Cover Story PowerBreaker The forefront of RCD Technology
Greenbrook Electrical, designer and distributor of electrical products and accessories and RCD specialists, were able to supply thousands of PowerBreaker connection units (model H92) to both the new Nightingale Hospital at the NEC, Birmingham and the Nightingale Hospital at the Excel Centre, London, to help the people of the UK fight this terrible pandemic. In these torrid times, GreenBrook was pleased to be able to help in a small way.
F
ollowing amendments to the safety standards BS7288-2016, GreenBrook was the first
manufacturer to ensure its RCD socket products adhered to the latest safety regulations, and formed part of the BEAMA Technical Committee who helped to write the revised standard. To explain in simple terms; the new
standard requires Type A RCDs and Type AC RCDs. Type A RCDs can detect pulsating DC currents and surge faults that Type AC RCDs may not detect. Products that adhere to this standard have a more sensitive/stable trip window so are a much safer defence against electrocution and offer great protection for hospital equipment. Pulsating DC currents are created from faults sometimes found in modern electronic equipment such as EV car chargers, solar panels, multi-media equipment, USB sockets, i-phone chargers, SONOS, Alexa etc. This new standard requires much more rigorous testing of the RCDs with high voltage and short circuit tests. These tests are so intense; they are only able to be carried out by one of the industry independent test houses. Another visible change to this standard is the additional markings on the front plate and the coloured flag indicators; which must now be green and red. To keep with GreenBrook’s stylishly design front plate, these indicators are placed within the window. A RED flag shows the
is more call for using RCDs to detect and isolate products at the point of use to help prevent electrical fires, as well as helping to protect the main circuit and the consumer unit. Using socket RCDs at the point of source also helps to stop nuisance tripping further up the circuit. Socket RCD’s are a perfect opportunity for wholesalers to make an additional sale, whilst ensuring that their customers adhere to the latest safety regulations.
Passive or Active? PowerBreaker socket RCDs
are available in both 30mA and 10mA trip currents in a selection of Passive and Active designs. Many people are unaware of the differences between Passive or Active products and do not understand where best to use what.
For Passive RCDs, a typical application
device is ON with a live supply to the appliance. A GREEN flag shows the device is safe with the supply to the appliance switched OFF. GreenBrook has also noticed an upturn in its
Powerbreaker RCD business with the changes to the 18th Edition increasing the use of RCDs in all public areas. This amendment, together with the increased safety requirements discussed in the recent government Hackitt Report, means there
Many people are unaware of the differences
between Passive or Active products and do not understand where best to use what.
10 | electrical wholesalerMay 2020
would be a refrigerator or freezer that would return to their regular mode of operation as soon as the power supply resumes normal operation. Passive RCDs are also useful to use for sockets in hard to reach places where having to gain access to re-set an RCD would be tricky, however where protection is still required. An active RCD is better used for electrical equipment such as hedge trimmers or power tools where unexpected restarting of the equipment could present a danger to the user in a power cut situation. You will also see PowerBreaker offer both a 30mA RCD as standard plus a 10mA option. PowerBreaker 10mA RCDs are the super
sensitive products. These RCDs trip earlier as they are more sensitive to a fault current flowing,
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