Perfect consumer unit: Plug and play RCBO's/ RCD/ MCB onto Live/Nuetral Bus Bar with a separate take off for a neutral bar above allowing full RCBO or Split load without needing fly leads off RCBO's.
Has any manufacturers ever experimented with a single phase vertical board, because I have come across several jobs where boards have been installed vertically, when they should be horizontal. That would be interesting to see, that's if someone was brave enough to go against the norm.
Funny .. in Belgium we have this Flexibility for decades ... no need for metal fuseboards .. mostly plastic here for consumers. No need to be same brand board as MCB's etc ... you can easy fit a schneider board and fit Hager MCB's no problem . However everything has to be after a 300mA RCB . We cannot have cicuits w/o RCB protection . Also we have all douple pole brakers .. no neutral bar and single pole brakers is allowed .. because we have a lot of older net's ..with 230V between fases .. so no neutral available .Also no ring circuits here .. so we need at least a board twice the size as in UK minimum :-)
@@tommymack3210 Split phase, that's the reason that Schuko isn't polarized. Back when this socket system was introduced (early 1930s) you either had a split phase system with 2x110/220V or a three-phase system with 127V between the phases and the earth potential and 220V between the phases. Since you had two phases on the socket it wasn't necessary to polarize it. In Germany the last remnants of the split phase system were replaced in the 1950s. Here the first board must be metal (usually they have plastic inserts and are double insulated), the sub boards can be plastic except they are in an escape route. Then they must be metal. We also have boards which are recessed into the wall, they are made of plastic but the frame and door are metal. If these are in an escape route they must have a special fire resistant gasket. The manufacturer mixing is the same here. You usually find Hager boards, and the electrician fits his favorite MCBs, RCDs and RCBOs into the board, according to the customers needs. Fully equipped boards are almost not available here, you buy all the parts separately and it's the electricians job to select and install the required components.
Personally I have never seen the logic in buying a board and filling it with another brand of breakers, but each to their own, but we get that in the UK as well, or some will go one step further and use several manufacturers. We can't use plastic any more, because there's a lot of electricians that suffer with wrist fatigue, which means that they couldn't tighten the terminals enough which resulted in a lot of fires. The ring circuit is UK specific and there's a push to do away with the circuit, mainly because people don't abide by the rules regarding the circuit when working on it, probably the same group that can't use a screwdriver.
@@gadgetman36 no your incorrect there, rather than deal with the cause, the idiots that can't tighten screws, they dealt with the symptom, fire, because it was easier. You can still fit plastic boards if you want in none domestic properties.
@@efixx I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Gary Hayers and the guy’s at GHS and EFIX, for all the fantastic videos and hard work that they do to help apprentices and qualified electricians to get were they want to be. Since the start of the pandemic I have watched many hours of videos and spent the past 16 months or so studying to get my self up to date with BS7671 and all the changes and new technology coming in to the industry, I have learned so much from it all and I have gained twelve of the eFix CPDs to go with my city and Guilds parts one and two . I am now thinking of getting myself registered? But not sure if it is for me as yet. 👍👍👍👍👍👍 So thank you very very much guy’s
The 14 module enclosure is 347mm wide giving you 8 usable ways as a Dual RCD unit. The 16 module Wylex enclosure is 4mm smaller yet gives you 10 usable ways as a dual RCD unit. Bit of a gimmick the "Compact" label.
I don’t get what’s compact about this DB. Also have they ever used their acti9 technology in a single phase DB? That could possibly make it more compact
For a compact consumer unit (Which is a great idea) its a shame that the RCBO's seem to be the full height instead of miniture rcbo's which I am sure would make a huge difference..
It's interesting, all the manufacturers are making the stuff to the same BS number, yet there's a vast difference in price, there shouldn't be that much difference in price.
Wish all consumer unit manufactures would stop putting knock outs around their boards , i dont mind drilling them it takes less than a minute and i can put them where i need
@@efixx Usually the wrong size knockout in the wrong place and if there's conduit or large trunking installed it causes chaos because you know its going to land dead centre of a 20mm and a 32mm knockout
my only nag about their products is their isolator only has one clip making it very flimsy and not very secure, if you notice their rcbo for example has a clip but their double pole isolator instead of having two clips and its two spaces wide it only has one and does not secure it very well
Absolutely, with the same devices in for the most part. My only small chance is ncern would be the consumer unit hinged cover really. We'll get back to you. 👍
Will definitely give the easy 9 compact a try, like how the dim rail is low allowing plenty of space for cables to be addressed.
Let us know your thoughts!
Perfect consumer unit: Plug and play RCBO's/ RCD/ MCB onto Live/Nuetral Bus Bar with a separate take off for a neutral bar above allowing full RCBO or Split load without needing fly leads off RCBO's.
Schneider do this on their three phase DBs, maybe it's just a matter of time? Stay tuned! 😊
Has any manufacturers ever experimented with a single phase vertical board, because I have come across several jobs where boards have been installed vertically, when they should be horizontal.
That would be interesting to see, that's if someone was brave enough to go against the norm.
That's funny I have just asked the same question, 3 phase boards are configured that way so why not?
Great question, thanks we'll look into it.
When you said compact I though ow cool... Then Seeing it.. it don't seem that "compact" in reality. Good informative video none the less!
In fairness its pretty small compared to other consumer units when you see it in the flesh. 👍
Funny .. in Belgium we have this Flexibility for decades ... no need for metal fuseboards .. mostly plastic here for consumers. No need to be same brand board as MCB's etc ... you can easy fit a schneider board and fit Hager MCB's no problem . However everything has to be after a 300mA RCB . We cannot have cicuits w/o RCB protection . Also we have all douple pole brakers .. no neutral bar and single pole brakers is allowed .. because we have a lot of older net's ..with 230V between fases .. so no neutral available .Also no ring circuits here .. so we need at least a board twice the size as in UK minimum :-)
IT system?
