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A distribution board (also known as panelboard, circuit breaker panel, breaker panel, electric panel, fuse box or DB box) is a component of an electricity supply system that divides an electrical power feed into subsidiary circuits while providing a protective fuse or circuit breaker for each circuit in a common enclosure.
The ring is fed from a fuse or circuit breaker in the consumer unit. Ring circuits are commonly used in British wiring with socket-outlets taking fused plugs to BS 1363 . Because the breaker rating is much higher than that of any one socket outlet, the system can only be used with fused plugs or fused appliance outlets.
(Fuse wire is commonly supplied to consumers as short lengths of 5 A-, 15 A- and 30 A-rated wire wound on a piece of cardboard.) Modern consumer units usually contain miniature circuit breakers (MCBs) instead of fuses, though cartridge fuses are sometimes still used, as in some applications MCBs are prone to nuisance tripping.
A network system has multiple sources of supply operating in parallel. Spot networks are used for concentrated loads. Radial systems are commonly used in rural or suburban areas. Radial systems usually include emergency connections where the system can be reconfigured in case of problems, such as a fault or planned maintenance.
did not confine switching to the hot conductor (the so-called Carter system prohibited as of 1923 places electrical loads across the common terminals of a three-way switch pair) permitted the use of in-line splices in walls without a junction box (however, this downside is offset by the strong nature of the soldered and taped junctions used at ...
More tails proceed from the meter into a consumer unit (or fusebox in older installations), possibly via an isolator. Some installations may have multiple consumer units (or an old fusebox along with one or more consumer units), in which case the meter tails may first go into a junction box from which they split out to each individual unit.
Amendment 3 introduced requirements for the use of non-combustable consumer units (or enclosures) in domestic premises, along with use of metal wiring/containment clips in certain situations, and expanded use of RCDs into commercial/industrial spaces. [12]
The fuse elements used in most distribution cutouts are tin or silver alloy wires that melt when subjected to high enough current. Ampere ratings of fuse elements vary from 1 ampere to 200 amperes but a solid door will allow the full 300 ampere capacity of the cutout to be utilized.