FYI -
I am now the official Advanced Energy tech contact on the Wrenches
list.
Bill -
the fuse covers are made by Phoenix Contact. They are a molded plastic
piece that covers a standard 1/4" fuse and provides an integral
puller.
Part
number is SI-H40MM
Also,
Advanced Energy will have a 12 input, 2 kW, 125V string combiner - UL listed -
for its MM products shortly.
Finally - make sure that the fuses in a string combiner are dc rated for
the actual open circuit voltage (not just the rated OC voltage). One type
that we use is Littlefuse 3AB (ceramic body) types.
Regards
Rob
Wills
VP
Engineering
Don:
I
would love to have it! Please send it along.
Not
to rag on my friend John Berdner, but my first impression of the PCB-10 board
was that the fuse holders were not robust enough to last in the real world. I
still feel that way except that now I have a lot more field evidence to backup
my original thoughts. I had a tangle with one of these combiners about a month
ago, and it convinced me that I would happy if I never worked with another one
again.
This
was a situation where 10-amp fuses on MSX-120 modules (undersized for these
modules) were used and 6 of the 8 installed fuses were blown. Several of the
fuse elements had melted and two of the fuses were welded to the internal
contact.
If I
had to venture a guess as to what happened is that you got a ground-fault
in the box. The source of the current was likely the inverter/battery in
addition to the PV array. I would love to do a post mortum on it.
Trace and Advanced Energy have combiner boards in their units, but
these are UL-recognized and not usable in a field installation in anything
other than what they are designed for.
You
can get nice RK-5 fuses and fuse holders rated at 125Vdc, but you need to have
a protected fuse holder (like the ones in the Trace and Advanced Energy
boards) to be code compliant. If anyone has a source of the fuse
holder/pullers, please chime in.
ANY
MANUFACTURERS IN THE SOUND OF THIS EMAIL--MAKE US A DECENT COMBINER BOX RATED
AT 125 VDC--AND GET SOME INPUT ON THE DESIGN BEFORE YOU RELEASE
IT.
Okay, I feel better now.
Bill.
In a message dated 03/23/2001 11:31:55 AM
Pacific Standard Time,
mmangelsdorf@hei.com writes:
That installation had Solarex MSX120s, four to a string,
using slightly undersized 10a. fuses when they should have been 15a.
Bill,
chime on this one if you want. Since the TCB10 is
one of only a few
Marco, I was using 4 kc120 in
series with a 15 fuse (according to
kyocera-slightly big-they want 11
a). I feel like saving the box and giving
it to Bill for his
collection of "things that suck".
Don - - - - - - -
To send a message:
RE-wrenches@topica.com
The archive of previous messages:
http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/
List rules & etiquette:
http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm
To unsubscribe send a message to:
RE-wrenches-unsubscribe@topica.com
To check out the other RE-Wrench participants:
www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html
Hosted by Home Power magazine:
www.homepower.com
For info contact list moderator by email:
michael.welch@homepower.com
____________________________________________________________
T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less.
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose.
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
- - - - - - -
To send a message:
RE-wrenches@topica.com
The archive of previous messages:
http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/
List rules & etiquette:
http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm
To unsubscribe send a message to:
RE-wrenches-unsubscribe@topica.com
To check out the other RE-Wrench participants:
www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html
Hosted by Home Power magazine:
www.homepower.com
For info contact list moderator by email:
michael.welch@homepower.com
____________________________________________________________
T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less.
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose.
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01
- - - - - - -
To send a message:
RE-wrenches@topica.com
The archive of previous messages:
http://www.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/
List rules & etiquette:
http://www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquete.htm
To unsubscribe send a message to:
RE-wrenches-unsubscribe@topica.com
To check out the other RE-Wrench participants:
www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/index.html
Hosted by Home Power magazine:
www.homepower.com
For info contact list moderator by email:
michael.welch@homepower.com
____________________________________________________________
T O P I C A -- Learn More. Surf Less.
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose.
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01