@@tommymack3210 Split phase, that's the reason that Schuko isn't polarized. Back when this socket system was introduced (early 1930s) you either had a split phase system with 2x110/220V or a three-phase system with 127V between the phases and the earth potential and 220V between the phases. Since you had two phases on the socket it wasn't necessary to polarize it. In Germany the last remnants of the split phase system were replaced in the 1950s.
Here the first board must be metal (usually they have plastic inserts and are double insulated), the sub boards can be plastic except they are in an escape route. Then they must be metal. We also have boards which are recessed into the wall, they are made of plastic but the frame and door are metal. If these are in an escape route they must have a special fire resistant gasket.
The manufacturer mixing is the same here. You usually find Hager boards, and the electrician fits his favorite MCBs, RCDs and RCBOs into the board, according to the customers needs. Fully equipped boards are almost not available here, you buy all the parts separately and it's the electricians job to select and install the required components.
Personally I have never seen the logic in buying a board and filling it with another brand of breakers, but each to their own, but we get that in the UK as well, or some will go one step further and use several manufacturers.
We can't use plastic any more, because there's a lot of electricians that suffer with wrist fatigue, which means that they couldn't tighten the terminals enough which resulted in a lot of fires.
The ring circuit is UK specific and there's a push to do away with the circuit, mainly because people don't abide by the rules regarding the circuit when working on it, probably the same group that can't use a screwdriver.
Plastic CUs are a fire risk which is why 18th Edition specifies metal CUs.
@@gadgetman36 no your incorrect there, rather than deal with the cause, the idiots that can't tighten screws, they dealt with the symptom, fire, because it was easier.
You can still fit plastic boards if you want in none domestic properties.
Nice I like that CU
Fantastic video as always Joe thank you 👍👍👍❤️⚡️
Cheers Sean! 😊
@@efixx I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Gary Hayers and the guy’s at GHS and EFIX, for all the fantastic videos and hard work that they do to help apprentices and qualified electricians to get were they want to be.
Since the start of the pandemic I have watched many hours of videos and spent the past 16 months or so studying to get my self up to date with BS7671 and all the changes and new technology coming in to the industry, I have learned so much from it all and I have gained twelve of the eFix CPDs to go with my city and Guilds parts one and two . I am now thinking of getting myself registered? But not sure if it is for me as yet. 👍👍👍👍👍👍
So thank you very very much guy’s
The 14 module enclosure is 347mm wide giving you 8 usable ways as a Dual RCD unit. The 16 module Wylex enclosure is 4mm smaller yet gives you 10 usable ways as a dual RCD unit. Bit of a gimmick the "Compact" label.
I don’t get what’s compact about this DB. Also have they ever used their acti9 technology in a single phase DB? That could possibly make it more compact
It'll be interesting to see if they do go that way in time. In fairness the board is pretty compact when you see it in the flesh 👍
@@efixx I’ll take your word for it, they do say the camera adds ten pounds!
For a compact consumer unit (Which is a great idea) its a shame that the RCBO's seem to be the full height instead of miniture rcbo's which I am sure would make a huge difference..
Good feedback, thanks!
I told their marketing team the old easy 9 board was too big 3 or 4 years ago. Takes them how long to make one like everyone else?
3-4 years so
Product development takes time I guess.
Nearly double the price of fusebox, the SPD is a extra module wide, would love to be fitting hager, Schneider etc but can’t be competitive on price
It's interesting, all the manufacturers are making the stuff to the same BS number, yet there's a vast difference in price, there shouldn't be that much difference in price.
Wish all consumer unit manufactures would stop putting knock outs around their boards , i dont mind drilling them it takes less than a minute and i can put them where i need
Your right, the only ones they need to fit is the rear entry ones
That's interesting, not had anyone express that opinion before. Do you find the knockouts in the wrong places generally? 🤔
@@efixx Usually the wrong size knockout in the wrong place and if there's conduit or large trunking installed it causes chaos because you know its going to land dead centre of a 20mm and a 32mm knockout
Fair points. 👍
@@efixx sometimes they can be, I thought Hager did a board that didn't have Knock outs. I know they do a trunking knock out version.
my only nag about their products is their isolator only has one clip making it very flimsy and not very secure, if you notice their rcbo for example has a clip but their double pole isolator instead of having two clips and its two spaces wide it only has one and does not secure it very well
If you had a narrow space but height wasn't a problem is it ok to set upright?
That's a great question, I can't see any problem with it really but something we can put to the manufacturers. 👍
@@efixx 3 phase d/b are mounted that way.
Absolutely, with the same devices in for the most part. My only small chance is ncern would be the consumer unit hinged cover really. We'll get back to you. 👍
@@efixx I have installed 3 ph d/b with side hinged covers. Anyway as long as the electricity doesn't fall out it should be ok.
@@raychambers3646 😂 Fair point. 👍
Have Schneider taken on an electrician as their head designer🤭
CP fusebox is still the most extensive feature rich and cheapest consumer unit
Rather use a 10 way hager rcbo board alot more compact
Fair enough!
You forget to mention the one thing that matters, price of the board and rcbos and stuff.
Not as pricey as Hager at times but almost double CP FuseBox and Contactum etc.
It's Schneider, we all know you will pay a lot more for their stuff.
We don't normally state prices as they're incredibly variable from place to place. 👍