In electronics, what is the difference between a varistor and a resettable fuse?
In: Technology
A varistor *shorts* when it sees over*voltage*. A fuse *opens* when it sees over*current*. A varistor is almost always accompanied by a fuse before it, and is used to forcibly trip the fuse in an overvoltage scenario by causing a short circuit across the power rail and ground. A resettable is a fuse that doesn’t melt, but instead quickly increases in resistance when it sees overcurrent, and will stay high resistance until it is unpowered and allowed to cool down for a few seconds. It lets through a small current even in tripped state, which keeps it heated up and in the high resistance state.
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