Energy Management System

[pianotuna]

Hi all,

The magic blue smoke has escaped from the lovely Magnum 3012 inverter/charger.

I can live without load support.

But I do want to be able to limit how many amps I draw as I'm often in locations where there is only 15 amps. I've been "dialing down" to 12.

Any one know of a stand alone device that would allow me to do that?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

But

Not

Impossible

Buy a foot long section of aluminum DIN RAIL online to slide this puppy onto. Make a wooden box. Rain proof. This breaker will work fine on 120vac as long as you realize the trip time will be twice as long - maybe an asset in your case

http://www.alliedelec.com/phoenix-contact-0916610/70208288/

[time2roll]

Second PD9140 and do double conversion into the battery/inverter.
Use one for low power, both for high power. And more solar for the hot days running the air for extended periods.

That or you will need a load shed device. But I am not sure you would be happy with it. Probably too clunky in the application of low power (12 amps).

[pianotuna]

Finding a 10 amp circuit breaker may be difficult.

[DrewE]

You mean other than by turning things on and off? The only ones I know of that would actively control the demand work by automatically cycling things on and off as needed (excepting, of course, fancy inverters such as you used until quite recently). They're rather expensive and would take a good bit of wiring and work to get set up appropriately.

Ultimately the breaker protecting the outlet you're plugged into will limit the current that you can consume. You don't need anything else from a safety point of view. I'd probably just get some sort of an ammeter and keep an eye on that as needed. There are a good many suitable ones available from Amazon and Ebay and similar places for reasonable prices.

Mex's circuit breaker suggestion would work fine, too, but you'd want some means of bypassing it when you have more power available. Possibly wiring one up in an adapter dogbone would be the simplest and handiest way to accomplish that.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

An auto-reset A.C. breaker.