Fusible link cartridges vs fuses

[chimpboy]

Just picking your collective brains... what would you say are the general reasons for choosing a fuse, a fusible link, a circuit breaker, a self-resetting circuit breaker, or any other option for protecting a particular circuit in an automotive setting?

From a pure fire-prevention standpoint, the golden rule I guess is just that your fuse has to have a lower breaking point than the cable it is protecting. Other than that, what factors really matter?

Some types of fuses are faster-acting than others; what sort of circuits would suit a slower-acting fuse/fusible link?

[stuee]

I know in the high performance car stereo world, they choose automotive circuit breakers as they offer a lower power loss than a high current fuse (in the 60A+ range).

Id say a slow blowing fuse would be good for devices that occasionally draw high transient currents, that would not be a risk to causing a fire, but not justify using a large cable size to handle the peak current of those transients.

Then you have others that use circuit breakers as a convenience. ie not having to replace blown fuses etc.

I'm not sure on the self-resetting vs manual circuit breakers. Maybe convenience again??