Cheap High Amp DC Breakers are they safe? Let's find out!
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- Опубликовано: 9 фев 2025
- These are good DC breakers and will support up to 200 amps
www.amazon.com...
Non affiliate link, Amazon kicked me out because you guys didn't click or buy enough. That's fine.... I'll just starve :-)
I have done extensive testing on this size Chinese thermal breaker. I found none of them to be calibrated and the internal contacts on all current ratings I would rate as only good for up to 50 amps and 24 volts. I had so much trouble with them I measured the DC resistance at 20 amps of each one, then determined a trip point, which I labeled each one. You can do this by measuring the DC resistance, then calculating the current that will cause the breaker to dissipate 2 watts.
I don't recommend using these breakers above 35 amps. I only use them for running accessories off my power bus. The Buss brand thermal breaker is the best one I have found so far but, thermal breakers are not very precise, the DIN rail DC breakers are much better as they have thermal and magnetic trip sensing.
That is great that you are checking these circuit breaker out. It is fascinating if they are in calibration or not. 35 yrs ago I used to work for a company that made aerospace and milspec electronics. [I'm an electrician, not an engineer, but I was with my boss working in a lab testing industrial circuit breakers, and some residential circuit breaker too, for 120 volt, and 480 volt. It was fun seeing what melted down, or blew up! Sometimes we put into an oven to boost the ambient air temp, and sometimes in a chamber with nitrogen to cool it down. It was crazy how the changing ambient air temp effected the cablibration of the breaker. But also the other project you worked on the customers project when that lug was melted. You identified it as the washer, kinda obstructing from make full surface area contact, and it heated up. I see that often doing electrical work in residential homes, in those cases, it is corrosion from water leaking in that does it. But it is great that you check this out! Al from CT
Thank the lord I switched to Bussman. Yes they cost a fortune, but no problems so far this summer.
Thank you. This is what I needed to know. I have a 150 breaker and I’m trying to hook it up to my semi.
Great stuff anything on DC breakers that are polarized and non polarised the DIN mount type everyone seems to be converting to
Thanks Man! This video will keep a lot of RVs from melting.
Good morning do the 12v circuit breakers have a connection direction? I have one between my battery and my converter and one between my solar charger and my battery and I'm wondering about the direction of connection... thank you
Not that I’m aware of. For batteries power flows both ways so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The issue is the cheap Chinese ones do not follow any kind of trip curve for the standardised or provide it a lot of them trip before the rated current which is not as safe as you think
Nice video. Someone else demonstrated a 5 amp fuse from those no name assortments didn’t blow at 20 amps. For me for overcurrent protection I’ll buy Bussman or Blue Sea System and save money some there else.
That can be accepted the bill on the type as due to the testing method it may not have worked
Will it work with 50v dc too? Or will the arc stay on
Thanks! Can you share what shunt you used?
It's the same one I have! A Victron SmartShunt
Maybe you can test the ANL blade fuses to see if they pop quickly enough and at the correct amperage. I have a couple of those in my system. Tkx
They are slow blow by nature
Great test! Thanks for putting this together.
I agree. I’ve got some more coming up.
watching a few of these videos, I wonder if the current can be like 20a but after a long enough time it would pop open. which is not ideal for a charger current of 30A expected to run all day
In that case it why you should oversize your wires and circuit protect with that in mind.
What would be the cause for a CB to pop? In the last week I’ve had both pop one at a time. The only thing I have running is the fridge? The. Inverter battery indicator shows four bars.
If it’s overcurrent or it’s mislabeled like these were.
@@sotasolar what does over current mean
I recently purchased a Heavy Industrial Battery I was hoping I could use for solar. It’s a AC Delco 4DGA 12V 1075 Cranking AMPs is this going to be something I can use?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ go for it. A 4D is serious business. A deep cycle will work better.
Why did you think your alternator went bad? What exactly did you learn the hard way? Thank you.
Alternator was old. Diodes burned out. Some of what I learned the hard was these crappy breakers fail way early. I also learned not to use CCA wire. Check out the video on the mc9 bus system I re wired (my system) . I talked about a few lessons learned.
When the heater was running, could you of safely touched the lug on the breaker?
The terminals never got very warm , it didn’t last long enough :-) which is the better of the two failure modes.
Curious if you have tested Lenkrad breakers? I am in the market for a 200 amp breaker and have looked at Lenkrad, T Tocas and Bussman.
I have not yet. I trust Bussman, and T Tocas. I'd say order and and if it feels solid, appropriately sized lugs. You're likely good.
@@sotasolar thank you!
I have a 80 on the fire wall of my 64 impala I have no clue why .. I have nothing big that would need this .
Thanks for the info just changed my cart for T Tocas 150 amp
If you need higher amps we recommend the DIHOOL Dc breakers amzn.to/3vRqWex you can choose single pole for cheaper options.
@@sotasolarhello! Working on a 12v system. Any ideas on a good 500 amp circuit breaker? Been researching and haven’t found much unfortunately. Happy to spend what is needed for a quality product.
yes! Dihool 400amp breaker. amzn.to/44ihxJE check out some of our recent build videos, we’ve been using these now.
