Not only have I snapped off my share of rear studs on these DC breakers, but have you noticed how the large 175 and 200 amp breakers have this large "batt" handle molded onto this very flimsy strip of a plastic lever arm going inside the breaker? I have a whole box of these that were broken off in shipment or during installation.
I keep getting the feeling that all solar manufacturers have given up the smaller off-grid and battery backup solar market and are only concentrating on the large module and grid-tie commercial market. Seems like there is a race to see who can manufacturer a module that finally is so large that nobody can pick up without a crane. Hard to find modules with junction boxes instead of pigtails, DC connectors that finally get standardized and don't require buying a new $600 crimper every year, DC breakers and terminals that do not twist-off during installation, batteries that last and have standardized terminals, DC panel boxes with the right size and location of knock-outs, back-up residential generators that do not void the warranty if run more than twice per year, DC rated disconnects that you have to read hard-to-find documentation before you find out they must be de-rated from what their nameplate rating actually says, and inverters for battery-based systems that you do not have to be a graduate computer programmer just to set up. And finally, let's not forget modules having nameplates with data based on real world conditions, not some perfect conditions the client never understands - "why isn't my 2 kW nameplate rated system producing 2 kW?". Just saying..................... Jeff Yago DTI Solar _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Home Power magazine List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Options & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List-Archive: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out participant bios: www.members.re-wrenches.org
