They did heat up rather quickly, but as long as the driver had the sense to unplug it fairly promptly no damage was done.
The only problem you did see occasionally was a controller wrongly wired up. Thinking back to the days when most clubs ran a car battery capable of supplying 100 amps + and no over current protection at all, frying cars or things weld themselves to the track rails didn't happen. While a fuse is a wise precaution when the current required is well below the power supply rating, racers used to get away without. With analogue there is only one car per lane, so lower value fuses are used in the supply to each lane. With digital all the cars are in effect sharing the same lane, so the fuse has to be rated to supply all of them. A 15 amp fuse on a 15 amp power supply won't do anything much, the power supply often shuts down faster than the fuse can blow. If you really only need 15 amps, but it's cheaper to get a 25 or 30 amp supply that is no problem - simply buy the cheaper unit and put a fuse in the supply.Ī 15 amp fuse would be fine in that example, you might find an even lower rating would do.Īny decent quality modern switching power supply will turn itself off almost instantly when a short circuit is applied.
You need a power supply to give enough current for all your needs.