It depends on where the fault is. Starting at the input power from the cord, the first component on the circuit board is going to be a factory installed fuse. It’s probably the same on circuit boards made for UK and EU devices because it makes good engineering sense to do it that way, even if the plug is equipped with a fuse. So if the fault is somewhere on the board, it blows the appliance fuse. If it’s somewhere before the appliance fuse, it blows either the plug fuse (if equipped), or the breaker.
oh, very interesting – for the clock radio example, wouldn’t the radio fry the circuit board before it tripped the breaker?
It depends on where the fault is. Starting at the input power from the cord, the first component on the circuit board is going to be a factory installed fuse. It’s probably the same on circuit boards made for UK and EU devices because it makes good engineering sense to do it that way, even if the plug is equipped with a fuse. So if the fault is somewhere on the board, it blows the appliance fuse. If it’s somewhere before the appliance fuse, it blows either the plug fuse (if equipped), or the breaker.
true!
Depends on where the short was. If it was a frayed lead in the PSU contacting the neutral, that short might not even hit the board.