Does anybody make an RCD breaker with a built-in display of fault current? It strikes me that with 'current' technology (ouch) adding a small LCD wouldn't hugely increase the price, and the value in tracing the cause of nuisance trips, or simply knowing how close it is to tripping, would be invaluable. I'd buy one!
Richard.
Yes that would be a rather nice idea, but alas I don't think I have seen such a thing.
(It would probably have a limited market, since I guess the majority of people don't know what a RCD does or how it works)
I must say that would be well down on my wish-list Further up would be for the standard electric meter to display the kW load being used as well as recording kWh
It would be quite easy to make one using a current transformer (which is how the RCD works in the first place).
Been standard in France for at least 20 years. My dad's meter has a button which enables you to cycle around about 10 different measurements. I won't recall them all precisely, but they're something like Volts, Current, Power, Power factor, VA, Energy usage peak and off-peak, Peak Power demand, etc. They are all also read real-time remotely which is used both for billing, and for trend analysis to predict future national demand on the grid (no one ever comes to read the meter). EDF also signal back to the meter to switch between peak and off-peak, and I think can also loadshed the high demand off-peak output if they need to.
Not that I know of, but you can get sensitive clamp meters for the same purpose:
Better still just disembowl a cheap plug in RCD, and add a socket for reading the voltage from the current transformer to the trip relay.
cheers, Pete.
I guess I should have included a warning that current transformers can generate lethal voltages if you don't know how to use them (i.e. don't try measuring the voltage, and don't leave the winding open-circuit).
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.