Earth Leakage & Shock Protection Devices (ELCB, RCD, RCCB, RCBO, GFCI)

Possibly the greatest confusion with regard to RCDs concerns the plethora of names attaching to these
devices. Various names are used in countries all over the world.

A RCD/ELCB is, first and foremost, a safety device. A residual current device or earth leakage circuit
breaker is known by many acronyms throughout the world. The main factor in determining the name is
the end use and/or the environment in which the product is to be installed.

Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (New Zealand/Australia

ELCB -
and Asia)

Residual Current Device/Residual Current Unit (New

RCD -
Zealand/Australia/Europe)
RCU - Residual Current Unit (Italy)

RCCB - Residual Current Circuit Breaker (Europe)

Residual Current Circuit Breaker with integral over-

RCBO -
current protection (Europe)

GFCI/GFI - Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (USA/Canada)

I am going to start with the name ELCB because it is the name that causes most confusion. Hopefully this
article will remove some of the confusion.

ELCB = Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker

When the term ELCB is used it usually means a voltage operated device.. ELCB refers to the old way of
detecting earth fault currents & they were the forerunner of RCDs. ELCB is a safety device used in
electrical installation with high earth impedance to prevent electric shock.

Earth-leakage current

Current that flows from the live parts to earth, in the absence of an insulation fault or line to earth.
RCD/RCU = Residual Current Device/Residual Current Unit

This is a generic term for the entire range of RCDs. They are differential current operated device.

The RCD is now the preferred means of providing shock protection, and the term RCD has largely
replaced ELCB within the industry. Unfortunately, the RCD industry has had considerable difficulty in
shaking off the old association with ELCBs, and many electrical contractors still ask for an ELCB when in
fact they want an RCD.

RCDs are current balance devices. These devices work by detecting a slight current imbalance between
Live and Neutral wires, and trip the circuit breaker, if this is above the trip value.

RCU = Residual Current Unit

Residual current unit. When producing and wiring the distributor, the modular unit is attached, and
thereby mechanically and electrically connected with the circuit breaker of the same manufacturer. It is
mostly used in Italy.

RCCB = Residual Current Circuit Breaker.

This term RCCB used in Europe. Their function is same like RCD. Its sole function is to provide protection
against earth fault currents.

This is a term that does not not appear in the current wiring regs, and does not have a consistent
definition or usage. Some manufacturers use it to differentiate RCDs without overcurrent protection
from those with it (i.e. RCBOs).

In electrical engineering, residual current circuit breakers (RCCB) or residual current devices (RCD) are
circuit breakers that operate to disconnect their circuit whenever they detect that current leaking out of
the circuit (such as current leaking to earth through a ground fault) exceeds safety limits.

Residual current

Algebraic sum of the instantaneous values of the currents flowing through all live conductors in a circuit at a point
of the electrical installation. (The sum of the values of the electric currents in all live conductors)

Residual operating current

Value of the residual current causing a residual current device to operate.

RCBO = Residual Current Breaker with Overload Protection.

Combined functions of MCB and RCD in one unit. Used to protect the particular circuit and preferable to
separate RCD and MCBs

It has two functions,

 a. to provide protection against earth fault currents and
b. to provide protection against overload currents.

Recommended for commercial installations and especially on ring circuits where there are lots of
computers in use (as opposed to a single RCD for the whole building).

GFI = Ground Fault Interrupter/ GFCI = Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter

This term is mainly used in North America. The principle of operation is exactly as described for the RCD
above.

In the United States and Canada (North America), a residual current device is also known as a ground
fault circuit interrupter (GFCI), ground fault interrupter (GFI) or an appliance leakage current
interrupter (ALCI). In Australia they are sometimes known as "safety switches" or simply "RCD"(or
"RCDs" for the plural); in Italy they are also called "salvavita".

but these terms are not, strictly speaking, correct (or at least complete), because a RCCB will trip if
current leaks anywhere, not just to ground. One might more properly call the device a Balance Fault
Interrupter (BFI), rather than GFI, because it will trip if current, for example, leaks to or from another
circuit such as either the "hot" or "cold" side of a nearby 12 volt DC renewable energy system, or a
nearby ethernet jack, etc.. The device will trip on any balance fault, not just a balance fault to ground.

