How many amps to trip the main breakers?

[pahunter]

What does it actually take to trip them on a 002a or a 016E? What are the breakers officially rated for? I'm afraid to push mine to much to find out for myself.

 

[Isaac-1]

I don't know on the MEP-002a off hand, but was just looking at the information in the TM for the MEP-016b (the MEP-016e is a 016b that has been retrofitted with a Yanmar L100 engine), it is a bit of an odd breaker as the amperage is different for L1&L2 than for L3 this way it can be used for both single and 3 phase modes without any adjustment, the trip ratings are:

the instant relay trip points are:
between 54-70 amps on L1&L2
between 45-54 amps on L3

 

[pahunter]

Why would they design it that way. Why not have a second breaker with a reasonable capacity say, 30 amps so troops using them would get some warning before they ruin the unit, then have a switch to bypass the reasonable breaker if you are desperate for more power?

 

[Speddmon]

Read this thread MEP-002A and -003A main breaker. It is very informative about the ratings and operation of the main breakers of the MEP-002a and MEP-003a breakers.

 

[Isaac-1]

My best guess is this way you get more amps, and therefore a higher trip point when in 1 phase mode, than when in 3 phase mode.

 

[PeterD]

Why would they design it that way. Why not have a second breaker with a reasonable capacity say, 30 amps so troops using them would get some warning before they ruin the unit, then have a switch to bypass the reasonable breaker if you are desperate for more power?

Done like that because a breaker on a three phase generator set must break all three phases (to prevent possible damage to three phase loads and also to prevent a safety problem.)

I've seen similar setups as well, where one of the three phases was rated lower than the other two.