psychicwarrior said:

what (if any) advantages are there for positioning overload protection at the end of a cable ?

Usually convenience - a couple of examples...

1. Industrial motorised equipment subject to occasional mechanical overload - it's common to put separate electrical overload protection next to the machine, so the operator can reset it as soon as the mechanical cause has been removed - no need to make the operator go to wherever the DB is (or give them access, where mistakes could take out other machines and affect production).

2. An unfused spur on a domestic ring final circuit - relying on the plug fuse at the far end to prevent overload removes the need to introduce an extra protective device at the start of the spur - which would often somewhere where it would be inconvenient to put (and/or maintain) a protective device .. e.g. a JB under the floor or the back of an existing socket where it wouldn't be aesthetically pleasing to have to stick in another device.

   - Andy.

psychicwarrior said:

what (if any) advantages are there for positioning overload protection at the end of a cable ?

Usually convenience - a couple of examples...

1. Industrial motorised equipment subject to occasional mechanical overload - it's common to put separate electrical overload protection next to the machine, so the operator can reset it as soon as the mechanical cause has been removed - no need to make the operator go to wherever the DB is (or give them access, where mistakes could take out other machines and affect production).

2. An unfused spur on a domestic ring final circuit - relying on the plug fuse at the far end to prevent overload removes the need to introduce an extra protective device at the start of the spur - which would often somewhere where it would be inconvenient to put (and/or maintain) a protective device .. e.g. a JB under the floor or the back of an existing socket where it wouldn't be aesthetically pleasing to have to stick in another device.

   - Andy.