7
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
May be worth keeping around.  Most cigarette lighter power adapters still use them.

A lot of people don't know this because it's kind of hidden... If your lighter->USB or lighter->AC inverter, etc, stops working, you can usually unscrew the metal tip of the lighter plug and out falls one of these fuses!  
 
Joel Bercardin
pollinator
Posts: 675
Location: Western Canadian mtn valley, zone 6b, 750mm (30") precip
105
trees composting toilet building solar wood heat ungarbage
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

K Eilander wrote:May be worth keeping around.  Most cigarette lighter power adapters still use them.


Interesting. Adapters, not the cigarette lighters themselves, eh? But I wonder if any cars sold in North America (and built in, say, the last decade) were still using the older fuses in major functional circuitry? My 17-year-old Toyota 4W pickup, sold originally through a Canadian dealership, uses a different fuse.
 
Mike Barkley
gardener & hugelmaster
Posts: 3694
Location: Gulf of Mexico cajun zone 8
1970
cattle hugelkultur cat dog trees hunting chicken bee woodworking homestead ungarbage
  • Likes 3
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
A lot of machinery still uses that style of glass fuse. Don't know of any recent cars that do but some might.
 
K Eilander
gardener
Posts: 520
Location: Rocky Mountains, USA
307
homeschooling forest garden building writing woodworking homestead
  • Likes 6
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator

K Eilander wrote:May be worth keeping around.  Most cigarette lighter power adapters still use them.

A lot of people don't know this because it's kind of hidden... If your lighter->USB or lighter->AC inverter, etc, stops working, you can usually unscrew the metal tip of the lighter plug and out falls one of these fuses!  


Since I had a camera handy I decided to upload a couple of examples.  The plug for the inverter kinda/sorta looks like it might unscrew, but the tiny white USB adapter does so as well, even though it's completely smooth.
WIN_20230309_07_29_16_Pro.jpg
[Thumbnail for WIN_20230309_07_29_16_Pro.jpg]
WIN_20230309_07_31_22_Pro.jpg
[Thumbnail for WIN_20230309_07_31_22_Pro.jpg]
 
Posts: 155
Location: Sequim, WA Zone 8b 16” annual rainfall
12
homeschooling forest garden building composting homestead ungarbage
  • Mark post as helpful
  • send pies
    Number of slices to send:
    Optional 'thank-you' note:
  • Quote
  • Report post to moderator
My ol man was hunting with my uncle and they were on their way home to camp, it had just got dark and the fuse blew. Hell’n gone from camp they used what they had to get the headlights going.
A .22LR casing from the floor. This fixed the headlights and they were able to get back to hunting camp.

I’d advise never to try this with a live round. This is much like pissing in the radiator (only to be used in absolute emergency cases) but to be kept in mind if you have those fuses.
 
Happily living in the valley of the dried frogs with a few tiny ads.
Freaky Cheap Heat - 2 hour movie - HD streaming
https://permies.com/wiki/238453/Freaky-Cheap-Heat-hour-movie
reply
    Bookmark Topic Watch Topic
  • New Topic