IEC 61008-1 (2002- EN 61008-1:1994 SIST EN 61008-

RCCB 10) Ed 2.1. Electrical 1:1996 Residual
Amendment 1 - accessories - current operated
Residual current Residual current circuit-breakers
operated circuit- operated circuit- without integral
breakers without breakers without overcurrent
integral overcurrent integral overcurrent protection for
protection for protection for household and
household and household and similar uses (RCCB's)
similar uses (RCCBs) similar uses (RCCB's) - Part 1: General
General rules + -- Part 1: General rules (IEC 1008-
am1(2002-06) rules + 1:1990 + A1:1992,
IEC 61008-2-1 prEN 61008-1:2003 modified) +
(1990-12) Residual current SIST EN 61008-2-1:
Applicability of the operated circuit- 1996 Residual
general rules to breakers without current operated
RCCB's functionally integral overcurrent circuit-breakers
independent of line protection for without integral
voltage household and overcurrent
IEC61008-2-2 (1990- similar uses (RCCB's) protection for
12) Applicability of -- Part 1: General household and
the general rules to rules similar uses (RCCB's)
RCCB's functionally EN 61008-2-1:1994 - Part 2-1:
dependent on line Residual current Applicability of the
voltage operated circuit- general rules to
breakers without RCCB's functionally
integral overcurrent independent of line
 protection for voltage (IEC 1008-2-
household and 1:1990)
similar uses (RCCB's)
-- Part 2-1:
Applicability of the
general rules to
RCCB's functionally
independent of line
voltage

IEC 61009-1 (2003- EN 61009-1:1994 SIST EN 61009-1:1996

RCBO 02) Ed. 2.1 Electrical Residual current
Consolidated Edition accessories - operated circuit-
+ Corr1(2003-05) + Residual current breakers with integral
am1 (2002-11) operated circuit- overcurrent protection
Residual current breakers with for household and
operated circuit- integral overcurrent similar uses (RCOB's) -
breakers with integral protection for Part 1: General rules
overcurrent household and (IEC 1009-1:1991,
protection for similar uses modified)
household and (RCBO's) -- Part 1: SIST EN 61009-2-
similar uses (RCBOs) - General rules 1:1996 Residual
Part 1: General rules prEN 61009-1:2003 current operated
IEC 61009-2-1 (1991- Residual current circuit-breakers with
09) Residual current operated circuit- integral overcurrent
operated circuit- breakers with protection for
breakers with integral integral overcurrent household and similar
overcurrent protection for uses (RCOB's) - Part 2-
protection for household and 1: Applicability of the
household and similar uses general rules to RCOB's
similar uses (RCBO's) (RCCO's) -- Part 1: functionally
- Part 2-1: General rules independent of line
Applicability of the EN 61009-2-1:1994 voltage (IEC 1009-2-
general rules to Residual current 1:1991)
RCBO's functionally operated circuit-
independent of line breakers with
voltage integral overcurrent
IEC 61009-2-2 (1991- protection for
09) Residual current household and
operated circuit- similar uses
breakers with integral (RCBO's) -- Part 2-1:
overcurrent Applicability of the
 protection for general rules to
household and RCBO's functionally
similar uses (RCBO's) independent of line
- Part 2-2: voltage
Applicability of the
general rules to
RCBO's functionally
dependent on line
voltage

Earth Leakage & Shock Protection Devices

Purpose

Many electrical installations have a relatively high earth impedance. This may be due to the use of a local
earth rod (TT systems), or to dry local ground conditions.

A Earth Leakage & Shock protection device (RCD/ELCB) is a circuit protective device designed to achieve
two important results:

1. To protect users from serious electric shock.

 2. To protect circuits from sustained earth faults that may occur where the normal operation of
traditional protective devices like Fuses, and MCBs does not function correctly because the
earth loop impedance is too high.

These installations are dangerous and a safety risk if a live to earth fault current flows. Because earth
impedance is high,

1. not enough current exists to trip a fuse or circuit breaker, so the condition persists uncleared
indefinitely
2. the high impedance earth cannot keep the voltage of all exposed metal to a safe voltage, all such
metalwork may rise to close to live conductor voltage.

These dangers can be drastically reduced by the use of an ELCB or Residual-current device (RCD).

