- Coming up on this week's news,
Swedish safety chiefs ban two Easee EV chargers
and order a recall of 100,000 units.
Four electricians are murdered after being mistaken
for cable thieves in South Africa.
And van clutter,
are loose items putting your life at risk?
Welcome to Electrical News Weekly
in association with Scame.
Whether you're listening in the van, on site,
or down at the wholesale counter,
I'm Joe Robinson, and I've been through the best
of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble.
And as always, if you think you've spotted
the two words I've been challenged
to slip into this week's show,
comment with them below for the chance to win a prize.
Swedish safety chiefs have banned
two popular Easee electric vehicle chargers,
and ordered an immediate recall.
The Swedes are unhappy with the earth fault
and DC protection on the Easee Home
and the Easee Charge models,
and say they don't meet standards.
They say that Easee has used an integrated electronic RCD,
instead of an electromechanical one.
This leaves a risk that the breaker
won't always trip when it should.
Easee must now take back the chargers
from the Swedish market,
and fix the ones that are already installed.
Customers with Easee chargers can continue to use them,
but should exercise vigilance.
The Swedes say that electricians, however,
should not install the two models,
even if a customer has ordered it.
Instead, they should send them back
to the manufacturer or the retailer.
The ban and recall currently only affects Sweden,
but it's unlikely that the trouble
for Easee will remain there,
as the standards which the watchdog says
the products fail to meet,
are European,
so the decision could eventually affect
half a million Easee units that have already been installed
across the EU and the UK.
Easee has appealed the decision and is taking legal action.
The company says there is no technical or legal basis
for the prohibition.
It argues that its electronic RCD inside the charger
achieves the necessary protections
and is compliant with the relevant sections
of the IEC 62955 standard.
Its competitive advantage was that installers
didn't have to include a separate
DIN-mounted RCD breaker,
but the Swedes say you can't comply
with one element of a standard.
If you put the standard in your declaration of conformity,
then it's all or nothing.
The belicose Swedes say that the Easee charger
also failed an overvoltage test on the control pin circuit.
They described this as a serious defect.
But Easee claims that you can't touch the control pin
in the socket with a finger,
so the test shouldn't apply.
Needless to say,
we'll keep you posted with updates of this developing story
over the coming weeks.
In other news,
four electricians have been killed in South Africa
after apparently being mistaken for cable thieves.
The team was dealing with reports of a power outage
in a suburb of Johannesburg at the weekend,
when an angry mob confronted them.
Despite producing their electricians permits to work,
the four men were beaten to death.
The contractor's van was thrown over a bridge
and set alight.
A spokesperson for the city
said that what makes the situation worse
is that the victims of the brutal murder were attacked
by the very community that they were coming to help.
Just such an absolutely ghastly event there.
Our thoughts are very much with the bereaved.
Here in the UK,
a local authority has fined a landlord £25,000
after an electrical meter was tampered with
at a property in Northampton.
West Northamptonshire Council imposed the penalty
on Zivile Aksinaviciene of J&KO Property Ltd,
after discovering the interference at a shared house
in Lutterworth Road in East Northampton.
The council instructed an electrician to attend the address
to carry out emergency work to make the building safe.
Along with the hazardous electrics,
a number of fire safety breaches were identified,
including poorly maintained fire doors
and missing smoke alarms.
Councillor Adam Brown
said that from some of the photographs he'd seen,
it was clear that Aksinaviciene had little regard
for the safety of her tenants.
Meanwhile, in Scotland,
a homeowner has received an unexpected electric shock
despite turning the power off at the meter.
Apparently the smart meter installed by Scottish Power
was a botch job.
Not only was it intended for a neighbor's property,
but it was left in what's called reverse polarity
or hot-neutral reversed.
The homeowner, who was trying to change
a socket in his flat,
says it was a matter of luck that he wasn't killed.
Scottish Power initially offered him £75
and an airy-fairy apology.
He then complained to the Ombudsman
who suggested that Scottish Power up its offer to £100.
But after submitting evidence of his loss of power,
loss of two work days,
and costing getting his electricity reconnected,
the Ombudsman has asked Scottish Power to apologize,
and this time, to stump up £370.
Another safety concern hitting the headlines this week,
is that of van clutter.
A survey of a thousand UK van drivers has revealed
that 46% have been involved in at least one accident
due to distractions caused by the clutter in their vehicle.
We're talking tools, ladders, conduit, and reels of cable.
