Breaker question

[BillC]

Will charging current flow back thru a breaker.I’m thinking about putting an Anderson connector after the breaker so I can unplug my trolling motor.My Time usb charger has an Anderson plug.Can I just plug in to charge? I see most breakers are marked line and load

 

[GTS225]

Yes, it will. "Back-feeding" is a common trick when using a generator to power your house during an outage.

Roger

 

[Bantou]

Yes, it will. "Back-feeding" is a common trick when using a generator to power your house during an outage.

Roger

If you do this with your house, TURN OFF YOUR MAIN BREAKER. If you don't turn the main off, you will back-feed the entire neighborhood and potentially hurt/kill anyone working on the main line, even miles away from your house.

I know I say this every time the issue of back-feeding comes up, but it needs to be said every time. Otherwise, some idjut is going to see the post and decide it's a good idea without knowing how dangerous it is. I built powerlines for a number of years. Back-feed from a residential generator was always high on the list of safety concerns during an outage.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

If you do this with your house, TURN OFF YOUR MAIN BREAKER. If you don't turn the main off, you will back-feed the entire neighborhood and potentially hurt/kill anyone working on the main line, even miles away from your house.

I know I say this every time the issue of back-feeding comes up, but it needs to be said every time. Otherwise, some idjut is going to see the post and decide it's a good idea without knowing how dangerous it is. I built powerlines for a number of years. Back-feed from a residential generator was always high on the list of safety concerns during an outage.

While I always had been very careful with how I switched between generator and street power, added a lock-out that prevents the generator breaker and the main breaker from both being made at the same time.

Myself, I haven’t tried back feeding a DC breaker, but suspect it will work.

 

[Bantou]

While I always had been very careful with how I switched between generator and street power, added a lock-out that prevents the generator breaker and the main breaker from both being made at the same time.

Myself, I haven’t tried back feeding a DC breaker, but suspect it will work.

I don’t see why it wouldn’t. The wire doesn’t care which way the electricity is flowing. As long as you are feeding hot to hot and ground to ground, it should work just fine.

The only thing I’m not sure on is the breaker. Most breakers are basically just a thermal switch. GFCI gets a little weird, but I don’t know if that’s even a thing on low voltage DC.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

I’m not familiar with the Time usb charger, but most onboard chargers have their own fuses that will blow long before a 50-60A breaker will trip.

 

[BillC]

Maybe I didn’t make myself clear This is for the 12v battery for my trolling motor. I want to put a Anderson connector after the 12v 60 amp breaker for the trolling motor.The time usb lithium charger comes with a Anderson connector attached.The reason I was wondering if it would work is because the breakers I’ve looked at are marked line and load I didn’t know if there was a diode in the breaker .I just want to be able to unplug the trolling motor and plug the battery charger in.

 

[Bantou]

Maybe I didn’t make myself clear This is for the 12v battery for my trolling motor. I want to put a Anderson connector after the 12v 60 amp breaker for the trolling motor.The time usb lithium charger comes with a Anderson connector attached.The reason I was wondering if it would work is because the breakers I’ve looked at are marked line and load I didn’t know if there was a diode in the breaker .I just want to be able to unplug the trolling motor and plug the battery charger in.

Without knowing exactly what breaker you have, it's hard to say for sure. However, the VAST majority of non-gfci breakers are just glorified temperature switches. They don't read the amperage on the wire per say. Instead, they have a piece of metal with a known resistance. As you draw more amps, the resistance causes the metal to heat up. If the metal gets hot enough (indicating that you are pulling too many amps), it causes the breaker to trip.

Edit to add: Breakers don't usually care which way the current flows. Hence why you can attempt to power an entire neighborhood if you back-feed your house without killing the main.