UNIT IVE MAIN BOARD

Thaconsumer
Th 'S main switch and fuses may be
combined in one case. With this type of switch and fuse
he
gear, the sWitch cannot be operated when the case is
open,
r101 Can the case be opened while the switch is closed.

Fig 4.1

Internal Distribution
All types of load in a 2-wire installation, lights, heaters,
same voltage.
motors, etc., are connected in parallel at the
i a number of loads be supplied at the same voltage,
the
whether the others
energy used by any one load is the same
are connected of not. The addition of subtraction of
other
10ads in parallel has no effect upon the particular
load under

consideration.
consists in the
internal distribution system
An
of loads in a final sub-
lon in parallel of a group
and the of this final sub-circuits to local
Cits, connection
Other groups
a1stributing busbars in a distribution board. that the groups
s d r e connected to the same busbars,
so

93
are in arallel. In a larger installation a numbe of thes
d i s t r i b u t i o n board,
from :
busbars. or
a main a pair
the supply Service cable
leads
connected to
are through
suitable seitchgea
the simple 2-wire nstalla
Figure4.2 illustrates
current, supplying
allation,
low volta
or alternating
direct current installation. Each individual
load me
to a small
lighting Own circuit, as sho
controlled by a sWitch in its own
separately are controlled by fiuo
4.2. The separate groups
in figure individual load, or any group. ar
or
circuit-breaker. Any
circuit-breaker, switch, or fuse Ise.
the whole is controlled by
to all types of installation, laroe
This general system applies
or small.

CIST3UON

H
CCNSURMERS QR LKD
SHTCH
METER

VE CR NUTRAL

+VE OR UNE

Fig. 4.2

94
 The order of the control is shown.
end-box, service fuse and neutral
Service cable,
sealing link, and meter
are the property of the
supply authority, and are
sealed. The
consumer'sr's lilinked main switch, fuse
and link. and
distribution board follow in order.
The final
are connected
to one sub-circuits
way on the distribution hoard
lights, each are controlle by a 1-way switch, are The
in parallel. connected
Figure 4.3 is of alarger 2-wire installation,
namber of distribution boards on involving
separate areas. The method of connection separate floors, or in
these distribution
hoards by looping-in from one to another
than the method shown in requires less wiring
this method is that if a fault
figure 4.4. the disadvantage of
occurs onany part of the
mains, the main fuse will blow and
thus disconnect the
rising
installation. whole

NELTRaL LINK

Fig 4.3
95
 Figure 4.4 shows a similar i1nstallation with

circuits to each distribution board, each separate

pair of ma:
ns being
controlled by a fuse on
the main ng
distribution
board A fault
on any pair
of mains will blow the respective fitce
board without affecting the
the
the
main distrivution remainderof
the installation.

4VE CR LN

MaN
0.8

LLTwo-wire Installation. Distribution boards separately controlled

Fig 4.4

Figure 4.5 shows the separation of lighting circuits

from heating or small power circuits, when lighting and
small power are charged at differet rates. Two meaters are
necessary.

96
 HEATIG CR CWEa
D,9.

+VE OR UNE

*** ..

Two-wire installation. Separation of Power and

Lighting

Figure 4.6 shows a 3-phase 4-wire installation. The

supply passes through three main fuses and neutral link,
a
the meters, anda linked
3-pole switch or a linked 4-pole
switch to a main distribution board. Single-phase 240V
supplies are taken from phase and neutral through double-
pole switches to low voltage lighting distribution boards.
The 415V 3-wire supplies for power
are connected to the
three phases of the main board.

97
 MARN DE

Thvee-phaso 4wiro instaliation

Figure 4.7 shows the theoretical diagram of final sub-

circuit of seven lamps. Looping-in is the normal method af
of
wiring final sub-circuits. If carried out in all circumstances
no soldered joints need to be made in the circuit wires. ln
this circuit two lamps are controlled by 1-way switches, three
are controlled as a group by a 1-way switch, and two also
controlled by a 1-way switch.

