so again i've had the great pleasure of Paul Meanan joining us at college today he's brought
in a box of tricks what you brought in for us today uh so this was a brand new literally this
is an art fault detection uh simulator rig which shows us allows us to create arcs on MCB protected
circuits arcs on RCD protected circuits and also the Eaton AFDD plus which is really insightful
especially for your learners here today and you're only going to see the content developed
by Paul on this rig and your trip to Vienna yes on the e5 group channel on YouTube yes that's
available on our channel however Paul did put me right because i've used and you're going to
see the footage in a minute the wakan 2000 that David Savory brought into us and i thought i was
creating an art pool what was i creating uh you were effectively creating a glowing spark at best
so the video you're just about to see please do not think it's a failure of the device
no it's an awesome device i want one okay it's the failure of the people creating what we thought was
an arc when we actually created a spark so let's see the footage that me and David did but let's
just think it's actually not an ark even though we keep saying ark it's actually his Paul quite
right he said actually what Paul it's it's a spark basically so let's look at the sparks i made hello
it's David from David Savory electrical services Tresham college i've only gone and got David
Savory to come in to us today and it's in front of a live audience so let's hear the live audience go
welcome David thank you very much nice to be here David's kindly come up from Lemington Spa and he's
bought the dash whacker no dash that's what but we've had a little modification what are we on now
we're on we're on 2000 now because we have the addition i'm afraid of
um Patrick from Spongebob Squarepants which is the only lego brick i'm afraid i could find
we've added a double socket outlet so we can increase the currently drawing and we've got the
same art default detection device that you used which is from Crabtree agreed yes okay so what
we're going to do is bring the camera in and we're going to see if we can create an arc that can
activate the device we're going to increase the current to see if that will make any difference
we may have to add a solution on to increase that arc as well you have to cheat because it's quite
tricky to get working let's bring the camera in and see this AFDD in action well i think we're not
using the the super adjustment mechanism are we pretty found out rocking it around actually
seems to have a bit more success with creating any kinds of arcs and sparks certainly doesn't
so no later we're going to be wobbling it like so and trying to create a serial art do you agree yes
absolutely uh obviously this uh completely flies in the face of safe isolation so we don't want to
try this at home we certainly won't be and just to iterate off camera we've both got our glasses
on okay so we in any arc being created will not be damaging the retinas within our eyes okay so we're
currently on in the consumer's units all right fault detection device by Crabtree is energized
assuming it's turned on and we've got no load so hence we're creating absolutely no arc we've
got no current being drawn at the moment what sort of load are we going to introduce now David would
you like to try one heater first of all at two kilometres yes so let's introduce that so we've
now got one heater on and if we if we give it a little bit of technical adjustment we can
it's very hard to sustain an arc even with this precision apparatus but we can
see some arc events happening here uh all we have very brief ones
there's nothing that's sort of zigzagging along there's a bit of smoke coming off as well isn't it
there is so we've got an outside that could be a connection maybe in um a termination that isn't
tight and it's rocking around in there creating what is a serial arc actually it has all the
elements of a loose connection here absolutely um although at present um there's nothing to
trip it off so this decent ishark we're drawing two kilowatts we can see clearly there's a break
in the cable simulating serial arc and nothing's happening no obviously it's not going to trouble
the traditional protective devices like your RCD or your uh circuit break it's not an overload
faulting on fault to earth it is just a a serial loose connection at this point which is causing
um some high temperature look very localized high temperature uh in fact it's almost
right let's turn that two kilowatt off then so okay so we're gonna we're gonna increase increase
the current being drawn now so we're gonna put two heaters in circuits so we've now gone up
to four kilowatts four kilowatts of heating on the warmest February day on record what that
was yesterday yeah so we're trying to break that record today so we're we're attached by the side
of this two heaters what do you expect to happen now David uh well i i've not tested it with that
kind of load before so it'd be nice to actually see it detects that that there is that kind of
fault signature there and to trip off whether it will or not we'll we'll just have to try it well
let's go for it then so if i turn on both heaters now so we should have four kilowatts of load
that's certainly an angrier looking arc and it's definitely welding itself together a bit more
smoke coming off as well effectively yeah it's trying to stick itself together
it's good we've got our goggles on because this localized light is uh very bright oh oh
yeah it's just trying to sort of move it because it's sticking itself together
and can we suggest that it's activate the art fault detection device at this stage David
well i certainly want to wouldn't want to touch it myself these uh these connections here they
do still look energized to me yeah so the other risk is obviously we've got a map oh wow that
was a good one didn't do anything still going we've got a massive risk of fire as well haven't
we so if we've got something that's uh it seems susceptible pulling it apart actually seems to
be a bit crank the bigger arm yeah more impressive than when they're touched together but um again so
oh we're trying but of course if this was in electrical installation loose termination maybe
in uh i don't know um instantaneous water heater drawing something near four kilowatts
yeah absolutely we're not going to want this art present for a long period of time and the
problem being insulation would start to break down massive risk of fire as well
you can see the charring on the the edges of the the wires there obviously if
this were in an installation um on a higher rated appliance than you would expect a bit of arcing
should the the isolator be used so if we're on a water heater or something like that
but what we have here you'd think that you'd expect to see something yeah a bit more
protective happen so what we'll do is we turn it off now i'm going to introduce a
clip on our meter and let's see what current we were drawing from this load
okay so we're all set ready to go so if you want to turn us back on David let's see what
we're drawing so we have got let's look at the RMS value and we are drawing is that 17 amps 17.
