At 10:26 AM 7/1/2015, Steven Shelton wrote:
>I test my electrical work and 12V devices using a jump starter battery and
>a cigarette lighter plug with two alligator clips attached.  The plug has a
>Buss 10 amp fuse in it.  My limited electrical knowledge results in a lot
>of blown fuses.  Is there a 10 amp breaker that I could wire into the
>tester so I won't have to keep buying boxes of Buss fuses?

I hate being Debbie Downer, but possibly you should read up on
electricity a little?  From your description I can't really tell what
you're doing, but fuses are normally sized to prevent overheating and
possible fires in wiring.  Ten amps is normally considered about the
limit that a lighter plug/socket can handle safely and in my
experience it's marginal for that, plugs tend to melt.  It's a
terrible connector for any power use anyway, it was built very
cleverly to supply cigarette lighters and automatically release them
when they get hot enough.  The latch/release mechanism isn't even
touched by a power plug, which makes contact on the rivet holding the
latching contact onto the rest of the assembly.

Fuses are designed to blow maybe in an hour or two with a 30%
overload and in a few milliseconds with a short circuit.  If you plug
in and the fuse instantly blows with a pop, that just saved you from
some melted wires.

You can get self-resetting breakers that are used on things like
power window circuits in case someone holds the switch too long, but
that can present a safety risk.  Button-reset breakers are also
available.  With any breaker read the specs carefully.  Many small
breakers have a rated life of fifty operations, for example.

Yours,
David