Interesting video Roland. I use those Tomzn 1P and 2P circuit breakers too. On my loads, I have not had any issues but as everyone with safety in mind it only takes one time to burn down the house. The touch safe fuse holders are certainly a game changer with high voltage DC (PV) with these new all-in-one systems pushing over 150 to 500vDC. However, over the years the main thing I have replaced is any cable that is CCA (copper clad aluminum) with O2 free copper. The results in the form of less heat has been amazing. Cheers and all the best in the new year. Gary in SE Michigan, USA
Thank you for the information Roland. I have found that my fuse holders (30 mm fuse) got warm at load of 20A. Holder and fuse rated at 30A, so not under rated. I eventually replaced the fuse holders with polarized dc cb's, now they do not get warm anymore. Maybe fuse holder was of inferior quality, I do not remember the make of the fuse holder. I was wondering if at all available, one can replace fuse holders with gold plated type to minimize corrosion and minimize contact resistance. In my opinion gold plated would be of great help especially when dealing with large current. When I was still involved in electronic design, our pcb edge connectors was gold plated as a standard. I realize cost would be higher and not readily available. Another question is the use of bootlace ferrules for multi stranded cable such as power from pv panels. Would that be a better connection than simply screwing the cable down into the circuit breaker.? Thank you for your time - Chris.
Because of the nature that a fuse works by heating up a wire - and if overloaded - until it melts, Fuses and subsequently its holders will get warm if they operate near their rated current. So the heat does come from the fuse! This is a bit different with MCBs as there you have the thermal as well a magnetic actuator. Till now I didn't notice any abnormal heating on the new holders even with chargers running all day at max. output. And bigger holders with bigger fuses, especially the ceramic type, will have far less issues with overheating. Gold plated contacts are of course the ultimate way of getting electricity or signals from one component to the next but as you said that's expensive and typically only used for delicate circuits, miniature connectors, HF applications, etc. It is practice to use ferrules for any type of screw-in terminals where the single strands of the wires would be just pushed out while the screw is tightened. Ferrules are said not to be necessary or even forbidden to be used with boxed-terminals like you have in breakers or other such holders as it is more likely that the wires could be pulled out of the ferrule more easily then out of a boxed terminal. Still, I do see benefits to use ferrules on very fine stranded wires even in such scenarios. And I honestly do use them if I see it to be the right choice. If you can exclude pulling forces on wires then there will not be an issue with ferrules anyways.
Nice video. I believe you can use also 22x58 Holders with larger fuses i think up to 100Amp ..I'm using 80Amps now....they are well lets say ok...but in case you want to go to limit then for sure those NH1 fuse holders are way to go... i did have 22x58 and i changed them to NHX one as they have less loss of power on contacts so they could be used in cases where you go close to limit like chargers or such oh also don't forget that these fuses are usually G type so it takes much higher current to brake and for sure will not save your equipment
Hi, yes. Thanks for the input. Overload protection is usually part of the device internally in case of power electronics like chargers and inverters. This is really just to protect from low resistance faults without needing to worry about current direction withing charging/discharging DC battery circuits.
Thank you for the video Rowland. Are suggesting that bidirectional or non-polarised breakers are by default unreliable or inherently less durable than the polarised types? Merry Christmas.
No. It's just that I can't have any luck with any of those DC-MCBs in my climate here. Both of the types failed on my periodically. It's just that this situation needed a solution, which will now hopefully be the case :)
Yes of course. But with fuses there are zero mechanical components. There are only metal pieces squeezed towards each other. So yeah, in my opinion it should work far better and I will of course report if there are issues ;)
@@RolandW_DIYEnergyandMore its true its more simple, also cheaper, and if you dont service it often, same comfort as mcbs. I installed a few TAIXI mcbs, looking like good brand, on aliexpress more than 10years, also way more expensive. You can give it a try on another project, if they can sustain your harsh environmental conditions.
Thank you, Roland. It's always enlightening to listen to your episodes. Cheers.
Another great video Roland. So very informative and practical. Thank you for your service to the solar DIY community.
Thanks for following!
Merry Christmas Roland and a good informative video
Merry Christmas to you too!
