diy solar

diy solar

DIHOOL Breakers - Amazon

I have a 12K inverter. At the low end of a LiPo 48V battery, you are looking at 40V. That's 300Amps. Add 20% safety factor and that equates to needing a 360Amp breaker. Midnite Solar doesn't offer anything higher than a 250Amp breaker. Looking for a solution that won't bankrupt me... I am really just using it as a means of disconnect. My system is protected by a 400Amp T-Class fuse.
 
In the early days I bought some cheap breakers. Later on I went UL for fire insurance and safety purposes and as mentioned above Midnite has a whole range of UL breakers and that's what I used.

But... I had an occasion to use one of those cheap breakers as on/off switch for my iCharger X8 and found that after ~10 on/offs, it failed 'partially' - intermittently let power thru and confused me for several hours as to why the iCharger was acting weird.

My point - cheap may actually work a couple of times but then may fail sooner than expected and/or partially fail... so it's not necessarily that they fail 'immediately' kind of thing. Makes it hard to evaluate as most comments are does it work 'once' kind of thing.

Me - I went ETL/UL as my system got serious.
 
Same as all the other cheap chinese breakers, I got their 125A with the din box but it has gone from amazon now.
 
I'm not sure they know what they are selling, I.E. it shows no Polarity but they are showing +/-, it shows AC 12 ~ 400V.
The $81 is for the 125A rating, I wonder what the 400A rating looks like because the terminals have to be big!

Product Description​

Model: DHM1B-2P-125A
Rated Operating Voltage : DC12-500V
Poles: 2P
Rated Current: 125A
breaking capacity: 15 kA Ics, 25kA Icu
Use Category: A
Mechanical Life: 6,000 Times
Electrical Life: 1,000 Times
Installation Method: Panel screw installation
Standard: IEC60947-2 / GB14048.2
Operating Temperature: -10℃ to + 50℃
Operating Altitude: 2000 Meter

1673057734842.png
1673057797817.png
 
x98myers7 said:
put in a switch then, instead. if you need it only for a disconnect, then don't put in a crappy breaker for that. here's a UL listed constant 350amps:

e-Series On Off Battery Switch - Blue Sea Systems

350 Amps continuous rating for inboard gasoline or diesel engines.
www.bluesea.com www.bluesea.com
Click to expand...
I've contacted Blue Seas about thier 48V rating and their answer was "do not use it above 48v".

Will it ever be a problem? I don't know but still not something I want to mess around with.


1673099246955.png
 
I appreciate everyone's feedback. To further clarify, I am using this as a means for disconnect between my battery bus bar and my main distribution bus bar. I am not using in an application between the battery and inverter so therefore, I am looking for more than just a single pole switch. I want to be able to disconnect both poles.

I, as well as many others, are skeptical of a breakers for this type of amperage at this price point. I think I am going to bite the bullet and purchase one of the 125 amp breakers and a 400 amp breaker and put it through the ringer. I plan to actuate each one at a minimum of 200 times and test between each actuation. Will perform load testing, observe temperature, try to make them trip, etc. I don't mind being the Guinee Pig, just thought I would ask the community if there was anyone out there that had already been the Guinee Pig. I will report back with test results if anyone is interested. Thanks again for the feedback.
 
For high quality in the 200-400a (or even higher) range you might consider ABB SACE. I use a second hand ABB SACE S3 400a w/24v shunt-trip for my powerwall. It handles 4/0 AWG wire. These are Tier 1 breakers and second hand ones are reasonably priced. Some models (S3) have shunt-trip capability for overall power wall disconnect driven by a BMS.

Here's a quick ebay example (except the picture shows 225a) - not sure would need to contact the seller - https://www.ebay.com/itm/294627605335?hash=item44992c7b57:g:btwAAOSwQ-lhtR8U&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAoNt6md5+sV2uGF93VoQWKLMWeecgnYBhE6MuZwXCAm6QOtGcGOLGiraFy7tcP4AneoJonl7INNo1T1eyfzB/UO1hb4WPzkEHDTJN3D19k9lRFD1urj1liWbBBKxsuhIO2QwVkz/t4V1H3bDjQ75NXBHb1SvNkyCMTJjRbrubSYql8MmKonwRmOIo4edt47L9QvZxZ5ho6d43AkN5BmZbsYI=|tkp:Bk9SR76o192xYQ

Here's another were the pic actually shows 400a - https://www.ebay.com/itm/285000962067?hash=item425b619013:g:3mMAAOSwEJZjSLJj&amdata=enc:AQAHAAAAoNVqtT4i/ZKlyO8qto8TvJvi1X0keZBPqem6LqF80wn84jvFi0nMxkaH5s/9+Uh+9ZMpQarVpMcg1sHxHqQU1BKDPmi61q+4Z6bc6LMnhI/Jgg63rZP5AeOgIK76ykjh4NzPjT4S1lwXhocgl4EECOyJoDwOTThwmO5ioY8aNIQgBUbJxgKO39T3qvepnJoJcut4oETnMVyEI6Ahwrugyhc=|tkp:Bk9SR6jB-92xYQ

These ABB SACE listings change all the time - a little patience (couple of months) and you can usually find exactly what you need.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

W
Long term storage
Replies
5
Views
324
wme
W
C
Ev charging help and battery reading issues
Replies
10
Views
490
timselectric
T
scottmag
Best DIY Options on Amazon?
Replies
11
Views
671
50ShadesOfDirt
50ShadesOfDirt
JBoffgrid2022
Communication Cable for EG4 LifePower Battery?
Replies
19
Views
950
SignatureSolarJess
SignatureSolarJess
T
HiXiMi LiFePO4 Battery?
Replies
6
Views
804
SWSL
S
Back
Top