The RCD/ELCB makes such installations much safer by cutting the power if these dangerous conditions
occur. In non-technical terms if a person touches something, typically a metal part on faulty electrical
equipment, which is at a significant voltage relative to the earth, electrical current will flow through
him/her to the earth. The current that flows is too small to trip an electrical fuse which could disconnect
the electricity supply, but can be enough to kill. An ELCB/RCD detects even a small current to earth
(Earth Leakage) and disconnects the equipment (Circuit Breaker).

How does it work?

Under normal conditions:

Current flowing through the phase conductor is equal to the current returning through the neutral
conductor. This means that there is no leakage out of the system. The current flowing into the device is
equal to the current used by the load. The magnetic field generated by the phase wire is equal in
amplitude and opposite in polarity to the neutral wire so the magnetic fields generated cancel each
other out. There is no 'imbalance'.

Under fault conditions:

Current flowing through the phase conductor is not equal to the current returning through the neutral
conductor. Current is being lost through an alternative return circuit to earth - possibly you! The current
in one of the active conductors is equal to the current used by the load and the alternate return circuit,
which is not equal to that returning through the other active conductor. As there is an imbalance of
current, the magnetic fields of phase and neutral do not cancel each other out; therefore a magnetic
field exists. This causes the sensor coil within the RCD to generate a small current. This current in the
sensor coil is in turn detected by the sensor circuit. If the sensed current is above a predetermined level
then the sensor circuit sends a signal to the solenoid, which causes the contacts to open, or 'trip'.

Nuisance trips

While voltage and current on the earth line is usually fault current from a live wire, this is not always the
case, thus there are situations in which an ELCB/RCD can nuisance trip.

When an installation has two connections to earth, a nearby high current lightning strike will cause a
voltage gradient in the soil, presenting the ELCB/RCD sense coil with enough voltage to cause it to trip.

If the installation's earth rod is placed close to the earth rod of a neighbouring building, a high earth
leakage current in the other building can raise the local ground potential and cause a voltage difference
across the two earths, again tripping the ELCB. Close earth rods are unsuitable for ELCB/RCD use for this
reason, but in real life such installations are sometimes encountered.

Another cause of nuisance tripping is due to accumulated or burden currents caused by items with
lowered insulation resistance. This may occur due to older equipment, or equipment with heating
elements, or even wiring in buildings in the tropics where prolonged damp and rain conditions can cause
the insulation resistance to lower due to moisture tracking. If there is a 30 mA protective device in use
and there is a 10mA burden from various sources then the unit will trip at 20 mA. The individual items
may each be electrically safe but a large number of small burden currents accumulates and reduces the
tripping level. This was more a problem in past installations where multiple circuits were protected by a
single ELCB.

Both RCDs and ELCBs are prone to nuisance trips from normal harmless earth leakage to some degree.
On one hand ELCBs are on average older, and hence tend to have less well developed filtering against
nuisance trips, and on the other hand ELCBs are inherently immune to some of the causes of false trips
RCDs suffer, and are generally less sensitive than RCDs. In practice RCD nuisance trips are much more
common.

Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELCB) - Introduction

An Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker (ELCB) is a safety device used in electrical installations with high earth
impedance to prevent shock.

ELCB = Earth Leakage Circuit Breaker. ELCB refers to the old way of detecting earth fault currents & they
were the forerunner of RCDs.ELCB is a safety device used in electrical installation with high earth
impedance to prevent electric shock.
There are two types of ELCB:

 voltage operated and,

 current operated.

For the convenience of this article only (and at the risk of causing even more confusion) I will refer to
these as vELCB and iELCB. vELCBs were first introduced about sixty years ago and iELCBs were first
introduced about forty years ago. vELCB were mainly used in TT system.

How vELCB (ELCB) works ?

The principle of operation of the vELCB is as follows. Under normal conditions the closed contacts of the
vELCB feed the supply current to the load. The load is protected by a metal frame, such as in an electric
cooker. The vELCB also has a relay coil, one end of which is connected to the metal frame and one end
connected directly to ground. A shock risk will arise if a breakdown in the insulation occurs in the load
which causes the metal frame to rise to a voltage above earth. A resultant current will flow from the
metalwork through the relay coil to earth and when the frame voltage reaches a dangerous level, e.g. 50
volts, the current flowing through the relay coil will be sufficient to activate the relay thereby causing
opening of the supply contacts and removal of the shock risk.

How iELCB (RCD) works ?

