How Does A Marine Ac Auto Reverse Polarity Circuit Breaker Work.

[Faegan]

I need to figure our how to wire this Novatron AC marine breaker I purchased on Ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&viewitem=&item=190145903269It will power the on board charger, and a dc power supply from shore power or an on board generator.I don;t know much about ac circuit breakers that autodisconnect on recverse ac polarity. Thank You!

[Eysteinn]

Ancient_Hacker, regarding your answer "A toughie": Sorry I should have said do diode involved, not no resistor. This is a marine AC breaker panel. I think you were thinking it was a DC breaker panel. Thanks

[Farnham]

Do you have a manual for this item? From what I can see there are only a  few circuit breakers and a polarity indicator light. The light will probably be just a little light bulb with a diode in series.  The light will light up if connected across a battery in one direction, not in the opposite direction. The circuit breakers look like your basic breakers.  Hook them up as you would any fuse or breaker, observe the ratings of course.

[jarl]

SOUTHFLDUDE said: 2 Ancient_Hacker, regarding your answer "A toughie": Thanks for the info, I just ordered the manual from the vendor today! From what I have learned so far, the three gang breaker has two 30 amp breakers and one that trips on 65 volts. I think the 65 v reverse polarity breaker is designed to trip if it detects over 65 v between neutral and gnd if the polarity is reversed. Reversed polarity would put more than 65 v across the breaker because it would be measuring hot to gnd. I guess normally there would be less than 65 v between neutral and gnd. I'll have to test that in my house wiring with a meter. I am guessintg that the lamp would go in series with this breaker. There is no obvious resistor, unless it's built into the lamp. But there's no reason why the indicator light couldn't be powered by 115vac directly, I also guess that it would stay unlit under 65v and light at 115vac? I just want a wiring diagiram to confirm my thinking. The vendor was very accomodating, and actually emailed me a confirmation that they are checking with an engineer tomorrow. I should get a diagiram tomorrow. I will put a note here if I do. Thanks again for your reply! 76 months ago

[Denten]

The circuit breaker is designed to prevent the circuits from being hooked up in reverse polarity.    The circuit breaker is provided with a reverse polarity circuit that reduces the voltage presented to the terminals of the circuit breaker to which it is electrically connected when the terminals are further connected to a source of voltage in reverse polarity. The circuit breaker assembly is tripped due to the reverse polarity, and remains tripped and can't be manually reset until the polarity is corrected.  Generally there is an LED or some indicator that indicate that the breaker is tripping due to a reverse in polarity.   You might be thinking tha AC or Alternating Current has no polarity but in reality a particular AC line has been dedicated as positive(also called the "hot wire")... the other wire is the cold wire or negative(also neutral) and the third is the ground.  If wired in reverse then the positive and negative(neutral) are switched and this could affect certain equipement designed to expect to see the hot and neutral on certain lines.  You can't simply plug something in and see if it operates... it may operated normally even with switched polarity.    There is something also about the way some devices ground to chassis and having two devices that are powered by different polarity AC power supplies may set up a differential of up to 90 volts between the chassis of different devices creating a shock hazard.  

[Christof]

It trips when the polarity of AC lines is incorrect. The circuit breaker is designed to prevent the circuits from being hooked up in reverse polarity.    The circuit breaker is provided with a reverse polarity circuit that reduces the voltage presented to the terminals of the circuit breaker to which it is electrically connected when the terminals are further connected to a source of voltage in reverse polarity. The circuit breaker assembly is tripped due to the reverse polarity, and remains tripped and can't be manually reset until the polarity is corrected.  Generally there is an LED or some indicator that indicate that the breaker is tripping due to a reverse in polarity.   You might be thinking tha AC or Alternating Current has no polarity but in reality a particular AC line has been dedicated as positive(also called the "hot wire")... the other wire is the cold wire or negative(also neutral) and the third is the ground.  If wired in reverse then the positive and negative(neutral) are switched and this could affect certain equipement designed to expect to see the hot and neutral on certain lines.  You can't simply plug something in and see if it operates... it may operated normally even with switched polarity.    There is something also about the way some devices ground to chassis and having two devices that are powered by different polarity AC power supplies may set up a differential of up to 90 volts between the chassis of different devices creating a shock hazard.   JayD 76 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.

[Dillie]

SOUTHFLDUDE said: 3 Ancient_Hacker, regarding your answer "A toughie": Sorry I should have said do diode involved, not no resistor. This is a marine AC breaker panel. I think you were thinking it was a DC breaker panel. Thanks 76 months ago

[Adal]

Ancient_Hacker, regarding your answer "A toughie": Thanks for the info, I just ordered the manual from the vendor today! From what I have learned so far, the three gang breaker has two 30 amp breakers and one that trips on 65 volts. I think the 65 v reverse polarity breaker is designed to trip if it detects over 65 v between neutral and gnd if the polarity is reversed. Reversed polarity would put more than 65 v across the breaker because it would be measuring hot to gnd. I guess normally there would be less than 65 v between neutral and gnd. I'll have to test that in my house wiring with a meter. I am guessintg that the lamp would go in series with this breaker. There is no obvious resistor, unless it's built into the lamp. But there's no reason why the indicator light couldn't be powered by 115vac directly, I also guess that it would stay unlit under 65v and light at 115vac? I just want a wiring diagiram to confirm my thinking. The vendor was very accomodating, and actually emailed me a confirmation that they are checking with an engineer tomorrow. I should get a diagiram tomorrow. I will put a note here if I do. Thanks again for your reply!

[DavidBeckham]

SOUTHFLDUDE said: 1 JayD, regarding your answer "It trips when the polarity of AC lines is incorrect.": Thank you very much for taking the time to clarify how AC reverse polarity breakers work. Your reply was very comprehensive. I particularly appreciated that bit about the potentially hazardous differential chassis voltages. I found the companies website that made this AC marine circuit breaker panel and sent them a query as follows. excerpt...The first(main) breaker in the panel is a 3 gang breaker with two 30 amp breakers, and pne dedicated to the reverse polarity trip. The others breakers in the panel are straight single 5-15 amp breakers. Would you happen to have a pdf showing the wiring of the 3 gang(main) breaker? 76 months ago

[treasigh]

A toughie Do you have a manual for this item? From what I can see there are only a  few circuit breakers and a polarity indicator light. The light will probably be just a little light bulb with a diode in series.  The light will light up if connected across a battery in one direction, not in the opposite direction. The circuit breakers look like your basic breakers.  Hook them up as you would any fuse or breaker, observe the ratings of course. Ancient_Hacker 76 months ago Please sign in to give a compliment. Please verify your account to give a compliment. Please sign in to send a message. Please verify your account to send a message.