yeah nearly 18 amps of current so if we want to try again let's see if we can
see that current drop off and then i'm back on again so we're off back on
it's all a bit fiery and fizzy oh yeah that's another good one wow so we're creating some
decent-sized arcs here we're drawing almost 18 amps cereal out i've broken it oh no
3 000 or solve that problem yeah again the device is not operating is it
certainly i'm seeing it do so today and yet there's some rather high temperature localized
previously previously when you did it you then went to a third stage obviously we've increased
the the current being drawn but what was the third stage well the first stage was to cheat
him to apply some water to the thing now the thing is with something like a um a damaged cable um if
the cable's got a cut in it or something like that then some of the medium other than uh air with its
insulation resistance may get in there like water so it's not completely unrealistic to see water
or some of the medium just debris whatever get into where a cable has been damaged and where
connections have been exposed but we're increasing the event activities requiring to cause it to
operation so we're saying not only now we've got a cereal up we've got a serial arc up one sorry
two kilowatts and then four kilowatts we haven't got it to operate and now we're saying we may have
to introduce moisture yeah in order so this starts becoming slightly ineffective at the moment maybe
at four kilowatts it might be fantastic at eight it might have been eight kilowatt load a shower
or something like we might have got a massive arc and got it to go straight away but i think
we'll introduce the the moisture increasing the parameters aren't we as to what what we need to
be in place for this thing to actually operate i don't think when they sold sold the devices they
said you must have a certain amount of current being drawn a certain type of arc moisture must be
present and it must be a Wednesday at 4:15 in order for it to operate the art fault section
of this device so we're going to stop now we're going to introduce some water in the next stage
so we've introduced some moisture and we're going to try again to see if we
can create an arc large enough to operate our fault detection device so are we uh
are we ready to energize ready to energize okay so i'm worried now you know now i'm using the hands
i wonder if the water's uh dropped off should we add a little bit more
yeah yeah water and electricity that's what we need yeah yeah yeah so we're turning off
we're off by the way um introducing a perpetual of water here precision instrument of yeah that's it
exactly the right amount all right well we had a big drop there
long did you spend when you you did it before it was a good couple of hours of messing around
maybe the salt was an essential ingredient so we might need a bit of we're gonna
okay so we can see so we've now got a number of factors in place somewhere we've got a cereal arc
we've got the ingress of moisture we've got a two four kilowatt load and yet to meet the
requirements of the art fault detection device in order to get it to operate so their class
needs is good arcs is that is that true uh well i presume that the little brain inside
the thing is is seeing it as a good art like a switching i call that off a um contactor
but to me it looks more like the symptoms of loose connection yeah i'm trying to balance it
there on the side of it and just fractionally pull it away before it welds as if we've got a
so we've got a nice foot oh that's that's got to be that's it that would be a switch
wouldn't it for a period of time just arcing away i can't see that being a good arc you can see that
if that were a switch with a loose connection the localized damage already being caused by the um
the conductors overheating if it carried on for long enough you'd start seeing the plastic
insulation nearest the copper degrade but also the the copper itself from uh starting to uh
to get [ __ ] i think what we ought to do next is have the introduction of now maybe another
element do you think that's salt yeah yeah so just to demonstrate the thing in action absolutely
it might be that the manufacturer is as classist as an art that's good obviously i'm not suggesting
it's um a faulty piece of equipment or anything like that but we're not managing to create an arc
that would be one that the device would see and operate which is a bit of a shame so let's let's
stop again and see if we can introduce maybe a salt solution now right okay then David fingers
crossed we've got some salty water solution now stuck there we may need to introduce it uh as
we we're going along as we need to get a little bit more on there we're going to reintroduce the
four kilowatt load okay ready to energize yeah i'll take it i'm doing this one again
and if we if we perhaps use the the wheel
that wasn't it
let me just play that out a bit more and see if we can't get it to it yes as soon as i said that okay
we'll do that one again want to stop and boat i won't be the first time today
okay then David so we've introduced hopefully a salt water solution now i