L
Finat sub-circuit. Connections for
looping in

98
 EUTRL

Final sub-cfrcuit Atenged for wirlng

LIGHT FEEDS {DLACK

NEUTRAL

SwirCHWAES

SHTCH FEEDS {REO)

Final subcltcult
Power Factor
Power factor is a comparison of the power used
by the
load, called "real power," divided by the power
the load, which is called supplied to
"apparent power." The difference
between the real power and the
apparent power is called
"reactive power." Reactive power
but it must be
performs no useful work
supplied to the customer in order for motors
and other inductive
loads to operate.
Power factor is essentially the ratio of the useful work
pertormed by an electrical circuit
Serul work that
compared to the maximum
could have been performed at the supplied
voltage
o
and amperage. Low power factors can be a problem
f m e customers because their electrical distribution
system ay not have adequ: current-carrying capacity. In
fact, customers frequent run out of distribution capacity
ause they didn't consider power factor into their original

99
 In ddilo, sOme utilities
circuit design. have
cconomic penallies
l o r lOW powcr

ight bulbs and

factor
ba.
significa
Resistive
loads, hke heaters, has powe
1.0 which is Called the "ideal
factors ofloads Tike motors have
Inductive power fctors
. . PoWerWe
of less wer faclu
between 0.5 and 0.95, dependine
ding on
their SVZe
han
1.0, usually
a r e operated.
size
and how they
is expresscd as the ratio of real
Power actor wer
as shown by the cquation: nau
apparent power,
equals real power
divided by apparent power

Real Power Kilowatts Kilowatts

Power Factor
Apparent Power KVA Volts x
Amps x 1000

Where:
Power Factor = given as a decimal or a percentage.
Real Power = measured in units of watts or kilowatts.
Apparent Power = measured in units of volt-amps or

thousands of volt amps, kVA.

Wattmeter
Amps Volts

Load

100
 er is measured by a wattmeteer, and apparent power
nd ammeter. Power
R e a lp o w e r

volt,
sured by a
factor is
1se the power supplier must
i m p o r t a n t b e c a u s

supply both rcal

awer to meet the customers needs.
a n dr e a c t i v e
Customers
a r es o m e t
anly billed based on the real power
they use.
Standard utility meters measure real power and cannot
asurereactive power without special modifications. A low
factor is generally considered to be anything less than
power

power factor rating.

an
80 to 90 percent

IEE REGULATIONs

Standards

Fvery item of equipment which forms part of an electrical

installation must be designed and manufactured so that it
will be safe to use. To this end all equipment should,
possible, comply with the relevant British
wherever
Standard; a list of the standards applying to electrical
installations is included in the Regulations as [Appendix li.
Increasingly we are meeting equipment which has been
produced to the standards of another country. It is the
responsibility of the designer to check that such a standard
does not differ from the British Standard to such an extent
that safety would be reduced. If the electrician is also the
some cases, the
designer, and this may well happen in
electrician carries this responsibility.
Basic requirements for circuits
be
The Regulations require that installations should
aivided into circuits, the purposes being:
that
fault by ensuring
t o prevent danger in the event of a operate the
d u i t current is no greater than necessary to

PLOective system. For example, a large

three-phase motor
cannot
s t be connected to a single circuit
because the load
 subdivided. If, however, a load consisted of
be
at 100 W, it would be foolich
three hundre
lamps, each rated to consider
onto a single circuit. In the
putting all this load ent of a
fault, thewhole lighting would be lost. and
of the
the protective device
current needed to operate
current would be
12) A at 240 wouldho V)
(single-phase
tho. high
circuit
cause a fire danger at the outlet where
enough to fault
occurred. The correct approach would be to divide the load
each feeding, perhaps, ten lamps.
into smaller circuits,
installation to be switched off for
2. to enable part of an
the rest of the
maintenance or for testing without affecting

system.
circuit from resulting in the
3. to prevent a fault on one
loss of the complete installation {3.8.6} on the subject
(see
of discrimination).
on the types of
The number of final circuits will depend
with the
load supplied, and must be designed to comply
and the
requirements for overcurrent protection, switching
circuit must
current-carrying capacity of conductors. Every
its own
be separate from others and must be connected to
overcurrent protective fuse or circuit breaker in a switcn

fuse, distribution board, consumer's unit, etc. See tne

following figures.

consumer's
unit

main switch

meter

service fuse

102
 a r r a n g e m e n t
for feeding final eircuits in a
Typical
domestic i n s t a l l a t i o n

finalCircuits

distribution boards

isolator
L circuits
sub-mains switch
fuses or fuse switches

busbar chamber

main fuse-switch or
circuit breaker

meter

service fuse |

An arrangement for main and final circuits in a large

installation
Maximum demand
Maximum demand (often referred to as MD) is the
largest current normally carried by circuits, switches and
protective devices; it does not include the levels of current
flowing under overload or short circuit conditions,
Assessment of maximum demand is sometimes
straightforward. For example, the maximum demand of a

103
240 V single-phase 8 kW shower hcaler can
be caleulated
by dividing the power (8 kW) by the voltage (240
a current of 33.3 A. This calculation assume a pov
a reasonable assumption far E er
rafactor
of unity, which is h a purely
resistive load.

