Buyers Products Circuit Breaker w Manual Push-to-Trip Reset - Surface Mount - 150 Amp

Video Transcript for Buyers Products Circuit Breaker with Manual Push-to-Trip Reset Review

Ryan: Hey everybody, my name's Ryan and here at etrailer, we install, test fit and review a lot of different parts. That way, we can try to help answer any questions those of you might have and that's exactly what we're doing here today. We're going to be taking a look at and showing you how to install the line of Buyers Products circuit breakers with manual reset. So whether you're adding a circuit breaker or simply replacing one, these are going to be a great option for you to keep your electrical system protected.So the way a circuit breaker works is it's kind of like a big fuse just to simplify things. It's going to protect your electrical system from excessive amperage. And so whenever you're using an accessory, it's going to draw amps, it's going to draw power.

So whether that be a snowplow, a winch, in our case, we have it on a boat today so this is going to be used for lights, bilge pumps, things like that. So whatever the case may be, how it's going to work is when that power runs through the circuit breaker from your battery, it's going to go out to that accessory and for whatever reason, if you have a short or anything like that, that would draw excessive current. Any current past the amount that the circuit breaker is rated for, the circuit is going to open up. So the breaker would trip the circuit and that would cut power from getting to that accessory. That way, you won't risk damaging it and potentially ruining it.But if this we're to trip, unlike a fuse, you're not going to have to replace it right away, all you're going to have to do is reset it.

And honestly, I'm a big fan of the manual reset, really for a few different reasons. Some circuit breakers are actually auto reset and so what that means is whenever they get too hot, they'll trip the breaker and once that cools down, you'll get power back. That's convenient, however, if the breaker is popping, usually there's an issue causing that to pop like that. So whenever it opens up, it's not going to automatically reset unless you want it to.So since you can keep the breaker open once it's tripped, it's going to give you an opportunity to locate and find a problem and fix it. That way, you can come back here and send the power to it again.

So I think that's especially important on a boat, a boat fire is no joke and so you don't want to do anything to risk that and this is just a quick way to make sure that you're not powering accessories that don't need to currently be powered. That way, you don't have an accident or damage any other components.So when it comes to choosing the proper size circuit breaker, there's a few things that you can do. Many times, manufacturers actually put labels on their products that will indicate to you how many amps that particular product draws. If there's not a label on there, you could always reach out to them and see if they could help you out with any information or worst case scenario, you could always use an amp meter and measure the amps. And a good rule of thumb, if that's your case, would be to get a breaker roughly 25% larger or more than how many amps your product draws.

So just to keep things easy, let's say if you have something that draws 75 amps, you would probably want to get a 100 amp circuit breaker. And you want to over shoot it a little bit because a lot of times there can be spikes. Usually if you turn your accessory on right away, it will draw a little more amps right off the bat and so you want to leave a little bit of room for that. That way, you're not constantly tripping your breaker for really no reason at all. So that's just a few things you can do to figure out what size breaker you need. And there's many different choices, there's a ton of different ratings on these breakers so you should have no problem finding the appropriate size one that you need for your application.So one thing I really do like about these breakers is they feel like they're actually pretty well-built. They're nice and solid and they almost remind me of an industrial type breaker, if that makes sense. I feel like these aren't going to break real easy or if you bump something into them, you're not going to damage it. So you should be able to get some good use out of it. It's also waterproof, which is important especially on a boat, you wouldn't want to use anything else, but even on other equipment and stuff like that. A lot of times these can be mounted outside and so you definitely want one that's waterproof that won't fail on you. And they're also nice and small and compact so as far as getting it mounted up, you're going to have a lot of different options. It gets secured in two spots here on the corners. So when you put bolts in it and it's not going to go anywhere or move around anywhere. It does not come with the hardware to mount it up, so that's just something to keep in mind. And even just the little things. It comes with these rubber caps that go over the studs. So it just offers us an extra layer of protection there.Now, as far as the overall size of the breaker itself, it's got to be two and seven eights of an inch long and an inch and seven eights wide. So it's not going to take up a whole lot of space, it's nice and compact, and you should honestly be able to mount it pretty much anywhere you need to. It's also going to be rated for up to 42 volts DC so these are really versatile and will work out well with a ton of different applications.Now something that I do want to mention is the fact that the breaker does not come included with any extra wiring or anything like that so you're going to have to use what you already have or if you need some here, at etrailer, we sell many different types of wiring and buck connectors, ring terminals, things of that nature. However, one thing you need to keep in mind is you want to make sure to use the proper size wire. So typically speaking, the more amps that you're going to be running, the thicker wire that you're going to need to get so that's something you need to pay attention to and make sure everything is sized appropriately. That way, you remain safe. However, with all that being said, as far as getting this installed, it's super simple. There's really not a whole lot to it, it's not a very complex electrical component if you will so you really shouldn't have any issues getting it done at home. Speaking of which, let's go ahead and hook it up together now.To begin our installation, we first need to find a good spot to mount up our circuit breaker. Now we're going to be putting this in a fishing boat and in this compartment here, it has been set up more or less for a battery compartment and so I think this would be a great spot to mount up our breaker. Now keep in mind, the breakers are good for a ton of different applications. The boat that we're putting it in today is just one good example of how versatile this is.So here is the location that I chose and what I did is just pre-drilled a couple of holes here and here. Those line up with the attachment points in our breaker. And I pre-drilled because I'm actually using aluminum self-tapping screws. These have a tough time puncturing the metal if you will so that's why I pre drilled them out first. With that being said, I'll go ahead and get our breaker secured now. So with this mounted, now we can start to hook our wires up. So you're going to remove the nut on this side. There is some lettering next to the post that says auxiliary. In our case, this is our auxiliary wire. This runs up to the boat's switch panel and fuse block and everything else. So we're going to take this end, put it over that stud and reinstall that nut. With this one hooked up, this post here is labeled battery and so we're going to have a wire that goes from it to the positive terminal where our battery there, so I'll remove that and slide that into position just like the other one and tighten that nut back down.And I just pulled our battery out some so we could see it a lot easier and work with everything. Before we hook this up though, what I'm going to do is open the breaker. That way, when we hook this up, it won't be hot. So to open it, you can simply push this button and that'll open it up. So now that that's open, place it over that positive terminal, tighten down our wing nut and then come back and close our breaker. So you're simply just going to push that in like so.So with it all hooked up, it's not a bad idea just to check everything to make sure that it's still working properly. So in our case, we'll turn on our power going to the switch panel. As you can see, we have voltage, some lights come on. If we actually engage these switches, you can see that they all light up so just a real quick check to make sure everything is functioning as it should. And that'll finish up our look at and installation of the line of Buyers Products circuit breakers with manual reset..