Circuit Breaker or Bolt on Fuse?

[chadmichael]

I have a 40 Amp charge controller. In Will Prowse's recipe for a 400 Watt solar mobile system, he shows using a 50 Amp breaker to protect this wire. I have used Blue Sea bolt on fuses for other things, like the wire from battery to inverter, and I like them for their minimal footprint in my build space.

Is there a functional difference here? I know that the breaker can be reset, but I can't see this thing blowing very often unless something is wrong. The charge controller is not likely to spit out over current on a regular basis I don't imagine. Also, I hope I don't have a short that pulls hard on the battery array very frequently.

Additionally, I feel like the the bolt on fuse is better, since less complex.

Is there a advantage to choosing one or the other here?

 

[timselectric]

It's just a personal preference. Whichever you prefer.
But the breaker is also a disconnect.

 

[chadmichael]

If you had a breaker here, would use of this breaker be enough to de-load the panels such that a mc4 connector can be used as simple disconnect between the panels and SCC. There's no load wires connected to my SCC's load ports, so disconnecting battery to SCC would mean zero loads on SCC. Maybe the SCC pulls from the panels even when not connected to the batteries?

I say this because I'm looking into using breaker or solar disconnect device between SCC and panels. My panel array is not high voltage (24) nor high current ( 12.2 A short circuit current). Would be nice to not need that device if safe.

 

[timselectric]

I prefer breakers for everything.
Except for the 600a connection between battery banks. A breaker was way more expensive than a fuse. And I have a separate disconnect.

 

[timselectric]

If you had a breaker here, would use of this breaker be enough to de-load the panels

Maybe
I have a breaker (for a disconnect) on the solar side for this purpose.