Another circuit breaker bites the dust

A DC breaker is the correct type for the job, but they are less common and more expensive.

Most are too much $$$

If you find a candidate, post a price and links to it and its technical specifications here, and I (or we) will look at the specs.

What is your max current through the breaker?

Can you post pictures and onfo on your 3500's breaker, and how you "fixed" the pivot?

Maybe I can determine if my 5000's breaker is the same, or some different model, or make.

Thanks, Gary

My circuit breaker also switched to the OFF position during operation.
It happened twice when driving 80Km/h (not full throttle) the scooter has only driven 300Km ;-(

Looks reasonable to me, but I did not read any detailed specs.
Looks like it could be mounted OK. I wonder if it is polarized?

Good find. I would buy one and test it out if I had any trouble with mine.

My breaker says 4000A and GB10963.1 near the blue ON/OFF switch. I will read more when I take it out again. I also have some pictures ... I will post one later.

What was the shipping charge?

The 4000 might mean the breaker can interrupt 4000 AC amps, but usually the DC rating is a lot less (since the AC current turns itself off 120 times a second).

Mine says
"C60
IEC60898.1
GB10963.1"

If you google on "IEC60898.1 4000A" so see a lot of Chinees site!

Mine triped 3 times today on an 25Km trip, lets see what tomorrow bring.

I got an DC replacement from my Chinees friends.
It is an BHA DC41 ciruit braker the specs are 125VDC 63A 10kA from a Taiwan company Shihlin.

The breaker work good it does not trip at least the last 5 days.

A 63 amp (DC) circuit breaker on the 100-amp "5000"?
Are you only running in Economy Mode?

Or, are you avoiding higher speeds and "fast" starts to keep your current usage down?

A 63 amp (DC) circuit breaker on the 100-amp "5000"?
Are you only running in Economy Mode?

Or, are you avoiding higher speeds and "fast" starts to keep your current usage down?

No I am riding it as before the circuit breaker change.
125VDC * 63 Amp = 7875 Watt this devided by the 75 Volt of the 21 Cells is 105 Amp??????

This an replacement from EFun themselves so I think (I am not sure) they now what they are doing?

My stock breaker gave similar nuisance trips expecially when hot. X-Treme replaced it quickly and this breaker has been much better, but it's still not able to take a hot day.

I've contaced Alter Systems to find the DC voltage rating for their surface mount 100A and 110A breakers and will report back.

I've ordered a 100A DC breaker from Marine Deal - http://www.marinedeal.com/product_p/7250.htm It's a 100A DC breaker rated for 80VDC. $39.95 and $7.52 for UPS ground shipping from Del Mar, CA.

The stock breaker is a ChiNT DZ47-60 60A AC breaker. Here's the datasheet. According to the manufacturer, the breaker is derated to 90% of capacity at 40ºC - that brings our 60A breaker down to about 54A. I think the temperature is a significant factor - especially for those of us in hotter climates (I start my rides at 38ºC).

I think we're also losing some capability due to the AC breaker. Square D has some info on this:

Standard ac circuit breakers ... have an
adjustable instantaneous trip range from five to 10 times the continuous
current rating of the circuit breaker. Even at the lowest instantaneous trip
setting, a circuit breaker that is sized for appropriate thermal protection has
an instantaneous trip range that is 500 percent of the circuit breaker
continuous current rating and is thus too high to protect the battery.

I think what they're telling us is that if we compare a 100A AC and a 100A DC breaker in a DC system, the AC breaker will take much longer to trip. This suggests that a properly sized DC breaker should give better protection when there's a reason for it to trip.

I also think (and this is a guess) that the scooter manufacturers are selecting a more easily available and less expensive AC breaker due to cost, but selecting a smaller capacity breaker in order to give about the right trip point.

I suspect we'll find that a 100A DC breaker might give us much better protection when necessary while nearly eliminating the nuissance trips.

Andy

now this is the kind of info we need!! I hope the moderator's will file that Co. goto hhhp? in the best spot LaTeR

... I've contaced Alter Systems to find the DC voltage rating for their surface mount 100A and 110A breakers and will report back. ...

Alter Systems reports that their CD100-SM and CD110-SM 100A and 110A breakers are rated at 125VDC

http://www.altersystems.com/catalog/surface-mounted-100-amp-dc-circuit-breaker-p-1170.html

Again...this isn't a recommendation, just info at this point. Andy

The UPS Man brought the breaker from Marine Deal this afternoon. This is a 100A 80V DC breaker.

It's a panel mounted breaker - the two mounting holes are on the face. It could be bolted into one of the plastic panels, or with a home-made angle bracket.

Wiring is from the bottom - 1/4" studs. We'll have to fit lugs on the wiring to use this breaker - there are no cable clamps as on the stock Chint breaker.

Numbers... It's supposed to run all day at 100A. It's designed to trip at 135A.
Manufacturer's Data: http://magnetic-circuit-breakers.carlingtech.com/circuit-breaker__86.asp#elibrary

Some additional Info:

Introduction to Circuit Breakers: http://www.carlingtech.com/pdf/CB_Introduction.pdf

There you go doing all that non-standard stuff. :-) I suspect the 100A breaker will be the best match for the stock bikes.

You will probably have to get the circuit breaker recommendation from the folks at Kelly, or choose a max current for your installation and select an appropriate breaker.

The folks at Alter Systems have 100A, 110A breakers. Their next jump is to 175A. I don't know what your other breaker options are.

Thanks for all the great info Andy. Now the bad news... according to my cycle analyst, my 3500li at 24cells is drawing a max amp of 138amps.(very short probably a fraction of a second) Also with the kelly controller configured the way I had mine the motor was getting up to 6kw at times. Cruising at 45mph level ground is about 3kw. Full trottle at 48/50mph about 4.5kw Driving in the neighborhood at speeds around 20mph I use 48watt hours per mile. At mostly full throttle I get 68wh/mi. I consistently get 6% of power used back from regen. I think in city driving it will be 10% or better. I'll try to present my data in more organized manner when I get more. My KEB72601 blew on me. Kelly upgraded me to a KBL14251H. The unit I had had no pre-charge resister, which apparently caused the failure.

Icc...,
You should add a switch in series with the "pre-charge" resistor, to be closed for doing the pre-charge, and then opened after you close the breaker.

That way, the breaker can actually do its job of fully cutting off the pack power to the controller.

How many ohms is the p-c resistor?

As the subject makes clear - another breaker is dead. My 2nd Chint 60Ah breaker overheated and tripped. The internal switch mechanism was locked 'open' by the now solid plastic.

I was within walking distance of a store where I bought a screwdriver and a small pair of vise grips. The breaker came out, the cables were clamped in the vice grip jaws, and I rode home with not a single breaker trip. ;-)

I soldered a couple of copper lugs on the battery cables, attached them to the breaker, and insulated the terminals with a piece of hose that was slit and cable tied into place.

150 miles later and it's been rock solid. The breaker isn't warm even on 100 degree days after a hard ride. It switches on and off very smoothly and the longer toggle is easier to move. One of these days I need to make a little bracket for it, I guess. But in the mean time it's happily bouncing along.

Andy