breaker size

homerramirez
homerramirez Solar Expert Posts: 102 ✭✭
what is the requred breaker size for a 1200 w continuos inverter 4000 wpeak on a12vdc 800ah battery bank?
what's the formula to calculate the required breaker size?

have you guys heard anything about the TS 2000 w continuous 4000w peak
Samlex power inverters? are they of good quality and longevity?

Thanks again for any advice.;)

Comments

  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: breaker size

    i wouldn't worry about peak power as that is usually for a fraction of a minute or even a second and it's the continuous power that you can use you should focus on. the fuse or circuit breaker may or may not pop depending on both the strength and duration of the surge. if you think you can run something that is say 2kw for 10 minutes, think again. only go by the continuous ratings.
    as to the fuse/cb rating you could go by the 1200w divided by its lowest voltage of say 10.5v. this is a bit over 114a drawn. if memory serves i believe it was said you should add 25% to this and then round up to the nearest common value available. the common fuse/cb rating of 150a should suffice and you could go with one lower in value, but that may impede full operation to the inverter's max continuous power. most manufacturers will specify what fuse or cb they want for their inverters.
  • homerramirez
    homerramirez Solar Expert Posts: 102 ✭✭
    Re: breaker size

    thanks., what about the Samlex true sine inverter are they good quality? I'm loking for the 2000 continuos watts, will it be ok. to run my full size Kenmore refrigerator?

    thanks again.:D
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: breaker size

    that should work fine for your frig and in fact most frigs will probably run with about a killowatt sinewave inverter. if in doubt look at the specs or get a meter capable of measuring the peak surge power. now i am not that familiar with samlex, but our host carries them and that should say something about them. in fact here is what they do carry.
    http://store.solar-electric.com/inverters.html
  • homerramirez
    homerramirez Solar Expert Posts: 102 ✭✭
    Re: breaker size

    thanks niel, the reason I'm looking for a true sine 2000w cont. is because my wife wants to run some laundry loads and then the fridge ( not at the same time), after all the expenses of 1500w of PV, 800ah bank ah, 4 controllers and a monitor, she will like to see some pay back, ....you know what I mean .... ;)

    Thanks again. :D
  • Robin Gudgel
    Robin Gudgel Registered Users, Solar Expert Posts: 58 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: breaker size

    Our industry jumps from a 125 amp breaker to a 175 amp size. I am not aware of a 150 amp breaker that anyone stocks. I have one of the Samlex S series 2000 watt inverter/chargers. I haven't turned it on, but did take it apart up in Burnaby Canada at Samlex. I got the inverter so we could design an E-Panel for it (Midnite Solar). That task is now done. We were able to modify the DR/TR E-Panel to also work with the S series. In Burnaby we took the top off and had a bit of design review on the inverter. I was the mechanical designer for the original DR inverter quite a few years ago. The S series as well as the Xantrex TR series are largely based on the DR design. There were many parts of the design that were impressive on both the TR and Samlex inverters. The few short comings that the S series has are minor. The largest compromise is the transfer switch which is rated at 30 amps. They will probably upgrade this in the future to 50 or 60 amps. The inverter gives you a lot of power for the money for sure and given a couple of years will probably have the feature set required to give the US inverter companies some real competition. I'm not sure why I was helping Samlex improve the inverter since boB and I still own 40% of OutBack? Oh well, the people at Samlex are nice people and I am sure the inverter is worth the money. Another thing to consider on inverter breaker size is that the breaker is not intended to protect the inverter. It is there to protect the battery cables. A 175 amp breaker requires 2/0 cables.
  • homerramirez
    homerramirez Solar Expert Posts: 102 ✭✭
    Re: breaker size

    Thanks a lot Midnite, It took me a while to check this thread back because I thought that I was done...I got the Samlex S-2024A and it does work good supplying power to our 1200w cont. washer machine.....it is not that I don't want an OutBack inverter, but this is rag times and competition gets tough everywhere, as far far for OutBack, Be reasonable or will be looking competitors on the side line ....if they can afford the UL sticker at the same price.....no offense.

    H.R.:cool:

    P.S.... Might be that you own 60% of Samlex?.....LOL....:D :cool: