Dangerous upgrade to crabtree rcbo's

[Alrebcon180]

Can you take the RCBO out and continuity test across the live terminal to neutral ?

Yep done that and also broke both a new one and an old one apart and you can clearly see the neutral fly lead In the new one is connected to the live bus bar prong.

 

[westward10]

Must be indirectly connected or it would short out.

 

[Alrebcon180]

I said no such thing !

Sorry David new to here and got u confused with another poster.

 

[Alrebcon180]

Must be indirectly connected or it would short out.

Will take some pictures tomorrow might be someone on here who understands the electronics of it more than I do..

 

[David Prosser]

On the drawing on the side of the double pole starbreaker it looks like you would get this if the test button is pressed as it comes of the live side before the switch.

 

[Wilko]

Yep done that and also broke both a new one and an old one apart and you can clearly see the neutral fly lead In the new one is connected to the live bus bar prong.

That broke my mind - can you post a pic please?

 

[Harry_P]

As per the text again in the real world of electrical work which I have been doing for 30 years you do have to work on a live fuse board now and again and anyone who has worked In a commercial or school environment will agree or just lie to go along with the people who " have never worked on anything live".. And yes to answer your question it does now mean that if I have to replace one of these items I will have to rethink how I go about this..
This is the reason I never post on these sites because I was trying to give a heads up to anyone who might be in a situation where they are replacing one I didn't want them to receive a shock like I did. But unfortunately most people on this site prefer to be argumentative and pick on the isolation side rather than actually pass on some info that might help someone..

I think you have misunderstood me if you think I was being negative or argumentative ,I was interested in your view on safe isolation and risks and you answered that question so thank you. My point about the real world wasn't meant to be a personal attack on you and I was genuinely asking if you value your safety above the inconvenience and cost of having to turn the electricity off.

 

[Strima]

Yep done that and also broke both a new one and an old one apart and you can clearly see the neutral fly lead In the new one is connected to the live bus bar prong.

Can you post a photo or two?

 

[Deleted member 26818]

Must admit, I would insert the RCBO before trimming and connecting the neutral fly lead.

 

[netblindpaul]

Neutral is a live conductor, we all know this.
It is in contravention of EAWR to work with live conductors unless it is unreasonable for them to be dead.
In a domestic situation this is never so.
A modern RCBO consumes energy to power the electronics, ergo there is a current down the neutral fly lead, thus it should be expected that the neutral fly lead will have a hazardous potential unless connected.
Therefore it is essential to isolate the board before fitting.
This is not an issue it is down to the installer not working correctly.

 

[Alrebcon180]

Would be interesting to hear from Crabtree on this.

Contacted Their technical guys and he basically said they know they have voltage on it and have had other calls but their argument is that the fuse board should be switched off. Poor excuse if u ask me as their older models didn't have this problem.

 

[Judd]

I can confirm this, noticed it whilst changing a MCB for RCBO and definitely happens with the RCBO in the off position.

 

[Alrebcon180]

I can confirm this, noticed it whilst changing a MCB for RCBO and definitely happens with the RCBO in the off position.

Oops.. Don't say u done it without turning the whole installation off.. U is gonna be in trouble.. Lol

 

[mattg4321]

At the very least its extremely poor design in my opinion.

Why design something that makes something more dangerous unless its necessary? Lucky I don't fit Electrium crap!

 

[David Prosser]

Contacted Their technical guys and he basically said they know they have voltage on it and have had other calls but their argument is that the fuse board should be switched off. Poor excuse if u ask me as their older models didn't have this problem.

As I said I don't work in a domestic environment . Therefor your argument does not hold water

Don't Crabtree say these are for domestic use, that is most likely there get out clause for anyone trying to fit them with out isolating the incoming supply.

 

[Alrebcon180]

 

[Alrebcon180]

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Anyone know someone who could look at these and tell us why this is happening.. I do find it strange that the wire covered in blue goes to the incoming live prong and the white covered wire goes to the neutral fly lead and then changes to blue..

 

[Midwest]

I'm still not convinced by this concept that everything should be tickety boo for you, 'cos you've decided or your boss has decided for you, to work live on a piece of equipment. Fair play to you Alexander to highlighting the issue, but another reason for not to work live in the first place.

Presumably having made the decision made to work live, then you'll be wearing suitable PPE for the resulting bang not to matter a jot. I'm thinking big rubber gloves, full face mask, leather apron, rubber boots & replacement underwear.

 

[Alrebcon180]

I'm still not convinced by this concept that everything should be tickety boo for you, 'cos you've decided or your boss has decided for you, to work live on a piece of equipment. Fair play to you Alexander to highlighting the issue, but another reason for not to work live in the first place.

Presumably having made the decision made to work live, then you'll be wearing suitable PPE for the resulting bang not to matter a jot. I'm thinking big rubber gloves, full face mask, leather apron, rubber boots & replacement underwear.

My god your life must be full of exciting things..
I have a healthy respect for electricity but am not that scared of it that I sit up worrying all night that if I don't have my rubber pants on I might die everytime I open up a a single phase fuse board.. Do you really work as an installation electrician on site.. I guess not

 

[netblindpaul]

Yeah I can look