I would agree. 12 volts can start fires quite easily if the amperage is high enough (try shorting a car battery with a coat hanger. Wait, don't). Given that some of us are using 1,000+ watt supplies they can feed plenty of current into a dead short, enough to start fires and fun stuff.

Speaking of which, something I noticed in the BFL Jalapeno community: The crap power supplies they send with these things typically put out 12 volts at 7 amps. Nice, and when there is a short on the board the supply crowbars because the components can take 12 volts at 10 amps.

However when someone wires into a big-assed 600 watt power supply, a short will produce 600/12=50 amps of current into the short. Exceeding the capacity of the components, leading to small explosions as the FETs blow up.

This is why I recommend putting a fuse in line with any component rated to the max current the component can take. Yes it costs a buck for a fuse holder and a nickel for the fuse, but it could save your gear. Note: Although this is not really a problem for 12 volt systems plugging into walls, if you are hooking up to a big battery array make sure your fuse can clear the maximum Amp capacity of your pack (Amp-Interrupt-Rating)

Learned this lesson working on electric car controllers, where a 2 amp rated circuit would be exposed to 10,000 amps of current from a battery pack. Hilarity ensues when you have a plasma ball on your bench....

C