Can someone please tell me what the difference is between RCS mains
sockets with active control circuits and those which are passive?

I was looking at this MK one for our garage:

http://www.mkelectric.co.uk/products...0&rangeid=1030

It has a 30mA rated tripping current. There is also a 10mA version. I
am right in guessing that the 10mA one is better because it is more
sensitive to any residual current?

Many thanks for your help.

On Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:48:42 -0800 (PST), Distorted Vision wrote:

Can someone please tell me what the difference is between RCS mains
sockets with active control circuits and those which are passive?

I was looking at this MK one for our garage:

http://www.mkelectric.co.uk/products...0&rangeid=1030

It has a 30mA rated tripping current. There is also a 10mA version. I
am right in guessing that the 10mA one is better because it is more
sensitive to any residual current?

Many thanks for your help.

For outdoor use (and indeed in most domestic circumstances) 10mA will be a
nuisance; it's used in hospitals for obvious reasons.
My 30mA on the main board trips at 25mA but not at 20mA and hasn't suffered
from over-sensitivity, but 10mA in the garden probably would.
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

Many thanks Peter I'll get the 30mA. They certainly not cheap are they?

"Distorted Vision" wrote in message
...
Can someone please tell me what the difference is between RCS mains
sockets with active control circuits and those which are passive?

I was looking at this MK one for our garage:

http://www.mkelectric.co.uk/products...0&rangeid=1030

It has a 30mA rated tripping current. There is also a 10mA version. I
am right in guessing that the 10mA one is better because it is more
sensitive to any residual current?

Many thanks for your help.

Read

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Residual-current_device

10mA is not needed or desirable in a garage.

Adam

In article ,
PeterC writes:
On Fri, 23 Jan 2009 00:48:42 -0800 (PST), Distorted Vision wrote:

Can someone please tell me what the difference is between RCS mains
sockets with active control circuits and those which are passive?

Active needs mains power to stay untripped, so it will trip
on loss of mains. That's useful if you don't want appliances
to start up after a mains failure (such as garden machinary),
but would be a disaster for anything that should be running
continuously such as fridge/freezer/central-heating/fish-tank...

I was looking at this MK one for our garage:

http://www.mkelectric.co.uk/products...0&rangeid=1030

It has a 30mA rated tripping current. There is also a 10mA version. I
am right in guessing that the 10mA one is better because it is more
sensitive to any residual current?

Many thanks for your help.

For outdoor use (and indeed in most domestic circumstances) 10mA will be a
nuisance; it's used in hospitals for obvious reasons.
My 30mA on the main board trips at 25mA but not at 20mA and hasn't suffered
from over-sensitivity, but 10mA in the garden probably would.

10mA is fine for a single (or very few) appliances, which is what
you're likely to have running from a single socket.
10mA would be a pain in the arse for a circuit which is running
many appliances, such as a standard ring circuit.

My outdoor socket circuit is run from a 10mA RCBO in the consumer
unit, and has never false tripped. It has however tripped very
nicely as I sliced through the hedge cutter cable, without me
feeling a thing. (When a neighbour waves to you, don't wave back
with a running hedge cutter ;-)

10mA is traditionally required for restricted conductive locations,
such as if you are working inside a large metal pipe where you
can't easily move or jump out of way, or let go of the metalwork
you're laying on. It's also useful for poor grounding situations,
such as working outdoors where an earth leakage through you might
be limited to a small current due to resistance of dryish ground,
damp footwear, leakage through tree branches, etc, which might mean
you are taking a sustained 20mA which isn't tripping your particular
30mA RCD/RCBO.

One other comment I'd make is to avoid installing RCD's outdoors or
in damp/condensating places like garages. You do want RCD protection
there, but have the RCD indoors remote from the power outlet, where
it isn't going to suffer from any condensation issues which eventually
kills them.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Distorted Vision wrote:

Can someone please tell me what the difference is between RCS mains
sockets with active control circuits and those which are passive?

"active" means it has a "No Volt Release" (NVR) facility that will
result in the RCD opening on power loss, and then needing a manual reset
when power is restored.

I was looking at this MK one for our garage:

http://www.mkelectric.co.uk/products...0&rangeid=1030

It has a 30mA rated tripping current. There is also a 10mA version. I
am right in guessing that the 10mA one is better because it is more
sensitive to any residual current?

30mA will usually offer adequate protection - certainly for in the garage.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
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|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Distorted Vision wrote:

Many thanks Peter I'll get the 30mA. They certainly not cheap are they?

MK generally aren't - other brands may be more to your pockets liking.

An alternative would be to use a din mount RCD in a small enclosure to
protect a radial with a number of sockets. You could do this for £20 all
in.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

In article
,
Distorted Vision wrote:
Many thanks Peter I'll get the 30mA. They certainly not cheap are they?

They're quite complex electro-mechanical devices.

--
*Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Fri, 23 Jan 2009 02:07:05 -0800 (PST), Distorted Vision wrote:

Many thanks Peter I'll get the 30mA. They certainly not cheap are they?

From another thread, looks as if MK is expensive and not the best.

Screwfix has some, e.g.

http://tinyurl.com/c68wge

at about £20 - £22 for twin socket 2-pole.

I did a GFs garage, mainly for a mower, by using a twin socket RCD (with a
cover and metal-clad, as it was close to the door) and ran an extension to
a double socket extension for the bench.

In my shed I ran the supply from the 100mA RCD on the main board, split it
to the lights via a 5A MCB and via a 30mA RCD for the sockets. This was so
that the lights don't go off if there's a fault.
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.

On 23 Jan 2009 11:46:03 GMT, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

My outdoor socket circuit is run from a 10mA RCBO in the consumer unit,
and has never false tripped.

Surprised you can get the thing to reset if there is a decent extension
cable on the circuit. I have a plug in 10mA RCD, it's 50:50 if it will
stay in if you try to reset with it still connected to the supply. It's a
PITA so don't use it, thus can't remember if it will latch without a
supply. I think not otherwise it wouldn't be such a PITA...

--
Cheers
Dave.

In article et,
"Dave Liquorice" writes:
On 23 Jan 2009 11:46:03 GMT, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

My outdoor socket circuit is run from a 10mA RCBO in the consumer unit,
and has never false tripped.

Surprised you can get the thing to reset if there is a decent extension
cable on the circuit. I have a plug in 10mA RCD, it's 50:50 if it will
stay in if you try to reset with it still connected to the supply. It's a
PITA so don't use it, thus can't remember if it will latch without a
supply. I think not otherwise it wouldn't be such a PITA...

I would say that there's either something wrong with your
RCD or with the extension lead.

My outdoor circuit has a few metres of singles in conduit indoors,
either 15m or 25m (can't recall now) of SWA outdoors, a couple of
sockets, and when I'm using the hedge trimmer, its own 5m lead plus
an 18m extension lead, all of which is 3-core. No problems with that.
I have tested the 10mA RCD and it trips at 10mA but not at 5mA (not
actually tested where between 5mA and 10mA it trips).
It's a TT circuit (own earth rod, not the house earthing), although
that shouldn't make any difference.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

The RCD socket I want to fit is for the lawnmover, strimmer, garden
shredder, pressure washer, etc. This site has the MK one on special
offer listed at £19.99:

http://tobinternational.co.uk/acatal...al_Offers.html

Shame when you add VAT and postage it comes to £32.19.

I think I'll get the Volex one from Screwfix that Peter posted the
link to.

Cheers!