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Forum Index : Solar : DC Breaker direction.
| Author | Message | ||||
| Phil23 Guru  Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664 |
Someone mentioned to me that DC breakers have a line & load side so that any arcing is extinguished correctly. Have a couple of these, but at 10A I feel they may be a bit light. Can anyone shed light on which is load & supply side. DC Breaker.  Thanks Phil. |
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| Solar Mike Guru Joined: 08/02/2015 Location: New ZealandPosts: 1138 |
Hi Phil, read this and you will have it sussed. DC Breaker Wiring Cheers Mike |
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yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
They have made it easy. the big arrows on the side shows the direction of flow. so if you wire it PV on the top as they direct it is PV +ve to pin 1. if you cant do that then follow mikes directions to make it work correctly. I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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renewableMark Guru Joined: 09/12/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1678 |
If you go to Ali exp site and read the description it also tells you to feed from the top. The problem I see is there is no standard way they are manufactured. Yahoo2, would you put both polarities through the breaker or just positive? Also if using just one side does that mean it is(in this case) 10A per side, or 10A total for the breaker? Which leads to another question, IF just connecting positive, could you then use both sides to make a 20A breaker for the pos line? Cheers Caveman Mark Off grid eastern Melb |
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| Solar Mike Guru Joined: 08/02/2015 Location: New ZealandPosts: 1138 |
No you cannot parallel the internal connections as the magnetic's inside will be compromised, so you cannot make it a 20a breaker, it is 10a two conductor, if you require single conductor breakers then they also sell them also in various current ranges. cheers Mike |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664 |
The fact that they contain magnets never entered my mind. Makes perfect sense though; I've sworn many times at the magnetic clamps when using them to hold stuff for welding. Phil. |
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| George65 Guru Joined: 18/09/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 308 |
Breaker Switch direction I find wrong. To me, Up is off and down is on, the opposite of what most seem to be including the one pictured above. Just wired up a solar array for my father this morning. Showing him how it worked, he found the switches backwards and confusing as well which is not a good thing. I turned them upside down so they made sense to him. Seems Illogical to have breakers the opposite way to what light switches that people use every day are set up. |
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| Solar Mike Guru Joined: 08/02/2015 Location: New ZealandPosts: 1138 |
Its a safety operational issue, easier to switch them off in an emergency by flicking them down; to set by pushing up takes a conscious decision to turn them on, ie you are least likely to accidentally turn them on if they have to be pushed upwards. All switchboard breakers work this way. |
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| yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166 |
i cant get used to some of the colour choices, red for on and green for off goes against my industrial switching muscle memory. and roman numerals on break before make transfer switches  sucksI'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not... |
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| George65 Guru Joined: 18/09/2017 Location: AustraliaPosts: 308 |
Yep! That's another thing I noticed as well! Goes against what we are ingrained with from childhood. Green for go, red for stop. Any 3 Yo knows that. |
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| Solar Mike Guru Joined: 08/02/2015 Location: New ZealandPosts: 1138 |
Think of this from the perspective of a drone sitting behind a desk making up rules and regs, Red = danger, ergo the circuit has power on it so maybe dangerous. Meanwhile the practical real world moves on with stuff that makes sense sometimes... |
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Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
In most cases, once they are turned on they stay that way just like the breakers in your switchboard. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
Like everything else, the yanks do it backwards I found... They drive on the wrong side of the road, and their light switches are back to front (well upside down) as well Here, NZ, UK, Europe, all up is off, down is on- but go to the USA, and guess what... up is on..... |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
We used to have some old French made industrial gear in the railways, and they had something like that... But to make matters worse, they werent all wired the same!! They all had red, white and black... Some were wired (from the factory this is mind you) white was A, black was N and red was earth Others were red was A, black was N and white was E It seemed to be age related, the older stuff was red earth, newer (although still quite elderly!) was white earth.... They all had the old ozzie red/black/green cords fitted to them, and all had paint dots or hand written notes inside the cord connection point from the original installer, which was good, because if you had no cord attached, there was no easy way of using the machines wiring to determine what was what by the colours brought out to the junction box |
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| Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
SE Asia is the other way up from us also that is if they even bother with a switch. From what I have seen you need a switch there for a light so you have some way to turn it off, power points don't need a switch as you just pull the plug. But lots of stuff there is really bad like roll up extension cords with 3 outlets and the wire is what we would use for cheap speaker in a car. Then there is the electric shower heaters, I heard of one hotel where 2 different groups of guests in a hotel room had complained of shocks, the third time was fatal. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 814 |
My mum and sister went overseas and stayed in Cambodia for a week, sis sent me these photos of the wiring in the street....   O....K..... Anyone up for a bit of troubleshooting on THAT ratsnest??? (Sorry you'll have to lay down sideways to view them) |
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| Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
Are they are Asian photos. (some will get the joke) Seems to standard be practice over there to do that, I think most of them would be phone lines. I have seen a guy climb a steel ladder wearing thongs (on his feet) working a live power line with live wires waving around in the breeze, I had to turn away. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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