Din rail breakers fake or not

**ians** · 23-Oct-13, 12:52 PM

The only time you want to buy AC/DC products is when you have a government contract for example where you get paid per breakdown, you will have lots and make lots of money.

**AndyD** · 23-Oct-13, 01:32 PM

Originally Posted by tec0

It doesn't have to be fake, I remember a cranky foreman using glue and a broomstick to glue the breaker so that it couldn't trip. Eventually when someone tried to switched it off they noticed that it was stuck and on fire... The foreman cared more about production then safety.

If you glue or tape a circuit breaker in the on position it will still trip if there's a fault. The tripping mechanism operates regardless of the lever on the front.

Originally Posted by tec0

So I would check the cable then the current that it can use and then see what current is running trough it. Secondly I would test the switch and see if it functions.

As for a fake switch... Yea spotting one without an actual test I would imagine can be tricky...

Testing circuit breakers is something you'd need to set up for specially. A current injection unit will cost maybe R20-30K so it's outside the realms for most sparkies. It's surprisingly easy to spot >90% of fakes just by look and feel if you're familiar with the original products.

**tec0** · 23-Oct-13, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by AndyD

If you glue or tape a circuit breaker in the on position it will still trip if there's a fault. The tripping mechanism operates regardless of the lever on the front.

I saw that the other day... It will trip regardless... Do this experiment buy a cheap pair of metal scissors and a product called Q-bond. Drip a bit a few drops on the blade and close it. Leave it... Next day see if you can open and close the scissor.

Truth is if you get enough of that glue in the switch it will not function.

**AndyD** · 23-Oct-13, 08:20 PM

Yeah look if you're talking about pumping glue into the internals of the breaker then you could feasibly stop it isolating a circuit under fault conditions but if someone has achieved those kind of dizzy heights on the stupidity scale then you should be giving them a wide berth, they aren't likely to make it to a ripe old age and you probably don't want to be too close to them when it is their time to go.

**tec0** · 23-Oct-13, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by AndyD

Yeah look if you're talking about pumping glue into the internals of the breaker then you could feasibly stop it isolating a circuit under fault conditions but if someone has achieved those kind of dizzy heights on the stupidity scale then you should be giving them a wide berth, they aren't likely to make it to a ripe old age and you probably don't want to be too close to them when it is their time to go.

Look it took a while but eventually he got it right... See this one motor kept on tripping after an hour or so. So while it was "off" at the control "not the main" he would pump a few drops into the switch.

But I don’t think the new switches have this problem there are a lot less places for the glue to go.

**ians** · 24-Oct-13, 06:44 AM

Why go to all the trouble, just bypass the breaker, or replace the 20 amp with a 30 amp, like some of the aircon guys do to stop the breaker tripping, it works long enough to get paid, after that who cares, it will become the next persons problem.

What works even better is if you put a jumper from the top to the bottom of the breaker, take it behind the plate so you cant see it, then it doesn't matter if the breaker trips, I saw this in an old age home a while back.

**Justloadit** · 24-Oct-13, 07:48 AM

And these people live among us......
I am now getting more worried!
Do they understand the implications of their actions, or do they just live in bliss due to ignorance?

**AndyD** · 24-Oct-13, 09:12 AM

Originally Posted by ians

What works even better is if you put a jumper from the top to the bottom of the breaker, take it behind the plate so you cant see it, then it doesn't matter if the breaker trips, I saw this in an old age home a while back.

If I came across a job where somebody had done that I'd make it my personal mission to find out who they were and meet them face to face to read them their fortune. I also wouldn't hesitate in reporting someone for this kind of stunt.

**tec0** · 24-Oct-13, 09:28 AM

It is scary... But not as scary as this... And yes it really happened.

One morning I phoned an electrician because the wall socket “plug” was tripping the power all the time. He came in charged me R600 and “fixed” the problem.

Then one of the family members phoned me and when I came home sure enough the plug was on fire... What our wonderful and fully qualified electrician did for R600 was to disconnect the earth wire. So now it wouldn’t trip the power BUT will burn down the house...

So I got someone else and he redid everything R1200 later it never tripped the power again nor did it catch fire.

**ians** · 24-Oct-13, 10:46 AM

Andy I am past that stage, back in the day when I still gave a sh!t, I spent many hours writing report and taking pictures, got responses like the "what is all the fuss about" coming from the technical advisor at the ECA. I stopped wasting my time.

If I had to worry about every illegal electrical installation in Durban alone, I would have to close my business, do it as a full time job and still wouldn't finish reporting all of them in my lifetime.

The other thing that makes me smile and look the other way, this idea that you need to first have a COC for every installation before you fit a new plug or light, etc, just imagine trying to pull that off in the real world.