Failed RCD/GFI in electric car charge pillar.

It does look rather neat. I'd guess it is to minimise magnetic interference with the very sensitive trip mechanism.

Big Clive

That was very interesting! I like the use of different materials like the copper plates which i can only guess are used to keep magnetic effects to a minimum.

Michael Thompson

That would be interesting. How did it fail?

Big Clive

I have a single phase RCBO version that just failed yesterday. I can post it over once I get a replacement installed.

I'd be very wary if they are actually using them for isolation and overload protection. The British electrical regulations do not allow a solid state device to be used as sole protection. Partly because they often fail short circuit. It does also hint at being an accident waiting to happen.

Big Clive

What do you think of digital breakers, like this? https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a27557804/digital-circuit-breaker/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

Rocco Rizzo

Or a Clive.

Moz in Oz

Simplicity usually makes equipment more reliable. The more electronics they jam in the less reliable equipment gets. But delicate mechanical assemblies can jam up easily if dust or liquid gets in.

Big Clive

At least in a Tesla, unlocking the doors is similar to the "accessory" position on an ICE ignition (dash lights up, radio works). The "gear selector" is basically a toggle to activate the pedals (and presumably the high-voltage system, since the dash all runs off of a separate 12v battery) and to switch the direction of travel.

Gavin Olson

Took me a bit to realise you were referring to Huawei @11:10, pretty sure the most correct way to say it in english is 'hwa-way'

AJH

Having never driven an electric car, the statement "wouldn’t allow you to start it and put it in gear" had me thinking - I thought they were all automatics? And what does one 'start' in an electric car? :-)

Stephen Eyles

Do you feel electro-mechanical breakers like this are more reliable than ones with complex circuits?

The Part P crash certification would definitely be a cause of electrical problems. It does make you wonder how many issues each contractor has caused before (if) they learned they were not doing it correctly. I'm wondering if the panel damage was from a DIY electric car with no drive-off interlock.

Big Clive

Yeah, especially the single phase Rolec home charge posts seemed to have this issue. There have been quite a few reports on the forums. There have also been thermal issues with the breakers in the consumer units where they weren’t terminated correctly and over time the wires became loose and started heating up and burning the breaker. My thought was that these breakers were designed for short load times, whereas an electric car could be pulling 6 to 7kW (or 20kW for those 3 phase ones) for at least 3 hours and then slowing down to 3kW for another hour at least depending on how low the battery in the car was. It’s OK though, all the installers have Part P qualifications so it’s obviously not a lack of knowledge about high current devices. It’s unlikely someone drove off with a cable attached on that one you saw with the front missing as the car wouldn’t allow you to start it and put it in gear with a cable plugged in.

If those capacitors were Tants I'm sure the stripe is on the positive side.

Nuts 'n' Proud

I believe the pronunciation of Huawei is “hwa-way”, FYI. Yes, I’m aware of the irony of an Australian offering pronunciation advice to a Scott.

wow no chip and no active parts at all unless you count the diodes

God 420

Glad I am not the only one still up and tinkering with bits and bobs. Looking into a current measurement clamp called the Onzo. Trying to write something to read the data via an emulated serial com port.