Merry christmas to you & the family roland !
Hello Mate, Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones too!
Interesting video Roland. I use those Tomzn 1P and 2P circuit breakers too. On my loads, I have not had any issues but as everyone with safety in mind it only takes one time to burn down the house. The touch safe fuse holders are certainly a game changer with high voltage DC (PV) with these new all-in-one systems pushing over 150 to 500vDC. However, over the years the main thing I have replaced is any cable that is CCA (copper clad aluminum) with O2 free copper. The results in the form of less heat has been amazing. Cheers and all the best in the new year. Gary in SE Michigan, USA
Greetings to the USA, happy new year!
Thank you for the information Roland. I have found that my fuse holders (30 mm fuse) got warm at load of 20A. Holder and fuse rated at 30A, so not under rated. I eventually replaced the fuse holders with polarized dc cb's, now they do not get warm anymore. Maybe fuse holder was of inferior quality, I do not remember the make of the fuse holder. I was wondering if at all available, one can replace fuse holders with gold plated type to minimize corrosion and minimize contact resistance. In my opinion gold plated would be of great help especially when dealing with large current. When I was still involved in electronic design, our pcb edge connectors was gold plated as a standard. I realize cost would be higher and not readily available. Another question is the use of bootlace ferrules for multi stranded cable such as power from pv panels. Would that be a better connection than simply screwing the cable down into the circuit breaker.? Thank you for your time - Chris.
Because of the nature that a fuse works by heating up a wire - and if overloaded - until it melts, Fuses and subsequently its holders will get warm if they operate near their rated current. So the heat does come from the fuse! This is a bit different with MCBs as there you have the thermal as well a magnetic actuator. Till now I didn't notice any abnormal heating on the new holders even with chargers running all day at max. output.
And bigger holders with bigger fuses, especially the ceramic type, will have far less issues with overheating.
Gold plated contacts are of course the ultimate way of getting electricity or signals from one component to the next but as you said that's expensive and typically only used for delicate circuits, miniature connectors, HF applications, etc.
It is practice to use ferrules for any type of screw-in terminals where the single strands of the wires would be just pushed out while the screw is tightened. Ferrules are said not to be necessary or even forbidden to be used with boxed-terminals like you have in breakers or other such holders as it is more likely that the wires could be pulled out of the ferrule more easily then out of a boxed terminal. Still, I do see benefits to use ferrules on very fine stranded wires even in such scenarios. And I honestly do use them if I see it to be the right choice. If you can exclude pulling forces on wires then there will not be an issue with ferrules anyways.
Nice video. I believe you can use also 22x58 Holders with larger fuses i think up to 100Amp ..I'm using 80Amps now....they are well lets say ok...but in case you want to go to limit then for sure those NH1 fuse holders are way to go... i did have 22x58 and i changed them to NHX one as they have less loss of power on contacts so they could be used in cases where you go close to limit like chargers or such
oh also don't forget that these fuses are usually G type so it takes much higher current to brake and for sure will not save your equipment
Hi, yes. Thanks for the input. Overload protection is usually part of the device internally in case of power electronics like chargers and inverters. This is really just to protect from low resistance faults without needing to worry about current direction withing charging/discharging DC battery circuits.
Thank you for the video Rowland. Are suggesting that bidirectional or non-polarised breakers are by default unreliable or inherently less durable than the polarised types? Merry Christmas.
No. It's just that I can't have any luck with any of those DC-MCBs in my climate here. Both of the types failed on my periodically. It's just that this situation needed a solution, which will now hopefully be the case :)
could you help me with a code in home assistant smart energy meter by modus rtu rs485
Lets see if they dont fail as your mcbs
Yes of course. But with fuses there are zero mechanical components. There are only metal pieces squeezed towards each other. So yeah, in my opinion it should work far better and I will of course report if there are issues ;)
@@RolandW_DIYEnergyandMore its true its more simple, also cheaper, and if you dont service it often, same comfort as mcbs. I installed a few TAIXI mcbs, looking like good brand, on aliexpress more than 10years, also way more expensive. You can give it a try on another project, if they can sustain your harsh environmental conditions.