Allan,

I've had trouble with breakers opening when they shouldn't.  On an array of two strings of Mitsubishi 175s (Isc = 7.9A) I had two 15-A breakers open.  Last week, I had a low-power call from a customer with three strings of Evergreen 190s (Isc = 7.1A); one 15-A breaker in the combiner was open.  Most of my installs are around 3000 ft elevation, so the irradiance is possibly a little higher than normal, but not by enough that it should be an issue for 15-amp breakers.  If this is a wide-spread problem, I'd expect others on this list to have noticed.

As others have mentioned, it is important to take precautions to make sure that stranded wires are well tightened in these breakers.  I tighten, wiggle, re-tighten, and then check again later.  On systems where I've had breakers open, loose connections haven't been the issue.

Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
www.bluemoutainsolar.com


Allan Sindelar wrote:
I have had no problems to date, Kent. Can you be more specific as to what
problems you have had? 

Allan Sindelar
al...@positiveenergysolar.com
NABCEP Certified Photovoltaic Installer
EE98J Journeyman Electrician
Positive Energy, Inc.
3201 Calle Marie
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87507
505 424-1112
www.positiveenergysolar.com

-----Original Message-----
Is it just me, or have other wrenches had problems with the CBI circuit 
breakers used in the Outback or Midnite combiner boxes?

Kent Osterberg
Blue Mountain Solar, Inc.
http://www.bluemountainsolar.com/
  
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