What Size Circuit Breaker

S

Squirlee

Well-known member
Wow lots of questions this weekend!

What size circuit breaker are you using on your breakaway switches?

I have tandem 7000lb Dexter axles with 12" x 2" brakes. According to the etrailer website 4 sets of 12" brakes will take approximately 15 amps. I am thinking the max circuit breaker size should be no more than 30 amps?

All the circuit breakers in my trailer are 50 amp including the one to the breakaway. I think having a 50 amp circuit breaker on 10 gauge and 16 gauge wiring is useless as the wire will burn up long before the circuit breaker kicks in?

Thanks again
 
Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Well-known member
Squirlee said:
Wow lots of questions this weekend!

What size circuit breaker are you using on your breakaway switches?

I have tandem 7000lb Dexter axles with 12" x 2" brakes. According to the etrailer website 4 sets of 12" brakes will take approximately 15 amps. I am thinking the max circuit breaker size should be no more than 30 amps?

All the circuit breakers in my trailer are 50 amp including the one to the breakaway. I think having a 50 amp circuit breaker on 10 gauge and 16 gauge wiring is useless as the wire will burn up long before the circuit breaker kicks in?

Thanks again
Click to expand...

None
It should be straight from 12V power in the pin-box through the switch on to the brake system. No fuses No circuit breakers. The 12V wire in the pin-box is on a 50amp I believe.


Jerrod
 
danemayer

danemayer

Well-known member
Jerrod,

I have to disagree. The circuit breaker protects the battery from a short in the wiring or switch and protects the trailer from a dead short heating the wires to an unsafe temperature. But to ensure that power is available in an emergency, it should be an auto-reset type of breaker.

I think a 30 amp breaker would do the job. In the event of a dead short, I would expect the breaker to trip pretty quickly, whether a 20, 30 or 50.
 
Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Well-known member
Dan do you have a Circuit breaker on yours ???
I don't !!!
Well I do have the 50amp breaker in the front compartment but nothing else on my breakaway switch. And I've never seen one with it.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
danemayer

danemayer

Well-known member
jesstalkn said:
Dan do you have a Circuit breaker on yours ???
I don't !!!
Well I do have the 50amp breaker in the front compartment but nothing else on my breakaway switch. And I've never seen one with it.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Jerrod, I do have a breaker on that wire. And here are LM365 pictures. Don't know if yours is built this way, but I think most are. The breakaway and generator start wires both are protected and are in front of the cutoff switch.

On my 2011 LM, the generator start wire does not have a circuit breaker. It goes right to the battery terminal.
 

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Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Well-known member
I have installed close to 50 7-way boxes and all 50 have the breakaway switch orange wire directly to the 12V positive wire in the juction box and black/blue to the brakes.


Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
mlpeloquin

mlpeloquin

Well-known member
No cutoff switch, circuit breaker, or fuse in a break-away switch. It is a switch of last resort and should not have anything but a direct connect from the battery to the brakes.
 
S

Squirlee

Well-known member
I think the consensus is some have a breaker and some don't (mine has a 50 amp from factory). I am putting the breaker in because if there is a short somewhere between the batteries and the breakaway switch I would rather have something stop the fire or at least prevent severe damage to the wiring. I just don't think 50 amp is the way to go if the wiring is barely big enough to handle 30 amps.

Thanks for the input everyone.

- - - Updated - - -

jesstalkn said:
Dan do you have a Circuit breaker on yours ???
I don't !!!
Well I do have the 50amp breaker in the front compartment but nothing else on my breakaway switch. And I've never seen one with it.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

So your breakaway is on a circuit breaker (50 amp in the front compartment)?
 
Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn

Well-known member
Yes
My 12v power wire from the 7-way box to the batteries has a 50amp CB in that line in the front compartment.
The breakaway switch is pulling its power from that wire, so yes there is a breaker in that run

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
 
S

Squirlee

Well-known member
That is the one I am talking about.

jesstalkn said:
Yes
My 12v power wire from the 7-way box to the batteries has a 50amp CB in that line in the front compartment.
The breakaway switch is pulling its power from that wire, so yes there is a breaker in that run

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
 
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