Thread: Solar controllers

Yes in Qld we have pole fuses,isolates the mains to the house,and obviously the house.Easy to undo and drops it all off.
Commercial premises have them as well,often 3 phase.

The place we have in NSW,there is no pole fuse,just a large 100A or it could be 80A i think it is, fuse in the meter box.No protection from pole to our meter box which seems a bit odd.
So to isolate everything,a wire at the pole would have to be disconnected while alive i presume.
Unless there is a switch on the pole,but i cant see one.

Originally Posted by scarry

Yes in Qld we have pole fuses,isolates the mains to the house,and obviously the house.Easy to undo and drops it all off.
Commercial premises have them as well,often 3 phase.

The place we have in NSW,there is no pole fuse,just a large 100A or it could be 80A i think it is, fuse in the meter box.No protection from pole to our meter box which seems a bit odd.
So to isolate everything,a wire at the pole would have to be disconnected while alive i presume.
Unless there is a switch on the pole,but i cant see one.

Well... there u go, I had always thought what we do here in Qld on the LV network would be the same across the country as it just makes sense to have a fuse at every consumers Mains which makes isolating the Customer's Premise easy and protects the service cable as well. Not having a fuse at a customers premise is very dangerous if there was a short circuit as u would have the distribution Transformers fault current just pumping into the short circuit until it just melted the wire or caused a fire. It just doesn't make sense... but there u go, nothing is built to the same standard across the country...

Originally Posted by Robmacca

Well... there u go, I had always thought what we do here in Qld on the LV network would be the same across the country as it just makes sense to have a fuse at every consumers Mains which makes isolating the Customer's Premise easy and protects the service cable as well. Not having a fuse at a customers premise is very dangerous if there was a short circuit as u would have the distribution Transformers fault current just pumping into the short circuit until it just melted the wire or caused a fire. It just doesn't make sense... but there u go, nothing is built to the same standard across the country...

We have the fuse

Just protecting the meter

If they disconnect your power, all they do is remove the fuse

Originally Posted by Robmacca

No not exactly... It's there to protect the CABLE from the pole down into your switchboard only and should be rated according to the size cables u have...

That’s the set up on our place.

50a fuse on the corner of the house supply, larger units visible at the “pole”

Originally Posted by Gav 110

We have the fuse

Just protecting the meter

If they disconnect your power, all they do is remove the fuse

So no protection from pole to meter box,same as NSW?

I would much rather a pole fuse,but i am no expert.
We have blown a few over the years.....

i remember being with a tradie when i was an apprentice,at a picture theatre,full of people.
We were fixing the AC,and blew a pole fuse,well two out of the 3, 3 phase.
That day became rather interesting

Originally Posted by scarry

So no protection from pole to meter box,same as NSW?

I would much rather a pole fuse,but i am no expert.
We have blown a few over the years.....

i remember being with a tradie when i was an apprentice,at a picture theatre,full of people.
We were fixing the AC,and blew a pole fuse,well two out of the 3, 3 phase.
That day became rather interesting

Nowadays all unprotected consumers mains that run through roof spaces have to be run in HD conduit. Older places it wasn’t a requirement so conflicts with new laws where we must isolate the wiring in the roof space if you need to enter for work, all trades not just electricians.
I’ve found a few old places with contactors put in the consumer mains and being controlled by the main switch, free power taken off the dead side of contactor.

I’ve been out to a few **** ups over they years, usually taking out shopping centres 🤭
I’ve been called out to jobs where fridgies have replaced burnt out terminal strips with earth/neutral links🤣🤣
And can’t work out why it goes bang every time they turn the breaker back on
Eventually when the whole shopping Center goes out, call god, oops I mean an electrician

Can't comment on your set-up, but I know with the Enerdrive set-up in our caravan Enerdrive recommends using 70amp fuses with its 40 amp DC-DC charger and unregulated solar panels. Also recommends 70amp fuses both ends of the vehicle-caravan Anderson plugs connection.

Originally Posted by Floydo

Got my 170w Hard Korr panel. Got a Kickass 40w MPPT regulator for a good price. It's a little bigger than I expected. So want be able to mount it next to the battery in the tub. Probably be mounted 1 to 2m from battery. If I run 6 or 8 mm fused cable to the battery that should reduce any voltage drop? About the same distance from panel mounted on roof to regulator. Battery is a 120AH AGM. Thoughts, ideas suggestions.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Can't comment on your set-up, but I know with the Enerdrive set-up in our caravan Enerdrive recommends using 70amp fuses with its 40 amp DC-DC charger and unregulated solar panels. Also recommends 70amp fuses both ends of the vehicle-caravan Anderson plugs connection.

Wouldn't it be a better idea to have a solar regulator between the panels to the charger instead of relying on fuses?
Also unless you have Very heavy duty wireing a 70a fuse sounds a bit big to me.