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Some of the pictures look fairly familiar to the continental European eye, except for the IT-specific bits.
Do you have any idea why in one picture some of the fuses are yellow instead of white? I've never seen that before!
The large number of RCBOs (GFI breakers) is also unusual, in most parts of Europe they're still ridiculously expensive!
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Some of the pictures look fairly familiar to the continental European eye, except for the IT-specific bits.
Do you have any idea why in one picture some of the fuses are yellow instead of white? I've never seen that before!
The large number of RCBOs (GFI breakers) is also unusual, in most parts of Europe they're still ridiculously expensive! For the fuse color I have no idea. It is strange. Perhaps a main or higher amperage fuse? My understanding is that in Norway GFCI/RCD breakers are mandatory. From all the Norwegian panels I have seen on the net most if not all the circuit breakers are RCD/GFCI type. Its interesting, because through out the rest of Europe its normal to have a 'main type RCD breaker' where one 63 or 100 ampere RCD breaker feeds about 10 regular breakers thus protecting many circuits. Its cheaper, but one ground fault shuts down more than one circuit. In My Opinion, I like what Norway has going.
Last edited by gardner; 09/14/14 04:34 AM.
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It is no demand, but convinient to have many gfci's.
The color codes were: RED: hig voltage as neon signs etc. Yellow: central heating, oil burning boilers etc. Green: computers or other equipment needing controlled shut down. Not sure if this really was in a code, or just commonly used.
dsk
Last edited by dsk; 09/14/14 07:56 AM.
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It is no demand, but convinient to have many gfci's.
The color codes were: RED: hig voltage as neon signs etc. Yellow: central heating, oil burning boilers etc. Green: computers or other equipment needing controlled shut down. Not sure if this really was in a code, or just commonly used.
dsk But the circuits must at least be GFCI protected? Having many is a good idea. Ground fault only turn off one circuit.
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Many countries require the use of at least two RCDs these days. In Germany that seems to have caught on but in Austria not quite, the only home box with more than one RCD I've ever seen was mine. And I only did that because it was a really fancy place. The new kitchen alone got seven circuits for a 3-phase induction hob, electric oven, dishwasher, microwave, combi boiler, lights and sockets. Originally (1960) there were only two, lights and sockets. And that was fancy, usually lights and sockets weren't on separate circuits back then.
In a larger place I'd absolutely do one RCD per floor so no one has to stumble down stairs in the dark. Even that's a bit unusual though.
RCBOs are still painfully expensive. I think a 2-pole RCD is around 30 Euros, an MCB around 10 and an RCBO is 70 Euros. I only bought some recently because they were 60% off. Hardly comparable to the UK where you can get an RCBO for 10 to 20 quid off eBay! Sometimes actually the same brand that costs more than twice as much here...
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Many countries require the use of at least two RCDs these days. In Germany that seems to have caught on but in Austria not quite, the only home box with more than one RCD I've ever seen was mine. And I only did that because it was a really fancy place. The new kitchen alone got seven circuits for a 3-phase induction hob, electric oven, dishwasher, microwave, combi boiler, lights and sockets. Originally (1960) there were only two, lights and sockets. And that was fancy, usually lights and sockets weren't on separate circuits back then.
In a larger place I'd absolutely do one RCD per floor so no one has to stumble down stairs in the dark. Even that's a bit unusual though.
RCBOs are still painfully expensive. I think a 2-pole RCD is around 30 Euros, an MCB around 10 and an RCBO is 70 Euros. I only bought some recently because they were 60% off. Hardly comparable to the UK where you can get an RCBO for 10 to 20 quid off eBay! Sometimes actually the same brand that costs more than twice as much here... What does RCBO and MCB stand for? Im none to familiar. 
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RCD _ residual current device, essentially a GFI but usually entirely electro-mechanical rather than electronic. Trip currents range from 10 mA to 3 A for ancient models, currently up to 500 mA I think. For all outlet circuits 30 mA are required in most countries these days, requirements for lighting circuits and fixed appliances vary. Earthing arrangements play a role as well, in a TN-C-S system similar to US practices it is sometimes allowed to have circuits without RCDs, in a TT system (only a local earth rod, no connection to the neutral) RCDs are usually necessary for all circuits as the fault current will not be high enough for a fuse or MCB.
MCB = miniature circuit breaker, plain old breaker in US terms.
Edit: RCBO = combined RCD and MCB, i.e. GFI breaker.
Last edited by Texas_Ranger; 09/17/14 08:54 AM.
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I have a rotary dial phone in my pool bar and a rotary dial wall phone in the garage There is not really much special in the pay phone itself. They get installed on a special "ground start" line from the CO. If you install one on a regular line, they work normally. The "ground start" requires that you momentarily ground one line to get dial tone. When I was a lifeguard they made the mistake of putting the terminal block for the pay phone in the guard room. We had a regular phone hooked up and we shorted it out with our whistle. This is done by the coin acceptor in the pay phone, usually grounding through the coin itself on the old ones like this one. The other trick on a pay phone was to "pin" a call. You stuck a pin or needle through the cord or into the mike hole and shorted it to the phone base. That is why the newer cords are armored and they put in a pin proof mouth piece mike. They glued the cap on. ![[Linked Image from gfretwell.com]](http://gfretwell.com/ftp/bar.jpg)
Greg Fretwell
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Nice Alaskan license plate... 
Last edited by sparkyinak; 09/24/14 10:14 PM.
"Live Awesome!" - Kevin Carosa
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