why we need fuse in our cabs?

[alundra]

can someone explain this  ? thx

[JCL]

This is a pretty unspecific question, so an unspecific answer is that fuses are a safety device that cuts current off if the powered device pulls too much current.

This could protect an electrical or electronic device from causing a fire if it malfunctions due to overheating or a short in the wiring. Many devices have fuses in them even though you don't know it. I suspect that computer power supplies do, monitors do, etc.

An arcade cabinet is a mess of power sucking devices and potentially a rats nest of wiring. Real arcade cabinets often have a fairly open monitor with line current pretty much exposed. ANd they go into environments where they could suffer a lot of abuse. So for a real arcade cabinet, some extra protection is needed.

For a homebuilt, it depends. If you just have a computer, computer monitor and low voltage wiring (controls) with good ventalation, it is unlikely that you need to be overly concerned. But it wouldn't be a bad extra safety feature. If you have line voltage exposed due to an arcade monitor, bezel lighting, etc, then a fuse becomes more important.

[Tahnok]

Fuses are for safety and equipment protection. NEVER bypass fuses! They should open the circuit if it gets too much power going into it, like a shock or surge. Ideally, they should protect the equipment from burning up and possibly stop it from shocking you (though they are mainly there for the equipment).

[AlanS17]

Even home-built machines have fuses. They just don't realize it becaused they're built into the surge protector / power strip.

[TOK]

To prevent releasing Magic Smoke.  wlcm!

[88mph]

To prevent releasing Magic Smoke.  wlcm!

Wise words my friend!  It's really hard to get the magic black smoke that makes the chips work back into the chips..

It reminds me of when I was teaching an electronics lab.. the students would wire up a circuit wrong, put in an IC, it would burn/explode/smoke, and then, they would put the burned chip back into the bin with the good ones, and fish out another one, and pop it right back into their breadboard!  They were much more willing to assume that the chip was at fault than their wiring I guess..    That's about when I would come over and rip all their wires out and make them start over.. 

-88mph

[DreamArcades]

I've had more than one board saved thanks to a fuse.  They can be a pain to replace, but not nearly as bad as replacing the old PCB.