Us and Them: Thermal Protection versus Fuses

Look at the majority of Chinese-made voltage transformers on the market and you’ll notice they have fuses on the front panels of their familiar black boxes. ACUPWR transformers don’t. This isn’t earth-shattering news but we’re pointing it out as an opportunity to mention a key safety advantage about our transformers compared to theirs.

Fuses are circuit breakers. They’re most recognizable as inch-long glass cartridges with a tiny wire or strip of metal inside, or in years past they screwed into circuit breakers like lightbulbs. When an appliance is equipped with a fuse, the fuse protects the appliance from potential damage as a result of over-voltage from the wall AC. The tiny wire inside the fuse is “zapped” and melts, thereby breaking the circuit and saving the appliance from a imminent death.

With voltage transformers used for converting the AC voltage between countries, a circuit breaker of some type is a necessity as they’ll protect from overload caused by exceeding the wattage limit of the transformer. Most manufacturers use fuses to accomplish this task. ACUPWR, however, uses internal thermal protection—a far safer and more effective route. Our proprietary CTOC circuit measures the temperature of the transformer’s coil, or windings. When the circuit senses overheating due to an overload—100 degrees Celsius, or 212 Farenheit—the transformer shuts off on its own. It returns to power when the unit cools down.

ACUPWR’s transformers also benefit from superb built quality, bench testing beyond the stated wattage, and premier components such as silicon steel and copper coil. Our competition typically relies on inexpensive aluminum for the coil that, and aluminum is notorious for catching on fire easily. It’s among the reasons that Chinese models are cheaper and known to “blow up” randomly—even when the load is well under the wattage limit.

Use ACUPWR voltage transformers and converters, protect the environment, and you won’t leave behind a long trail of fuses.