I bought a brand new Eden bass mini stack about 2 weeks ago. I absolutely love it but for some reason I have now blown 2 fuses in the power cord (fuse in amp is fine) and don't know why? I am using the amp at a low volume and it only blows while turning the amp off/on and is fine while running. It states in the manual to use a 250v 3.15A slow blow fuse for the amp head which I can confirm is the one being used. Now the fuse in the power cord plug (which was supplied with the amp head) has a standard 3A fuse in it. Am I right in thinking this is the cause of the problem? I would have thought the fuse in the power cord should have been the same and because it is NOT a slow blow fuse this is why it happens? I spoke to a maintenance man I used to work with that said I should use a standard 5A fuse in the plug instead and not to use a slow blow fuse in the power cord plug as I risk serious damage. He openly says that he isn't 100% sure on this as he is from a mechanical background and not electrical. He said he will ask the electrical maintenace guy on Monday at work but until then just wanted to see if anyone else has experienced the same?

The fact that you have a 3A fuse that blows while your system can easily go for 3.15A isn't really abnormal (and slow blow can actually take more than the number indicated for a small amount of time so the 3A will naturally be the one taking all the damage.

 

Amp can have peak in current when turned on or off depanding on the system behind the amplification so yeah using a 5A on the power chord will avoid the fuse to blow (and the amp fuse will probably blow first if it will but that's something that shouldn't happen).

Thanks for your input. I had assumed that there must have been a peak current while turning on/off hence why it has a slow blow fuse to allow for this. Bearing this in mind I then come to the conclusion that the peak current is too much for the regular 3A fuse in the power cord plug. Reading the manual I have found that the system will pull 10A at peak so this explains the plug fuse blowing all the time although the 10A figure is based on US 110v so because the UK uses 240v the peak Amps would be alot less. I guess what i'm asking is would it be better off putting the 5 A fuse in the plug to avoid it blowing due to the peak amps during the on/off periods?

well, if you don't want to change the fuse everytime your turn it on/off you'll be better changing it to a 5A (the 10A recommandation on US voltage is equivalent to a 5A on UK/EU voltage since double voltage mean half current for the same power).

That's what I thought. But I guess for all the questions is that I obviously don't want to do anything that would risk damaging my amp. I know i'm not an isolated case as I read feed's last night with people having the same problem and that power cords have not been supplied with the correct fuse in the UK. Not sure if power cords are fused in the US or just the appliance but it does seem to be a common problem. Last question is, should I use the 5A fuse in the plug or get another 3A slow blow fuse?

Your amp won't blow or sustain damage unless the fuse in the amp is badly choosen but that is unlikely (i hope).

 

I know that in France we don't have fuses in power chord and probably many other country doesn't so that could explain why they don't bother much with those fuse.

 

You could choose the exact same fuse or a 5A, both should do the work correctly and it's the fuse in the amp that is doing the protection job.

I contacted Eden today and they confirmed that the 3A fuse is not sufficient. They have said to use a 10A or 13A fuse because they are saying that it is the fuse in the Amp that is providing the protection, just as you are saying. I only have 13A fuses just now but I will buy some 10A fuses as I would prefer to use the lower rated one to edge on the side of caution. The US don't have fused cords the same as France hence what you are saying that in this case the plug fuse is really not important because it is the amp fuse providing the protection.

I have actually just put in a 5A fuse just now because if it draws 10A at 120V then it should only be 5A at 240V so in theory their shouldn't be any need to go higher. I will see how it goes, if it blows, it blows and I will just put in a 7A or 10A. For the sake of safety I don't see the point in going higher that is needed.