Upgrading Circuit Breakers for Hydraulic Pump

[rohrmann]

No. You have two breakers, one for the hydraulic pump, which is the slides and the jacks, and the other breaker is for everything else in the rig. When I replaced the breaker to the pump, I did not replace the other breaker. I also do not remember where the other wire goes off the load side of the 80 amp breaker, just wired it the same as it was wired on the old 40 amp breaker. I also found some loose connections when I installed the new breaker, so it's a good idea to check everything you can while doing this.

original installation


80 amp breaker installed


80 amp breaker

[432bartman]

Originally Posted by rohrmann

No. You have two breakers, one for the hydraulic pump, which is the slides and the jacks, and the other breaker is for everything else in the rig. When I replaced the breaker to the pump, I did not replace the other breaker. I also do not remember where the other wire goes off the load side of the 80 amp breaker, just wired it the same as it was wired on the old 40 amp breaker. I also found some loose connections when I installed the new breaker, so it's a good idea to check everything you can while doing this.

original installation


80 amp breaker installed


80 amp breaker

Thank you Bob for posting these pictures. Today I am upgrading my 50 amp to the 80 amp circuit breaker. Is it ok to upgrade both breakers to the 80 amp ones? I bought two.

[BB_TX]

Originally Posted by 432bartman

Thank you Bob for posting these pictures. Today I am upgrading my 50 amp to the 80 amp circuit breaker. Is it ok to upgrade both breakers to the 80 amp ones? I bought two.

Personally if I had never had a problem with the second breaker I would not replace it with an 80 amp. And if I did, the first thing would be to make sure the wiring from it is sized to handle 80 amps. The wire to the pump is short, visible, and hanging in free air so heating is not really an issue. The wires from the other one disappear in different unseen directions.

[432bartman]

Originally Posted by BB_TX

Personally if I had never had a problem with the second breaker I would not replace it with an 80 amp. And if I did, the first thing would be to make sure the wiring from it is sized to handle 80 amps. The wire to the pump is short, visible, and hanging in free air so heating is not really an issue. The wires from the other one disappear in different unseen directions.

Ok.....thank you Bill. Now I can begin.

[rohrmann]

Since I originally posted about the 80 amp breaker, the other large wire on the same terminal as the pump wire is the one that connects to the main panel via the battery disconnect switch. You don’t have load from the panel when operating the slides and leveling system and when you are using the loads on the panel you aren’t operating the hydraulics, so this arrangement works just fine. As far as replacing the other small breaker for a larger one, I would not because all the loads that can be on it are much less than it is rated for and to double it will be like not having any protection on those circuits. If something were to short, you will seriously melt the wire that is faulted which could cause a fire.