100x Electrical Safety RCD Test Labels BS7671 (1 Roll) 75x50mm 18th Edition

Product Information

Residual current protective devices shall be selected and erected such as to limit the risk of unwanted tripping. The following should be considered:

Equipment with frequency controlled speed drives RCD can detect & respond as for Type A, PLUS high-frequency residual current Before we look at testing RCDs, it is worth pointing out that the requirements for selection and erection of RCDs have been amended. Regulation 531.3.3 of BS 7671:2018+A2:2022 states that the appropriate RCD shall be selected according to the presence of DC components and AC frequencies. Further, Type AC RCDs shall only be used to serve fixed equipment, where it is known that the load current contains no DC components. To aid those carrying out testing, a number of manufacturers of devices employing the 0.25 A characteristic are now providing an advisory label explaining this which can be affixed inside the lid of the consumer unit or distribution board in which the RCD is installed.With the increase of new technologies being introduced and more widely used, these devices are becoming more vitality important to provide additional protection against fire. A fire or smoke detection system would fall into this definition. If this system is supplied from the electrical installation then an overvoltage could cause it to fail and, as such, requires protection. The simplest way to provide this protection may be to supply it at the distribution board or consumer unit.

It was noted that those testing RCDs in the field would find it difficult to carry out the variety of tests permitted and may not know which of the available tests would be applicable to a given make or type of RCD. For all other cases, protection against transient overvoltages shall be provided, unless the owner of the installation declares it is not required due to any loss or damage being tolerable and they accept the risk of damage to equipment and any consequential loss. BS EN 61009-1:2012+A13:2021 Residual current operated circuit-breakers with integral overcurrent protection for household and similar uses (RCBOs). General rules. The note to Regulation 643.8 of BS 7671 which gives the requirements for the verification of an RCD to provide additional protection states that: The testing of RCDs has become more complex with the introduction of various different types of RCD. All RCDs, regardless of type, can detect and respond to an AC waveform. To simplify the testing procedure it is only now a requirement for verification purposes to carry out the AC test that is common to all types. So regardless of RCD type, the effectiveness is deemed to have been verified by testing the device using an AC waveform at a test current of 1 x IΔn.Sub Committee A of JPEL/64 scrutinized the product standards for RCDs and noted the complexity of testing parameters, as well as the results permitted by the standards that could be used to prove the functionality of an RCD when bench tested in a laboratory. BS EN 61009-1:2012+A12:2016. Residual current operated circuit-breakers with integral overcurrent protection for household and similar uses (RCBOs). If the Type A RCD setting is selected on the test instrument, the test current is increased by a factor of 1.4. Therefore, if the instrument is set to perform a test on a 30 mA RCD at five times I Δn, a test current of 210 mA (30 x 5 x 1.4 = 210 mA) would be produced which may not be sufficient to operate the RCD within the required time as the product standard requires a test current of 350 mA (0.35 A), as described previously.