think you're going to try and use the wheel in order to rotate it
um in and out we've got four kilowatts of load okay we're going to have another go
wow made me
yeah jump the the heat and the smoke and the and that massive first arc yeah the sparks jumping
off it shall we reintroduce some more i think we're gonna have to okay let's go again so if
we pull it back safely isolated of course the precision measuring tool here of a cup
of safe as isolation can get when you're pouring salt water onto exposed copper yep that's the one
really it still didn't go
you can then hear the old hum of the heaters power in there can't you i can fill them on
my leg as well so okay should we introduce some more i'm not gonna get one going now
did you at any point lose the will to live when you were doing it the first time out uh yes i did
okay a little bit more
okay it's really i'm confident this time that is saturated it's impressive
yeah look at that it's going to drop straight onto there we go watch out boys
no
it's welded itself together it's actually fixed its own loose connection there okay
shall we try a little bit more again let's just adjust that slightly again
so i'm just going to move this slightly for a better view my students are watching this on the
the big screen we would say so here we go i've got a tiny bit more in here
it's a big big oh that's stripping let's go for it surely this time surely
no come on it doesn't get much more archie than that does it swallow it okay so i think
i think we can uh oh we solved the problem yeah there we go okay so if you ever want to weld
two copper conductors together i can recommend uh the dash
wacan is it i can't see that yeah 2000 and i can recommend saltwater solution and i think we've
solved all our problems so what do you reckon one more last little are we out of water no no no no
we can persevere we can go all day on this we've all got all day we have i'm going to make it very
very off screen i've managed to get the required mixture of water and salt a little bit more
might actually get a bit more you can't see it but with a terminal screwdriver i'm stirring
the water and salt solution together okay dave is making the necessary modifications
right here we go this is definitely going to be the one
oh i think i've got more on the wow
okay it's enough of an arc to cause a massive fire but not quite enough to cause the arc fault
detection device to operate oh that's sliding into oil where can we introduce some liquid down
maybe maybe you reckon is that still freely moving okay
it was okay
makes for a good indoor firework but okay not the best demonstration so
i think i think we can summarise this um that we didn't have the right conditions let's be
let's be fair to the device so we're looking at the Crabtree AFDD so the arc we were creating
would you agree is not one of the signature arcs that this device will pick up because it
seems not since it didn't pick it up yeah we're looking at a four kilowatt load we're looking
at a heavy current of nearly 18 amps we've had a serial arc we've introduced moisture we've
introduced salty moisture and we still haven't created an ark and we've seen some very big
arcs we still haven't created an arc David that was one that would cause the device to operate
would you say maybe it's looking for a bigger current drawing capacity maybe an eight nine
ten kilowatt shower would be something that would create an art bigger perhaps i mean
if i was going to fit one of these devices it would more likely be on a higher current uh
higher load circuit such as an electric shower yeah uh especially where loose connections um
yeah of course some localized heating effects but even so the this is the symptom of a loose
connection here i would expect to have seen something happen today yeah even if they
the smaller arcs were perhaps interpreted as being switching events by the device having water on
your electrics and it rubbing around to the point where the it's getting so hot the copper's welding
together had a thought would have generated an arc they would have said yeah absolutely so
it's in its infancy let's not throw it under the bus obviously this is an emerging technology it's
not currently a requirement of the regulations i'd like to think the time they may introduce it as
a requirement that the actual technologies caught up with the actual idea would that be a statement
interesting to see where it goes as well obviously this is a two module unit because you have an RCBO
paired up with the AFDD unit but i understand that this year they're going to be coming out
with the unit this size the sorry the RCBO size it contains the technology which makes it obviously
easier to retrofit into existing consumer units as well because as it stands apart from
these Starbreaker devices it's very difficult to retrofit this into an existing consumer unit but
you've got to modify the buzz bar okay yeah okay so in summary then emerging technology
uh we've got to create a certain type of arc which we never managed to do with this fantastic piece
of equipment with a four kilowatt load a shame but uh yes that appears to be the case today