Hi, I’m in the process of designing an ESS installation for my home here in Belgium, and I’m getting more and more desperate trying to find fuses or circuit breakers for the DC distribution that conform to local regulations in AREI/RGIE. In fact I think they don’t exists, because I didn’t find any fusing system in the >100A range that mechanically prevents exchange with a higher amperage, which is a typical reason installations get their approval denied. And while there are circuit breakers that can be used in 48VDC circuits up to 125A, none of them is specified for DC use according to the home installation norm EN/IEC 60898-1. It’s always only the norm EN/IEC 60947-2 which is for circuit breakers that only trained electrical professionals are allowed to operate.
I know however that there are Victron ESS installations in Belgium that have been approved. So it all comes down to selecting a fusing solution that has the lowest probability of being denied by the installation approval auditor.
So my hope is that community members with approved installations in Belgium may share here how they have protected their DC wires. (And BTW: Which wires do you use for DC distribution? I’m having trouble to find Eca certified thick DC wires let alone Cca)
My system will be:
- 3x MP2 48/3000, each connected with 35mm², 125A MCB or 100A fuse
- 1x MPPT RS 450|200, connected with 70mm², strictly speaking 70mm² not allowed here in home installations, but would be 200A fuse, 250A MCBs don’t exist
- 4x Pylontech US5000, each connected with 4AWG, thus 80A MCB or 63A fuse
Maybe the MPPT RS will be connected 2x35mm² instead of 1x70mm².