What parameters differ between surface mount and through hole fuse selections?

Power Circuit Protection
, ,
1

Question: What are the primary parametric differences between surface-mount (SMT) and through-hole fuses?
Answer: The main difference is usually the magnitude of the fuse’s rated voltage and current. Generally however, through-hole fuses can handle higher voltage and current, while surface-mount fuses are for lower voltage and current applications, but this is not absolute. Currently, our surface-mount fuses can also reach a current of 200A. Physical size is also often a key difference, with SMT fuses generally - though again, not always - being smaller than through-hole fuses.

  1. First, it should be emphasized that the main parameters to consider when selecting fuses are the magnitude of the voltage and current. At DigiKey, it is easy to select fuses according to the required voltage and current parameters.

DigiKey parametric filters for fuses
DigiKey parametric filters for fuses723×456 68.5 KB

  1. For through hole fuses, under normal circumstances, they can withstand higher voltage and current. This means that in circuit protection scenarios that require high voltage and large current, through-hole fuses may be more suitable.

  2. Surface mount fuses are usually used in situations with lower voltage and current. However, it’s noted that this is not an absolute rule. For example, Littelfuse’s surface mount fuses can currently reach a current of 200A, indicating that some surface mount fuses can also be used in high current applications.

More Littelfuse circuit protection products

Littelfuse Circuit Protection products provide stable and reliable signal transmission guarantee for all kinds of precision electronic devices by virtue of their precise adjustment relationship with capacitance, dynamic resistance, etc. in terms of high-frequency characteristics, and their performance is excellent in the industry.

More Q&A on Littelfuse Circuit Protection Products Technology:

I. Questions Related to Component Characteristics

  1. What are the classifications of gas discharge tubes?

  2. Littelfuse new MOV+Sidactor thyristor vehicle charging solution technological innovations

  3. In Littelfuse circuit protection products, what kind of current is I in I²t?

  4. What are the differences between discharge tubes and metal oxide varistors?

II. Questions Related to Selection

  1. How to select metal oxide varistors for overvoltage protection?

  2. Do Littelfuse overcurrent protection fuses/circuit breakers have self-resetting function?

  3. The difference in the selection of overvoltage / overcurrent between AC and DC input terminals?

  4. When to Use PTC Resettable Fuses and Metal Fuses?

  5. What parameters differ between surface mount and through hole fuse selections?

  6. Under what general circumstances can AC components be directly used in DC circuits?

  7. Can the method of paralleling small-capacity fuses be used to achieve the purpose of fast fusing?

III. Questions Related to Applications

  1. What design requirements for overcurrent and overvoltage protection?

  2. In which fields are gas discharge tubes mainly applied? Do they have directionality?

  3. Are overcurrent and overvoltage protection for AC/DC power inputs used in charging piles?

  4. Can Littelfuse Circuit Protection Products Protect Against Overvoltage and Overcurrent?

  5. How to understand the fuse explosion-proof test?

  6. How to specifically know the time of time-delay fusing fuses?