The iELCB was introduced in the late 1950's. It operates on the following principle. Under normal
conditions the closed contacts of the iELCB feed the supply current to the load. The load conductors are
passed through a current transformer (CT), a doughnut shaped device. The load conductors act as
primary windings of the transformer. The CT is fitted with a secondary winding. Under normal
conditions, the total current flowing from the supply to the load will be the same as the total current
flowing back to the supply from the load. As the current in both directions is equal but opposite, it has
no effect on the CT. However, if some current flows to earth after the iELCB, possibly due to an earth
fault, the current flowing to the load and from the load will be different. This differential current will
cause a resultant output from the CT. This output is detected and if above a predetermined safe level, it
will cause the iELCB to trip and disconnect the supply from the load.

Which is better ? (ELCB Vs RCD)

If there is earth leakage current, voltage operand ELCB will only jerked when the current that passes
relay loop is enough to move relay contact to cut off the supply. Otherwise, the leaking current will flow
to earth. Level of protection from electric the shock given by voltage operand ELCB is not quite sensitive.
Another its disadvantage is it tends to jerked from earth current caused from other assembly. While
current operand ELCB will jerked if in and out current is not balanced. Current operand ELCB is more
sensitive for earth current leakage.

Regarding to investigated electric accident cases, especially those involved domestic coupling, the lack of
ELCB function become the major cause which contribute to death cases. By such, the usage of voltage
operand ELCB PLBK must be stopped immediately and only current operand ELCB type can be used.
current operand ELCB type also known as Residual Current Device (RCD). Besides, there are also other
names for this RCD-like functions.

Early ELCBs responded to sinewave fault currents, but not to rectified fault current. Over time, filtering
against nuisance trips has also improved. Early ELCBs thus offer a little less safety and higher risk of
nuisance trip. The ability to distinguish between a fault condition and non-risk conditions is called
discrimination.

Advantages over RCDs

ELCBs have one advantage over RCDs: they are less sensitive to fault conditions, and therefore have
fewer nuisance trips. (This does not mean they always do, as practical performance depends on
installation details and the discrimination enhancing filtering in the ELCB.) Therefore by electrically
separating cable armour from cable CPC, an ELCB can be arranged to protect against cable damage only,
and not trip on faults in downline installations.

Disadvantages

ELCBs have some disadvantages:

 They do not detect faults that don't pass current through the CPC to the earth rod.
 They do not allow a single building system to be easily split into multiple sections with
independent fault protection, because earthing systems are usually bonded to pipework.

 They may be tripped by external voltages from something connected to the earthing system
such as metal pipes, a TN-S earth or a TN-C-S combined neutral and earth.

 As with RCDs, electrically leaky appliances such as some water heaters, washing machines and
cookers may cause the ELCB to trip.
  ELCBs introduce additional resistance and an additional point of failure into the earthing system.

 They are having inadequate earth impedance. The higher fault current is then needed to reach
the sufficient voltage to activate its relay coil.

Residual Current Devices (RCD)

For many years, the voltage operated ELCB and the differential current operated ELCB were both referred
to as ELCBs because it was a simpler name to remember.

Normally, both stated devices are called as ELCB because they have the same function. However in the
utilisation and application of standard safety, current operand ELCB is called as RCD - Residual Current
Device to make comparison become easier. However, the use of a common name for two different
devices gave rise to considerable confusion in the electrical industry. If the wrong type was used on an
installation, the level of protection given could be substantially less than that intended. To remove this
confusion, IEC decided to apply the term Residual Current Device (RCD) to differential current operated
ELCBs. Residual current refers to any current over and above the load current.

A residual current device (RCD), similar to that of a residual current circuit breaker (RCCB), is an
electrical wiring device that disconnects a circuit whenever it detects that the electric current is not
balanced between the energized conductor and the return neutral conductor. Such an imbalance is
sometimes caused by current leakage through the body of a person who is grounded and accidentally
touching the energized part of the circuit. A lethal shock can result from these conditions. RCDs are
designed to disconnect quickly enough to mitigate the harm caused by such shocks although they are
not intended to provide protection against overload or short-circuit conditions.

