ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area A shocking counterfeit....

Just came across this one--a circuit breaker with nothing but a jumper wire inside!

http://www.schneider-electric.co.uk/internet/pws/pws.nsf/luAllByID/F2DAEE42760F06F3802573F3004D040C

Some folks keep trying to get stuff cheaper & cheaper, this is a result.

I guess we don't have to ask where it was made.

Looks like a fuse inside. What current rating, I might guess, is likely much higher than the claimed rating...

I guess it wont be a pain with nussiance tripping!! Seriously if they find the persons responsible they should hang them from a flag pole.

The actual ON / OFF switch doesn't control anything.
For sure if you want to turn it on it would just drop down to off again.

Also the weight difference should be a giveaway to any sparky fitting these MCB's.

I wonder how many of these fake MCB's are floating around or is it just a one off April fools joke.

Just another reason for someone to invent a means to actually TEST breakers in the field.

Let's face it; we have no idea what's inside any breaker, or whether it will operate when needed. We have no way to determine that an older breaker has been damaged over time. We must simply take it all on faith.

Today it's breakers; not so long ago, it was fake GFCI's ... pushing the 'test' button simply shut the thing off. Some 'test!'

Add bogus AFCI breakers to the equation, and the field is ripe for a rash of fake products.

If Square D's reaction to AFCI "testers" is any indication, they will strongly oppose the development of ANY test equipment that isn't made by them.

A breaker tester is a couple hair dryers (typically about 1400-1500w no matter what the writing says on the barrel)

http://esteroriverheights.com/electrical/1875w_hair_dryer.jpg

Greg, the problem there is... what if your test fails? There's really no good safe way for a field test short of an actual breaker tester. Which is required when calibrating some of the more sophisticated breakers, but I can't see it happening for anything short of a 1200A ACB.

Ya know, honestly, the LEAST they could have done was used #18 wire for the jumper so it would act as a fuse! Would have saved them even more money, too, and maybe keep them tied up in litigation vice a homicide trial if/when they get caught.