GFCI Vs ELCI

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by Colin A

Thats a European style Din rail breaker they are pretty much only used in industrial wiring here in the US. In Europe as mentioned by Dave they are cheap and easy to get here in the states not so much. From your description it sounds like you will have a simple inverter system for 110 (no shore power) if that's the case no ELCI would be required but GFCI protected outlets would be required in galley outdoor wet spaces etc. You can either protect the outlets with a GFCI breaker (a bit hard to come by in the states) or with the GFCI outlets.

I think all the electronic supply houses have them. Heres a random one from Newark

The boy who built a windsurfer with plastic and wood

A lot of stuff in our lab (in the US) has DIN rail components.

[Colin A]

Yeah that's why I said industrial, you won't find them at West Marine or Home depot but any suppliers that sell to panel builders control equipment markets will have them. They are also becoming popular in solar installations and telecommunications. Be careful thou technically a GFCI is 5ma trip while most of the industrial system tend to use 30ma.

We don't have any in stock but carling does make a GFCI breaker that would work. It all depends on mounting etc.

[cal40john]

Originally Posted by cal40john

I think all the electronic supply houses have them. Heres a random one from Newark

The boy who built a windsurfer with plastic and wood

A lot of stuff in our lab (in the US) has DIN rail components.

For some reason copy didn't work, here's the link I intended.

16201 - SQUARE D BY SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC - RESIDUAL CURRENT CIRCUIT BREAKER | Newark element14 US

[goboatingnow]

Just be aware in Europe 30ma RCBO ( comboned residual circuit breaker and overload ) ie a CB and ELCI are available In a wide range of overload currents and are widely used as whole house protection devices so commonly available in our equivalent of Home Depot. The consumer boards in houses are all now DIN rail based do all these devices are hence DiN rail based. They are ubiquitous and resonantly cheap. They are used in all sorts of mains wiring projects in industrial, marinas , and as whole boat protection

This is why 30ma is used as anything less on a whole supply basis will cause nuisance trips. 30ma is beyond the " hold release current " but Europeans can handle more shock current being tougher !!!!!!!( sorry couldn't resist )

In the US whole system ground fault protection is less common and code tends to protects the outlets with individual 5mA interrupters. ( which are not overload breakers )

Be aware that some of these RCBOs are not great in salt enviroments, I've had Legrande units rot out after about 10 years.


So of you want the boat to US code and its a 110Vac install use GFCI outlets rather then a RCBO on the output of the inverter. Whereas a French electrical will be inclined to suggest a 30 mA on the output of the inverter. Either will do , but don't do both that's jus a waste of money

Dave