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Portable battery powered AC power banks are they a danger

Gary Brown

Hi , hoping for someone to shed light on a topic regards the trend of battery bank AC supplies from the likes of Anker or Jackery 

my concerns are these devices get their own classification such as double insulated , class b for their own function which is to be charged from the 230AC socket ... fine if their out put is ELV

however they have multiple 230VAC sockets on them allowing 1500W +

BS7671 sec 551 requires generating units (of electrochemical accumulators ) to feature an RCD on final circuits. 100% of these power banks do not have an RCD , favouring separated voltage and electronics ( not SELV ) , however this is over the 110AC limit BS7671 allows for ....

my question is how are these units able to meet regulations and gain CE marking and ultimately be safe 

they are essentially able to pile 6 Amps at 230V with only overload to protect you which personally is a little more than the 30mA we are so dearly bound to 

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  • +1

    Aren't they IT supplies - completely un-grounded on the AC and DC sides?  In which case, it's not much different from a small petrol generator.

    In theory, you could touch one of the live outputs and not be electrocuted, because there's no current path through ground.  Which means and RCD wouldn't make much difference.

  • 0 in reply to Simon Barker

    Thanks Simon, this is DC battery , inverted to AC out        , however 551.4.4.2 has an RCD being required on TN,TT and IT on final circuits..... but then goes on to say the RCD would only work in IT if fault was on the supply side which could occur when being charged ?

  • 0 in reply to Gary Brown

    The ones I have seen advertised all charge on DC only.  That could be a mains adaptor, car charger or solar panels.  Where would the RCD go in that?

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