Anyone replaced Fuse with Circuit Breaker?

someone else with the same question......and some test equipment.

http://www.campbells.org/Airplanes/airplaneCircuitBreakersVsFuses.html

interesting conclusions.

Ryanvt,
Out of curiosity, why do you want to make a change?

I was considering replacing stock fuses with after market fuses and I heard mention of circuit breakers. Further investigation showed little data on the subject, but it is early in my search for information.

TRL gears use breakers instead of fuses. I don't remember the type so contact Paul for more info.

The test that was provided by Magfan was for an aircraft. He said the company was saving money. I don't know anything about that guys light aircraft. I think Cessna used breakers the same year his plane was built.

It can get busy in a plane. So if a fuse blows, you need to locate the proper one, make sure you have the proper fuse in hand, and replace it. If your flying a little single engine like this guy was, you may be alone, and doing this in bad weather, in a busy pattern, plus an endless list would be plenty of reasons to want breakers in an aircraft.

Just for what it's worth, breakers go bad too. I remember a few years back, I was with a friend who was flying me to a non-controlled airport that was doing maintained work. They had no runway lights due to the maintenance. When he turned his landing lights on, nothing. We had to turn around and go home. The breaker failed in it.

Also, last year I had to replace the breaker for our home HVAC, as it was humming loud (a sign of overload, or tired), and tripping off at times. The replacement does have a slight hum, just like the original did since it was new. This is common for breakers. If anyone was in a breaker room for a large building, they no how noisy that can get, even causing the need for talking loud in some of them.

So how much noise do these add to the line? I wonder if anyone measured it?

His test (aircraft guy) wasn't conclusive for the fuse test, due to 100ms limitations on the test equipment.

How often does the fuses in your amp fail? I can't remember the last time I've needed to changed one.

With everything said, I have no desire to risk changing over to breakers. I don't see any info that says a breaker can react to the fast speed, that can save something from short peaks that can occur in our equipment, that a fuse that we forget is there, can also save a costly repair. No tests for added noise, that may result from a breakers pressure contact. Too many unknown risks, and possible added noise. If your blowing fuses on a regular basis, get it fixed. So, I'll pass. Why add a problem is what I think.