Circuit Breaker Query

[SUNRAY]

I'm not familiar with them

I saw that they were old-type yet were type A and they looked off appearance wise

Happy to be corrected appears I was mistaken

I've dealt with a number of their MCB's but not RCBO's, they look just the same apart from the extension for the RCD part.

 

[JohnW2]

I think I must have suddenly become even older than usual, since I am more than a little confused by all this ......

Hmm something looks a bit off with those rcbos

Which RCBOs?

Then again seller looks to be genuine so I'm likely mistaken

Which 'seller'? Do you perhaps mean the manufacturer/brand (SquareD)?

II've purchased from him several times and everything has been spot on apart from sending a wrong version and he sent the correct one straightaway and return label.

Again, what seller are we talking about?

... I saw that they were old-type yet were type A and they looked off appearance wise

Where does that "Type A" come from?

 

[mikehammer69]

Yes the square D rcbos in the ebay link

They're type A according to the legend unless I'm mistaken

 

[mikehammer69]

It appears I was mistaken as the seller is reputable

 

[JohnW2]

Yes the square D rcbos in the ebay link

Ah - I hadn't even noticed, let alone looked at, the "eBay link" so that explains my confusions ! The are, indeed, RCBOs

They're type A according to the legend unless I'm mistaken

Yes, although that symbol is a little different from the one used these days (in which the upper 'sine wave' is about the same width as the waveform below it), I presume that indicates Type A.

Those BS 4293 devices must be very old - I think that Standard was effectively replaced by BS EN 61008 (for RCCBs) and BS EN 61009 (for RCBOs) over 30 years ago (1995 rings a vague bell) - so I'm a little surprised that they were Type A that long ago -although very many countries did move away from Type AC ones a long time ago.

It appears I was mistaken as the seller is reputable

Indeed. SquareD is, and has been for over a century, I think, an extremely reputable manufacturer.

 

[333rocky333]

I think I must have suddenly become even older than usual, since I am more than a little confused by all this ......

Which RCBOs?

Which 'seller'? Do you perhaps mean the manufacturer/brand (SquareD)?

Again, what seller are we talking about?

Where does that "Type A" come from?

Sunrays post 17 i assume, ebay link to a seller for old rcbos
130 pound for a used 6a rcbo

 

[flameport]

BS 4293 had no concept of RCD types, they were all AC and nothing else.
IEC EN 61009 and the harmonized EU / UK versions of that does have types such as A

There was a significant overlap of those two standards, IEC 61009 was first published in 1991, and BS 4293 wasn't withdrawn until 2009 according to BSI, or perhaps earlier if some article from an IET magazine is to be believed.

The Square D QOE series of devices were made to comply with multiple standards, as on this example:

and although the front only stated 'BS4293' the internals were also compliant with the tests for Type A devices as found in 61009.

Although 61009 was not mentioned (perhaps due to not fully complying with that standard), they were advertised as being 'sensitive to both ac and pulsating dc current' along with other features which even today some RCBOs do not have, such as trip on loss of neutral and trip when >50V between N&E.