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Counterfeits aren’t always this obvious. But they usually have serious consequences.
Counterfeit SIBA fuses appear time and again, especially in Asia. SIBA obviously assumes no warranty for these products.
Brown glazed ceramic case, yellow label, SIBA logo. If you just take a cursory glance at the HV HRC fuse, which claims to be designed for a rated voltage of 7.2 kV and a rated current of 125 A, you might think it was a product made by the Lünen-based manufacturer of premium fuses. It is not, though. This back-up fuse is a counterfeit. No SIBA expert has even seen the product, let alone exhaustively tested it. There is also no way of knowing whether and when the fuse would even turn anything off.
What fake fuses can look like
Only experts can tell that the fuses were not made by SIBA. The craftsmanship is certainly defective – but at first glance, the fuse looks much like a SIBA product.
SIBA therefore expressly warns against using these counterfeit products. First, SIBA obviously extends no warranty for counterfeit fuses. Also, it is not clear whether the fuses meet the technical requirements that the label promises they do. They might not even interrupt any circuits at all.
The latest find is just one in a series of counterfeit products. Fake LV HBC fuses bearing the SIBA label have already appeared in the South African market. Once again, there is no way of knowing whether they work at all.
SIBA urges users to only buy its products from authorized dealers. This is the only way that customers can be sure that they have received a genuine German-engineered SIBA fuse.
For a list of international authorized dealers, click here.
What can happen with fake products
Counterfeit fuses often only look like fuses from the outside. If they contain conventional conductors instead of specially designed fuse elements, they cannot interrupt a circuit in a defined way. Overload currents can then freely flow through components not designed for them.
The counterfeits that were most recently discovered have already caused incidents that resulted in fire damage. That illustrates the danger of using fake products for these applications. Local professionals should always verify that genuine, tested products are being used, especially when dealing with sensitive, safety-relevant components
