Hey waste…
It sounds to me like your only problem is mixing incompatible hardware…anyone can learn to fly without too much damage just by practicing and asking questions when you don’t know something. Your solution to buy cheap escs and adding a fuse are only going to cost you more money and make your quad dangerous to yourself and anyone else you fly near.
First, The cheap ESCs will definitely burn out faster than a new, decent quality BLHeli ESC will. I have flown on 30A SimonK ESCs (sooo very long ago…) and have had them last a good amount of time…so, while they don’t last long, they don’t normally burn-out like that without a mistake or an unlucky crash. Plus, ESCs are designed to be able to regularly deliver a burst of power over the rated current. The better quality the ESC, the more current over it’s rating it can deliver in bursts. Typically, 30a ESC should be able to deliver 35 or 40 amps for 5 to 10 seconds without going up in flames. Using a 30 or 32 amp fuse would mean if you ever go over that amount then you’ll be dropping out of the sky for no reason, potentially damaging other components or even hurting someone nearby
I agree that the prop and motor size most likely drew more current than it could handle…so knowing that, you should be able to stop your ESCs from burning up in the future without a fuse or trying to figure out how to use current limiting resistors (which could have other negative effects like dropping too much voltage for the ESC to function or causing your copter to crash because it can’t get the power needed to complete a maneuver). Essentially, you’re looking to solve a problem by introducing more potential problems.
It is my opinion that as a noob you should be using new and decent quality hardware. Being a noob, flying with decent quality ESCs will give you more air time to improve. Plus, as the electronics improved, the way it feels to fly on one feels so much better. You’ll crash occasionally, but decent quality hardware can take a lot of punishment. Even the chinese knockoff parts are better than cheap old gear…SimonKs are just too outdated now.