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Supply failure warning device

Grumpy

Hi All,

The RCBO that supplies the compressor in my treatment plant tripped randomly the other day. As I have been doing some maintenance on it and subsequently monitoring it I noticed quite quickly. This was the first time it had tripped since installation 20 months ago and hasn't tripped again.

The RCBO is in a CU in the detached garage which itself is supplied via sub main direct off the incoming supply to the house.

So I thought some sort of monitoring device might be prudent. Originally I thought I could utilise a non maintained emergency light that I have kicking about but realised it wouldn't have enough life if the supply failed at night. I go into the garage daily but not necessarily first thing. Has anyone any (low cost) suggestions?

I'm thinking maybe batten lampholder, red lamp, supply from garage lighting circuit and, what, an NC relay with a supply from the outgoing terminals of the plant's RCBO?

We're not talking life critical, hospital standard here, but if the supply's off too long my poor little microbes suffer!

Thanks for any suggestions!

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  • 0

    Some designs of twin spot emergency light pass a very small current through the lamps when ehen the mains is present, in order to prove filament continuity. These may confuse things, if in doubt shunt the stroble light with a 12 volt incandescent pilot lamp of a watt or two..

    Used or NOS emergency lights may have worn out batteries,replace if in doubt, they are not expensive.To search for the incandescent twin spot emergency light try the advance seach feature on ebay. Search for "twin spot emergency light" but excluding "LED led" I put a link a few posts back. That item may have been sold, but there are generally plenty of similar listings.

  • 0 in reply to broadgage

    Splendid! Thanks very much Mike and BG, much appreciated.

    G

  • 0 in reply to broadgage

    pass a very small current through the lamps when ehen the mains is present, in order to prove filament continuity.

    Ah. That I was a refinement that I was not aware of, and may explain a funny intermittent fault I saw about 8 years ago and never got to the bottom of that went away with new lamps and a clean and polish  of the holder.  (the thing had been in an outdoor container for ages.)
    If there is ever a next time I can put some resistance in shunt and see if that affects.
    Cheers
    Mike.

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  • 0 in reply to broadgage

    pass a very small current through the lamps when ehen the mains is present, in order to prove filament continuity.

    Ah. That I was a refinement that I was not aware of, and may explain a funny intermittent fault I saw about 8 years ago and never got to the bottom of that went away with new lamps and a clean and polish  of the holder.  (the thing had been in an outdoor container for ages.)
    If there is ever a next time I can put some resistance in shunt and see if that affects.
    Cheers
    Mike.

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