Purpose and operation

RCDs are designed to prevent electrocution by detecting the leakage current, which can be far smaller
(typically 5-30 milliamperes) than the currents needed to operate conventional circuit breakers or fuses
(several amperes). RCDs are intended to operate within 25-40 milliseconds, before electric shock can
drive the heart into ventricular fibrillation, the most common cause of death through electric shock.
In the United States, the National Electrical Code requires GFCI devices intended to protect people to
interrupt the circuit if the leakage current exceeds a range of 4-6 mA of current (the trip setting is
typically 5 mA) within 25 milliseconds. GFCI devices which protect equipment (not people) are allowed
to trip as high as 30 mA of current. In Europe, the commonly used RCDs have trip currents of 10-300 mA.

RCD affords extra protection against electric shock, now mandatory in some installations, and
mandatory for sockets supplying equipment likely to be used outdoors. They are highly recommended
where a supply utilizes an over head supply and earthing rod, and often two are used.

What Does it do?

RCD protects against indirect contact electric shock. It is designed to detect such a residual current (an
earth leakage current), to compare it to a reference value, and to open the protected circuit when it
exceeds the reference value.

These include the situations where a person is receiving an electric shock from the circuit, or when
current is being conducted away to earth for some other reason. When any of these situations are
detected, it automatically disconnects the circuit.

What does it not do?

Residual current detection is complementary to over load detection. Residual current detection cannot
provide protection for overload & short circuit currents. (there is a type that does offer overcurrent
protection as well - the RCBO (see later)).

An RCD only protects against a phase to earth or a neutral to earth fault. It does not protect against a
phase to neutral fault.

Responses for Main Supply Conditions

Lastly, we can think in terms of the mains supply conditions for an additional set of responses, as follows.
 i. Does not trip on loss of mains supply*
ii. Trips on loss of mains supply and remains open on restoration of the supply.

iii. Trips on loss of mains supply but recloses automatically on restoration of the supply

* These RCDs will not trip for any reduction or fluctuations of the supply voltage from 100% to 0% of the
normal level. Within this category there are RCDs available which are intended to trip on loss of supply
neutral alone. A loss of supply neutral condition may be considered to be hazardous and where this is of
concern to the installer or user, this type of RCD can be used.

Types ii) and iii) are sometimes referred to as undervoltage release RCDs, and will trip automatically
when the mains voltage falls below a specified level. The exact voltage level at which the RCD trips will
be specified by the manufacturer, but can sometimes be set in accordance with customer requirements.
In previous years, these devices tended to respond almost immediately to a low voltage condition, giving
rise to problems of nuisance tripping. Following changes to RCD product standards, these devices will
now generally not trip automatically unless the low voltage condition exceeds a specified period,
typically 300 - 500mS. This ensures that the RCD will not trip in response to momentary dips caused by
inrush currents.

Type ii) devices are usually selected for use on installations where a potential hazard could be caused by
low voltage conditions. For example, unexpected reactivation of moving parts such as conveyors, motors,
rotary blades, or reactivation of processes, (production, chemical) etc. could prove hazardous and may
need to be prevented from happening.

The Type iii) device will open automatically when the supply voltage falls below a specified level or in the
event of loss of phase or neutral, thereby isolating the load until full restoration of the supply.

Problems With RCDs – Nuisance Tripping

As far as users are concerned, the single greatest problem with RCDs is nuisance tripping. This problem
will either be due to the design of the RCD or due to the installation. Nuisance tripping can be a
frustrating problem for the user and there have been cases where RCDs were strapped out, removed
from installations completely or replaced with RCDs with a higher rated trip current. All of these types of
actions are very dangerous and should be avoided. Where the problem lies with the RCD design, it is
usually attributable to factors such as voltage spikes, surges, switching transients, noise, inrush currents,
etc. Over recent years, the problem of nuisance tripping attributable to the RCD itself have been
addressed by IEC. New tests have been introduced into the product standards to ensure that RCDs have
a reasonably high immunity to nuisance tripping. Unfortunately, all RCDs do not comply with the new
requirements. To minimise this problem, ensure as far as possible that the RCD has compliance to
IEC61008 or EN61008 (RCCBs) or IEC61009 or EN61009 (RCBOs) and also to IEC61543 or EN61543 (EMC
requirements for RCDs).

Sometimes the problem of nuisance tripping is attributable to the installation. IEC recommend that the
standing earth leakage current on the installation should not exceed 30% of the rated trip current of the
RCD intended to be used on that installation. This means that for a 30mA RCD, the standing earth
leakage current should not exceed 10mA. Given that a 30mA RCD may trip anywhere from 15 - 30mA, a
10mA standing leakage current will virtually prime the RCD to trip. In general, RCDs cannot tell the
difference between a standing leakage current and an earth fault current. The sum of these two currents
is the residual current seen by the RCD and if this aggregate current is greater than its rated trip current,
the RCD will trip, unless it's faulty.