There are times, however, when as

maximum demand is less obvious. For example ic
SeSsmen
circuit feeds fifteen 13 A sockets,
the maximum ringg
13 195 A, if only beca
demand
clearly should not be 15 x
=

the
rated at more than 32 A
circuit protection will not be
13 A sockets may feed table lamps with 60 W lamps fitto
whilst others may feed 3 kW washing machines; others again
not be loaded at all. Guidance
is given in {Table 6 1
may
Lighting circuits pose a special problem when

determining MD. Each lamp-holder must be assumed to

the connected load, subject to
carry the current required by
a minimum loading of 100 W per lampholder
(a demand of
0.42 A per lampholder at 240 V). Discharge lamps are

particularly difficult to assess, and current cannot be

calculated simply by dividing lamp power by supply voltage.
The reasons for this are:

1. - control gear losses result in additional current,

2. -the power factor is usually less than unity so current

is greater, and
3.
3. - chokes and other control gear usually distort the
waveform of the current so that it contains harmonics
which are additional to the fundamental supply current.
So long as the power factor of a discharge lighting circuit
is not less than 0.85, the current demand for the circuit
can be calculated from:

104
 Current (A) = Appower (Wx1 &

Supplyvoltage(V)
example, the steady state current
For demand of
fluorescent lamps would 240
a
sircuit supplying ten 65 W V
be:
10 x 65 x1.8
I=
A
= 4.88A
240

Cwitches for circuits feeding discharge

at twice the current
lamps must be rated
they are
required to carry, unless they
have been specially constructed to
withstand the severe
arcing resulting from the
switching of such
capacitive loads. inductive and

Current demand of outlets

Type of outlet
Assumed current demand
2 A socket outlet
At least 0.5A
Other socket outlets Rated current
Lighting point |Connected load, with
minimum of 100 W
|Shaver outlet, bell
transformer or any equipment|May be neglected
of 5 W or less

Household cooker | 10A +30% of remainder +5A

|for socket in cooker unit
When
assessing maximum demand, account must he taken
inc oSSible growth in demand during the life of the
installation. Apart from indicating that maximum demand
must be
assessed the Regulationstthemselves give little help.
uggestions for the assumed current demand of various types
of
outlet are shown in
Table
105
Lighting circuits

Lampholders and ceiling roses must

not be
where the supply voltage used in
installations exceeds 25
bayonet cap (BC)
or edison screw (ES)
the protective device rating is limited to the lampholders N.Where
ar e used,

in {Table 1}, unless the lampholders and tho

values shown
he associated
within a fireproof
wiring are enclosed losure,
luminaire (lighting fitting), or unless they have such as a
ave separate
over-current protection in the form of a local fuse or
breaker.
circuit
Lampholders are often mounted within enclosed
sed spaces
such as lighting fittings, where the internal temperature
become very high, particularly where filament lamps ard
may
are
used. Care must be taken to ensure that the lampholders
and their associated wiring, are able to withstand the
temperature concerned. Where ES lampholders are
connected to a system with the neutral at earth potential
(TT or TN systems) care must be taken to ensure that the
centre contact is connected to the phase conductor and the
outer serew to the neutral to reduce the shock danger in the
event of touching the outer screw
during lamp changing (see
Figure).
Table 6.1 -

Overcurrent protection of
lampholders
Type of Maximum rating of protective
lampholder device (A)
Bayonet cap SBC 6
BC 16
Edison screw SES
6
ES
16
GES
16

