The fuse is not really needed. Look at the sticker on the compressor in the back and you will see it is rated at 30 LRA which is locked rotor amps. Obviously if the compressor fails to start instantly for any reason that 30 amps is going to blow that 12 amp fuse (which is a fast acting instead of a slo-blo for whatever dumb reason).
The fix is simple, move the black wire that comes from the power cord from the terminal marked L in the lower right corner of the board to the unused terminal marked common on the big relay in the lower left of the board directly above the fuse. This will bypass the fuse and allow the thermal cutout on the compressor itself to do its job when the compressor fails to start due to short cycling.
I just had one of these units given to me because it was DOA and when I found the fuse blown I figured the compressor was shorted but after performing this fix the unit works perfectly and is drawing a normal amount of power according to my Kill-A-Watt meter.
Daniel Armstrong, December 2009