And more than a quarter of drivers have admitted
that they have had items roll
near their brake or accelerator pedals,
while driving.
Experts advise contractors to make sure
that tools or equipment are stowed away safely in the back.
They say to consider investing
in lashing eyes and ratchet straps
to tie down your gear and keep it in place.
They say drive steady,
especially going over bumps or when braking.
If you tend to have lots of food or drink packaging
or other waste,
keep a carrier bag handy for rubbish
until you reach your destination.
Comparethemarket conducted the research.
Julie Daniels from the company
says that even minor distractions can cause accidents
whilst you're on the road.
And drivers should make an extra effort
to cut back on clutter and reduce avoidable mistakes.
The firm has suggested a range of tips
and I've popped a link to those in the show notes.
A van you'll definitely want to keep clutter-free,
is the smart new Townstar from Nissan.
The long-awaited follow-up to the e-NV200,
which accounted for a stonking six out of 10
electric van sales in 2020,
the Townstar has got a rating of four and a half stars
from Auto Express.
It has a 45 kWh battery,
which develops 121 brake horsepower,
and all models have a full width bulkhead,
a 60/40 split in the rear doors,
and a nearside loading door to access the load.
To buy it outright is going to cost you around £28,000,
depending on spec.
To charge it up, how about the QUBEV Smart from Rolec.
Designed to comply with the Part S regulations,
the 22 kW charger is at the budget end of the market
and aimed at housebuilders.
Even still, it boast lots of features
including dynamic load balancing
and security logs and alerts.
In other product news,
we really love this stubby drill bit from C.K Tools.
It solves the problem of making holes in tight spaces,
such as between awkward joists.
The Fast4 Access drill bit is just 80 mm in length,
making it the shortest by far on the market.
It boasts a threaded screw tip for faster drilling speed,
and four cutting faces giving clean holes at speed.
You can even sharpen the cutting faces yourself.
C.K has also unveiled a range of cable strippers
for low smoke cable,
and if you've ever tried to remove the tough sheathing
from an LS Zero H cable,
you'll know that it isn't easy.
But this stripper's titanium nitrate-coated blades
soon put manners on it.
And finally, an American company has unveiled a range
of the world's smallest lights.
MINIMIS proudly makes the world's
most minuscule certified luminaires.
They look tiny, even next to a Lego mini figure.
They may be more microscopic
than Gordon's round in The Railway in Skipton,
but they feature powerful LEDs and IP ratings of up to 67.
Now, just before we get to your favorite bit of the show
where I reveal last week's challenge words and winners,
we want to thank our premium partners.
We couldn't make the news without you.
First up, for all your circuit protection needs,
they're like having an Italian star striker
in your Premiership team,
it's Lewden Palazzoli.
And the best thing to come out of Yorkshire
since stainless steel,
it's Doncaster Cables, the home of EV-Ultra
and other groundbreaking and quality cables.
And one of the biggest lighting companies
in the world because their capital is always Dublin,
it's Irish lighting manufacturer, Robus,
home of great quality and innovative lighting products.
Big thanks to you all.
We really do appreciate your ongoing support for the news.
And if you think you know the words I've smuggled
into this week's show,
pop your guess into the comments
and we'll dig out a goodie bag prize
to the first to get the right answers.
Last week's words were wonky and cock-a-leekie.
And in an ENW world first,
we've got our first winner from LinkedIn
as opposed to YouTube.
The answer came in from someone
who's had a couple of cracks at the competition,
and last week he beat everyone to the punch.
It's ECA's very own Darren Crannis.
Top work, Darren, a very worthy winner.
Please click the link in the description below
to claim your prize.
Stay absolutely glued to our socials this week
'cause we've got some really exciting stuff coming up.
Gary's on the road again
as part of our College Connections initiative.
This time he's visiting Sheffield College.
And it's a livestream week.
I'm 'oop north, so I'll be joining in the mayhem.
But more importantly,
if you're into solar PV and battery storage,
we've got a really special guest
in the form of Griff Thomas from GTEC
who knows this industry inside out.
Mainly because he's created guidance on vast amounts of it,
including MCS guidance notes,
and he even developed a AM2 test rig.
That's just scraping the surface of his CV,
so don't miss out on that.
Thanks for listening to this episode
of Electrical News Weekly in association with Scame.
Make sure you subscribe to receive the next update.
Thanks for listening, and until next time,
have a great week.
Stay safe out there.
And remember, there's no such thing
as a torque calibrated arm.