106
 n e u t r a l

phase

section is
(screw)
outer
c onnected to earthed

s u p p l yc o n d u c t o r (neutral)

lampholder
connection of ES
Correct
flexible cord
have more than one

roses
must not themselves,
Ceiling like the flexible cords
and,
connected to them, weight than their
suspended
must not be
subjected to greater r o o m s must
in bath or shower
Lampholders
design permits. to prevent
contact with the
protective shield
be fitted with a
the lamp (see Fig 6.11).
cap whilst changing where
lighting installations, particularly
In large
consideration should be
fluorescent fittings are involved,
support couplers (LSCs)
or
of luminaire
given to the use
facilitate the
and sockets. Such arrangements
plugs
electrical maintenance and
disconnection of luminaires for
of an
for cleaning, and may also allow the complete testing
installation before erection of the luminaires. Many lighting
installations are now controlled by sophisticated software
(which may switch off the lighting when daylight levels
increase or when a room has been unoccupied for a
predetermined time). Such devices must be installed to
comply with the Regulations.

107
 Protective shield for a BC lampholder
Cooker circuits
A cooker is regarded as a of fixed equipment
piece
unless it is a small table-mounted type fed from a plug by a
flexible cord. Such equipment must be under the control
of
a local switch,
usually in the form ofa cooker control unit.
This switch may control two cookers,
provided both are
within 2 m ofit. In many cases this control unit
a socket outlet,
incorporates
although often such a socket is not in the
safest position for use to supply portable
appliances, whose
flexible cords may be burned by the hotplates. It is often
considered safer to control the cooker with a switch and to
provide a separate socket circuit.

108
Testing insulation resistance

A low
between phase and neutral conductors,
resistance

ve conductors to earth, will result in a leakage

or irom live

This current could cause deterioration of the

Current. Th
lation, as well as involving a waste of energy which
would increase the running costs of the installation. Thus,
ihe resistance be
the between poles or to earth must never be less
the
thanhalfof one meg ohm (0.5 MOhms) for the usual supply
voltages. In addition to the leakage current due to insulation
gistance, there is a further current leakage in the reactance
re

of the insulation, because it acts as the dielectric of a

capacitor. This current dissipates no energy and is not
harmful, but we Wish to measure the resistance of the
insulation, so a direct voltage is used to prevent reactance
from being included in the measurement. Insulation will
sometimes have high resistance when low potential
differences apply across it, but will break down and offer
low resistance when a higher voltage is applied. For this
reason, the high levels of test voltage shown in {Table 2}
are necessary.

Before commencing the test it is important that:

1. electronic equipment which could be damaged by the
application of the high test voltage should be disconnected.
Included in this category are electronic fluorescent starter
switches, touch switches, dimmer switches, power
controllers, delay timers, switches associated with passive
infrared detectors (PIRs), RCDs with electronic operation
etc. An alternative to disconnection is to ensure that
phase
and neutral are connected together before an insulation test
is made between them and earth.
2.- capacitors and indicator or pilot lamps must be
disconnected or an inaccurate test reading will result.

109
 Table 2 - Required test voltazes and minimn s

Nominal circuit volta ge

Test Minim m
vitage
(V) reiatnt
Extra-low voltage circuits
5upplied from a safety 250 2
transformer

Up to 500 Vexcept for 500

above
to 1000 V
A bove 500 V up
The insulation resistante tester nust be czpabje
maintaining the required voltage when providing
steady state of current of imA.

Where any equipment is disconnected for testing

purposes, it must be subjected t0 its own insulation test
The
using a voltage which is not likely to result in damage.
result must conform with that specified in the British
Standard concerned, or be at Jeast 0.5 M Ohns if there is n
Standard.
The test to earth {Fig 8.10; must be carried out on the
complete installation with the main switch off, with phase
and neutral connected together, with lamps and other
equipment disconnected, but with fuses in, circuit breakers
closed and all circuit switches closed. Where two-way
switching is wircd, only one of the two strapper wires will
be tested. To test the other, both two-way switches should
be

110
 .

eddng not tess

than09M

Insulation test to earth

E fuses in switches closed,

etc. as for earth test
R Y B N
repeat test between
R&B Y&N
R&N B&N
Y&B

minimum reading
0.5 M2

Insulation tests between poles

operated and the system retested. If desired, the installation
can be tested
whole, when a value of at least 0.5 M
as a
Ohms should be
achieved, see {Fig 8.10}. In the case of a
very large installation where there are
many earth paths in
parallel, the reading would be expected
to be lower. If this
nappens, the installation should be subdivided and retested,
wnen each part must meet the minimum
requirement.
ne tests to earth and between
poles must be carried Out as

111