Figuring the amps on a fuse I need...

[kdryan]

Hi all,

I am desperately looking for some help here and hoped someone might be able to clue me in on this.

I recently purchased a photo copy stand that has four high powered lights on it. These are the lights, here. There are two lights on each side of the table that run down to plugs for each. Those plugs run to a junction with a switch and a fuse for each side and from the junction, a single cord runs out to the wall. I am trying to figure out what amp the fuse would be. The fuse that was in it says 'Buss MDL 6' on one end and '120V SD' on the other, but there are plenty of 120V fuses out there in different amperage.

Included are pictures of the lamp and the fuse...

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Edit: I should have mentioned my knowledge of anything electrical falls somewhere between burnt toast and none at all...

 

[(*steve*)]

6A slow blow fuse? (actually it doesn't look like a full-on slow blow fuse -- MDL might mean medium delay?)

Woo Hoo! Stick "Buss MDL 6" into Google and guess what you get?

this: www.galco.com/buy/Bussmann/MDL-6

6A slow blow (T) fuse. Look for a 6A fuse designated as "T". The size is what appears to be commonly referred to as 3AG (and that's pretty common)

 

[shumifan50]

The specs for the light says 6.25A max, so if you have 2 per fuse on at the same time, then you need at least a 12.5A fuse, probably 15A will be good. That seems pretty high, but I am in the UK where we use 220V so typically less amps for the same application.
If your link is the correct lamp it might explain why the fuse blew.

 

[gorgon]

It all depends on what to protect. If the lamp is fused with 6A you should use 4 fuses, one for each lamp,
If you combine 2 lamps on a bigger fuse like 12A, If only one lamp is working on this circuit it is not properly protected and could catch fire. For a normal fuse to break you will need twice the rated current for some time. There is a huge difference between 12A and 24A in heating of the cables. This also depends on the lenght of the cables. If the cables are long enough it is possible it will not break the fuse at all, for a higher rated fuse. Only catch fire in the worst case.

A rule of thumb is always to protect the weakest part(link) in the chain.