A method for detecting excessive current in a system and interrupting the delivery of further current thereto comprises determining actual system current, obtaining a value of a predetermined system parameter indicative of the time the actual system current can safely exist in the system, creating a dynamic history of the predetermined system parameter by repetitively modifying the predetermined system parameter in accordance with actual system current, and interrupting power to the system if the dynamic history of the predetermined system parameter exceeds a predetermined threshold. The predetermined system parameter may be quadratically extended into an undefined region in order to decrease the response time to an overload or fault condition.