The problem of standing leakage currents is increasing. This is due to two factors:

a. equipment manufacturers filtering internally generated noise to earth

b. fitting of RFI suppression to provide immunity to mains borne noise.

Recently introduced European Directives on EMC require manufacturers of products, appliances,

equipment, etc. to contain within specified limits the levels of RFI type emissions produced by their
products. Manufacturers often have to resort to the use of filtering circuits to meet these requirements.
The filtering circuits can divert high frequency signals to earth, but can also result in the flow of
significant levels of leakage current to earth at the standard 50Hz frequency. Under IEC rules, electrical
appliances may allow a standing leakage current of up to 3.5mA/50Hz to flow to earth. Such current
levels coupled with other sources of standing leakage currents can give rise to nuisance tripping.

Washing machines, oil or gas burners and even immersion heaters can contribute to nuisance tripping.
Temperature and humidity may also be factors in nuisance tripping. Other factors contributing to
nuisance tripping may be poor earth terminations, surge suppressers, neutral voltage rising above earth
potential, etc. A very sneaky problem is where an earth fault current on the supply side of the RCDs
manages to appear as a load side fault to the RCD, causing it to trip. This problem is more usually
associated with IT systems, or on TT systems with high earth impedance. Before changing the RCD in
response to a nuisance tripping problem, check the installation by measuring the standing leakage
current and carrying out an earth loop test. Also try to identify equipment that is likely to contribute to
standing or transient earth currents. A residual current monitor can be fitted to an installation to detect
the level of the standing earth leakage current or even transient leakage currents.

Limitations

A residual current circuit breaker cannot remove all risk of electric shock or fire. In particular, an RCD
alone will not detect overload conditions, phase to neutral short circuits or phase-to-phase short circuits.
Over-current protection (fuse or circuit breaker) must be provided. Circuit breakers that combine the
functions of an RCD with overcurrent protection respond to both types of fault. These are known as
RCBOs, and are available in 1, 2, 3 and 4 pole configurations. RCBOs will typically have separate circuits
for detecting current imbalance and for overload current but will have a common interrupting
mechanism.

An RCD will help to protect against electric shock where current flows through a person from a phase
(live / line / hot) to earth. It cannot protect against electric shock where current flows through a person
from phase to neutral or phase to phase, for example where a finger touches both live and neutral
contacts in a light fitting; a device can not differentiate between current flow through an intended load
from flow through a person.

Important note regarding TN-C earthing system

According to IEC 60364:

 RCD should not be used in a TN-C system (per definition, RCD would not provide necessary
protection in circuits with L-PEN wiring)!
 When an RCD is used in a TN-C-S system, a PEN conductor should never be used downstream
(instead, separate PE and N wiring is required).

Electrical and Trip Characteristics

Type Description

This is the maximum current the device is rated to carry. Devices in DIN rail
mounts are commonly available in 16A, 25A, 40A, 63A and 80A ratings.
Rated Current (in A)
(if the RCD is connected in series with, and downstream of a circuit-breaker,
the rated current of both items shall be the same).

Number of poles (2P, 3P, RCDs are available for protecting both three phase and single phase circuits.
4P) (Three phase devices being typically twice the width of single phase ones)

This is the maximum current imbalance that will be tolerated without the trip
Trip threshold or mechanism being activated. In reality the devices specifications are usually
sensitivity (in mA) scoped such that the device will trip on 66% of the rated trip current (so as
little as 20mA may be required to trip a 30mA device).

Common trip thresholds include:

10mA (medical & sensitive use)

30mA - most common (personal use)

100mA (personal use)

300mA (industrial & commercial use)

Devices with thresholds of 30mA or less will offer good direct contact shock
protection. Higher trip threshold devices are only suitable for providing circuit
protection from high earth fault loop impedances (and hence providing
indirect contact shock protection).

 High sensitivity (HS): 6 – 10 – 30 mA (for direct-contact / life injury

protection),
  Medium sensitivity (MS): 100 – 300 – 500 – 1000 mA (for fire
protection),

 Low sensitivity (LS): 3 – 10 – 30 A (typically for protection of

machines).

