MRBF Fuse brands (Canada edition)

[undercrust]

Looking for the collective wisdom of the forum here.

I ordered both the Blue Sea MRBF fuse and block, as well as the South Bend MRBF fuse and block, since everyone seems to know Blue Sea's reputation, but I couldn't find an opinion on South Bend.

From what I could find online, I believe South Bend is an affiliated brand in the Princess Auto realm, since there was one source that put it as a sister company to GRiP. Their webpage is basically non-existent.

Looking at the fuse blocks, there is no noticeable difference; they are for all intents and purposes identical.

Looking at the fuses, it appears there are some very modest design differences, and the Blue Sea is very cleanly built, but in terms of operation, they appear very similarly built, and my untrained eye would say they would likely perform similarly?

Any professionals in our midst that could opine? @John Frum ?

 

[John Frum]

Just by looking at them I'm pretty confident the SBC parts didn't come off the same assembly line as the genuine article.
I notice the mating surface on the SBC fuse carrier is slightly uneven.
It should be flat.

Personally I would not trust these.
Especially with the overall bad reputation of knock-off fuses and breakers.

Why does the thread title say Canada edition?
What evidence do you have the ties this South Bend to Princess Auto?
BTW I'm holding on to my amateur status.

 

[undercrust]

Oh, the South Bend Components webpage is complete dogshit, but the "Portfolio" page references the GRiP brand. https://www.southbendcomponents.com/

"Canada edition" was just because while Blue Sea seems to be universally available, I've only seen South Bend Components referenced as something readily available on amazon.ca as an alternative.

Totally agree the differences in the fuse itself are quite evident, but does the Blue Sea straight-and-even fuse metal design really do anything much different from the SBC tapered fuse metal design?

 

[John Frum]

Oh, the South Bend Components webpage is complete dogshit, but the "Portfolio" page references the GRiP brand. https://www.southbendcomponents.com/

"Canada edition" was just because while Blue Sea seems to be universally available, I've only seen South Bend Components referenced as something readily available on amazon.ca as an alternative.

Totally agree the differences in the fuse itself are quite evident, but does the Blue Sea straight-and-even fuse metal design really do anything much different from the SBC tapered fuse metal design?

The mating surfaces need to be flat or they are likely to make a bad joint.
bad joints mean efficiency lost to heat.
If its really bad, things melt or catch fire.
At ~120 amps service current the joints have to be very clean and very flat.
I've seen things melt because of an eyelash.

 

[John Frum]

I only trust name brand fuses and breakers.
For DC fuses that is Littelfuse and Eaton/Bussman.

 

[Steve_S]

Blue Sea uses Eaton/Bussman products for a lot of their products.
I have been using BlueSea components for years and never had any issues with any of it. All of their components are top quality and suit the purposes they are being marketed for. It is however very important that the specs are correct for your installation.
When it comes to Breakers & Fuses, there is no good reason to compromise unless you want a fire.

 

[Levo]

Undercrust, I also found the Blue Sea less available in Canada and therefore costly when adding US shipping. I bought this MRBF on Amazon.ca:
https://www.amazon.ca/Blue-Sea-Syst...01E4F3J4&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_ec_i

Rather than use a manufactured mount I used a piece of solid copper which I sanded and polished perfectly flat. The picture shows a Bussman Z-case fuse, but the Blue Sea MRBF is now installed with the insulated bolt assembly. I was able to drill the 2 different size mounting holes exactly as required by the battery terminal and the fuse. I carry the Z-case as a spare.