Quick and informative!
They are dangerous there is no arc chamber inside so the contacts will eventually stick together even the expensive ones
Great test!
Which app did you use?
We use Victron equipment mostly, so likely the Victron Connect app
@@sotasolar thank you for the quick reply.
One more question.
I have a 72v electric ride with 50A YYK controller. Do you think 60A/72v breaker is ideal?
Higher voltage breakers are usually DIN rail mounted. Usually you want to go 10-20% higher than your load might be and size your wire for the circuit protection. I’d be looking at 4awg wire, maybe 80-100a breaker.
@@sotasolar thank you so much brother.
Very appreciated
I'm noticing that your heater is pulling 120 amps @ 12volts, I have the same heater and at 1500 watts it pulls out 7 amps from the wall at 120 volts, Now I'm wondering if 12 volts pull 10 times more amps from it, hmmmmm, that would be a good test to find out what common appliances run at 12v compared to 120v 😯
Couple of things here. First, the big question, can appliances run from straight 12v... mostly no, some things that use a power brick might work if their working voltage is lower. Or did you not notice we were using an inverter, with an inverter you can run about anything.
The math on what you described doesn't seem to make sense to me. 7 amps * 120v = 840 watts. We can convert that to a DC equivalent by taking 840 watts and dividing by 12 and gives us 70 amps DC. I'd expect it to actually be 75-80 amps with losses in efficiency, etc.
I run my equipment from a 1000 watt inverter, and it just seems the amps are different from ac to dc, 12v seems a lot more higher in amps almost 10 times that of ac
That’s because 120 volts is 10x 12 volts. The two are related with watt’s law.
I did try run my computer from a 1000w dirty sine wave inverter in my car and it pulled only 7,5A according to my clamp amp meter. But the computer did say the GPU was running at 200w and on top of that comes the TV and rest of the cumpters usage.... 7,5A only is around 100W less then half of what the actual power usage should be. Also the inverted refused to run the computer at all without having the engine running and the batteries is brand new AGM 100ah 850A times 2 as it is 2 batteries.
It would be 1/10th of the amperage, not 10x. Even then, I think the math works out different, but do ohms law for your heater coil and find out!
Only tested at 12Vdc you do not get an arc flash at that level (so its a cheat) At 24V yes you can get an arc so the test not properly valid (dont even think of 48V+)
Well, 48 V would not really create an ark flash arch it does not have enough energy to create one significant enough to fallen like category
I have one just like it made in USA, or labeled that way
United States equipment for manufacturing is actually significantly worse as they do not have the circuit braking machines from China which are high-quality is just what they assembling is poor quality
Coincidentally, I just got the same "300 amp" breaker and had to order a real one.
Please let them know. What brand was it? I covered it out of courtesy. Not sure how much longer I should keep the brand hidden.
@sotasolar they all seem the same. Some even have stickers rather than etched names. If the studs aren't at least 5/16 or 3/8 I would stay away from them.
@seeking70 well said
Moral of the story: NEVER buy anything from Amazon that has to work.
Not the case simply get things that are approved
So much crap out there, it's hard to know whats good! Even my local stores sell crap, they're clueless.
Testing message do not follow the proper ISO standard so most of the tests are currently completely invalid
You just saved me £20
Hopefully more than that!
👏👏👏
Run a v8 starter circuit and see which heavy duty breaker works lol
ONLY use blue sea systems breakers these chineese knock offs can cost you your life.
ONLY BLUE SEA
I just had an issue with my inverter going low voltage. Upon inspection, my BULVACK breaker was extremely hot, like fire danger, cannot touch it hot. Rated for 300a I was using approx 60a and the breaker got very hot but never broke, just got hot without tripping. If my blue inverter wasn't telling me I had low voltage, I could have lost my home! Do not use these Amazon breakers!
Anyone use the car stereo breaker like stinger etc.. it’s good to see/know how these are made if quality copper components are used what brands are trusted usually, the ones with the higher warranty would be the choice. Don’t understand why it’s so hard to get quality direct current parts..
They are made in the same factory
@ What factory? By who? Any proof to back up your few word response? Any links to pictures showing exactly the same quality parts being used to make identical?
Just had a BULVACK breaker from Amazon almost cost me my home! So not buy these Chinese breakers. I'm learning the hard way for you.
Many of the Chinese breakers are perfectly safe they follow expected trip curves amazingly it’s the ones that sellers purchase from dodgy websites and then reset on Amazon create issues when sold as described by the manufacturer they are safe as you know what they are
No!
Caveat Emptor. Where did you get them? I have never run into parts this far off spec. Having literally installed hundreds of products like this. The mere fact that the bolts were too small for the stress large diameter cables might put on it should tell you that it is poorly designed. Sounds more like a bad buying decision than anything. The device is obviously crap. They played the rating game, going for intermittent operation rather than continuous duty rating. Read the specs, if they have any kind of approval rating they have published ratings. Stick with Bussman, never had one fail to operate as advertised. Our systems had warranties and support that included electrical systems, excluding bulbs and third party electronics for extended periods (fire trucks, they never seem to be too old to work). Never scrimp on the cost of important parts, it will cost you more in the long run.