It should be borne in mind that nameplate rating and real trip current are not
necessarily the same. For example UK 30mA RCDs must trip at an imbalance
current lower than 30mA.

Although RCDs can trip below their stated threshold, to meet required
standards RCDs should not trip on leakage currents any less than half their
threshold. They must also trip within 40 msec for any trip current that is five
or more times the trip threshold (many will perform better than these
minimum performance requirements)

RCD sensitivity is expressed as the rated residual operating current, noted

IΔn. Preferred values have been defined by the IEC, thus making it possible to
divide RCDs into three groups according to their IΔn value.

There are two groups of devices:

 G (general use) for instantaneous RCDs (i.e. without a time delay)

o Minimum break time: immediate.

o Maximum break time: 300 ms for 1x IΔn, 150 ms for 2x IΔn,

and 40 ms for 5x IΔn;

Trip time (in mS)  S (selective) or T (time delayed) for RCDs with a short time delay
(typically used in circuits containing surge suppressors). They are
particularly useful where it is required to cascade RCDs. The time
delay maintains discrimination between the cascaded devices so that
the downstream one closest to the fault trips first. For example, when
two RCDs are connected in series the first RCD will often be an S type.

o Minimum break time: 130 ms for 1x IΔn, 60 ms for 2x IΔn,

and 50 ms for 5x IΔn.

o Maximum break time: 500 ms for 1x IΔn, 200 ms for 2x IΔn,

and 150 ms for 5x IΔn;

Only specified for RCBOs. The range of overcurrent thresholds available

Overcurrent Trip
(typically 6A, 16A, 20A, 32A, and 40A) is similar to that for MCBs. In many
Threshold
cases a RCBO can be used as a drop in replacement for a MCB.
 Standard IEC 60755 (General requirements for residual current operated
protective devices) defines three types of RCD depending on the
characteristics of the fault current.

 Type AC: RCD for which tripping is ensured for residual sinusoidal
alternating currents.
 Type A: RCD for which tripping is ensured:

o for residual sinusoidal alternating currents,

o for residual pulsating direct currents,

o for residual pulsating direct currents superimposed by a

smooth direct current of 0.006 A, with or without phase-
angle control, independent of the polarity.

 Type B: RCD for which tripping is ensured:

o as for type A,
Type [AC or A or B]
o for residual sinusoidal currents up to 1000 Hz,

o for residual sinusoidal currents superposed by a pure direct

current,

o for pulsating direct currents superposed by a pure direct

current,

o for residual currents which may result from rectifying circuits,

i.e.:

 three pulse star connection or six pulse bridge

connection,

 two pulse bridge connection line-to-line with or

without phase-angle monitoring, independently of
the polarity.
 RCDs may be obtained that have different behaviors if the circuit they are
protecting is de-energized.

 One type will trip on power failure and not re-make the circuit when
the circuit is re-energised. This type is known as non-latching or
active.
Active/passive  Another type will re-make the circuit when the circuit is re-energised.
latching/non- This type is known as latching or passive.
latching
The first type is used when the power-drawing equipment is regarded as a
safety hazard if it is unexpectedly re-energized after a power failure e.g. lawn-
mowers and hedge trimmers.

The second type may be used on equipment where unexpected re-

energisation after a power failure is not a hazard. An example may be the use
of an RCD on a circuit providing power to a food freezer, where having to
reset an RCD after a power failure may be inconvenient.

The surge current refers to the peak current an RCD is designed to withstand
using a test impulse of specified characteristics ( an 8/20 µs impulse, named
after the time constants of the rise and fall of current). The IEC 61008 and IEC
Surge current resistance
61009 standards impose the use of a 0.5 µs/ 100 kHz damped oscillator wave
(ring wave) to test the ability of residual current protection devices to
withstand operational discharges with a peak current equal to 200 A. With
regard to atmospheric discharges, IEC 61008 and 61009 standards establish
the 8/20 µs surge current test with 3000 A peak current but limit the
requirement to RCDs classified as Selective.

Residual Current Circuit Breaker with Overload Protection (RCBO)

RCBO is Overcurrent Circuit Breaker added with RCD function (MCB +RCCB). It has dual function;

(a) to provide protection from earth fault currents; AND

(b) to provide protection from over currents.

RCBO's disadvantage is if it jerked, it is unknowable whether it caused from overcurrent or earth fault
current.