Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian Curtis
I was always under the impression that once a main breaker had tripped you should replace it since it took less energy for subsequent trips. Is that actually true?
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We've observed this on multiple occasions, and my understanding is that the tripping action is caused by the bending of a bimetal strip inside the breaker. I imagine that the strip could be subject to plastic deformation near the trip point and wouldn't have the same characteristics afterwards.
Whenever we trip a main breaker in competition (twice so far this year) it gets thrown into the nearest trash can and a new one goes on the robot. As Marcus said, between matches with tight turnaround we cool it down with compressed air.