IEC 947-3

[securespark]

Uh-oh!!

This has crept up on me today!

I have been fitting quite a few replacement boards (both Hager & Wylex) recently & the last one (Hager) I did had a BS EN 60947-3 main switch.

Today I fitted another Hager & wrote the BS EN number in the box on the EIC.

For some odd reason, I decided to look at the switch on the board & it was to IEC 947-3.....

Has this change only happened recently?

The Wylex boards (just looked in the van) still have BS EN marked switches.

 

[RF Lighting]

AFAIK it is the same standard, just a different way of writing it.

 

[securespark]

Gotcha. Cheers, Rob!

 

[mattylad]

As RF says, a BS std is the same as an EIC std, is just the EIC is the European one & the BS is the British one.
Both are interchangeable with each other in the UK.

Although it may not be the other way around elsewhere in Europe.

 

[Pensdown]

I think as time marches on we're all going to see more IEC numbers and fewer BS numbers.

 

[plugwash]

no european standards are EN , IEC is the international electrotechical comitte.

Often the same thing will be standardised with identical or very similar documents in multiple standards system though.

 

[NotHimAgain]

These links are useful:

IEC http://www.iec.ch/helpline/sitetree/about/
CENELEC http://www.cenelec.eu/Cenelec/About+CENELEC/default.htm
EIEMA Guide to circuit breaker standards www.beamainstallation.org.uk/assets/pdfs/CircuitBreaker.pdf - this last one is a pdf - it contains a good explanation of the relationships between the various standards bodies.