Siemens First to Receive UL Listing for 120-Volt, Single Pole Solid-state Circuit Breaker

Status
Not open for further replies.
I read the first line "The solid-state breaker concept replaces the traditional moving parts of an electromechanical circuit breaker with semiconductors and advanced software algorithms that control the power and can interrupt extreme currents faster than ever before.

Negative. I've seen what semiconductor and software has done to automobiles. They can keep them.
 
Possible advantages (theoretical, I don't know which of them this product provides):

- Temperature independent behavior
- Could therefore be 100% rated
- Built in voltage, current measurements
- Remote turn on/turn off
- Field upgradeable AFCI
- GFCI is a software switch

That's all I can think of. Sounds like a good idea to me, if they are reliable, not overpriced, and do provide increased functionality. [AFCIs fail on all three of those criteria.]

Cheers, Wayne
 
Fast, programmable interuption capabilities might provide more flexibility in achieving breaker coordination. But that would likely be further down the road.
 
What advantage is that over what we have now?
Agreed. Typical situation...someone engineering a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. Making the breaker industry rely on the semiconductor industry seems to be a mind numbing event considering how many times has the semiconductor industry crippled the automotive industry. We design and build mission critical equipment for the US and foreign Navies. Right now tantalum caps and some surface mount resistors are upwards of 20 weeks ARO. Why would you transition production to something unstable?

I guess it would be fine for upty installations where folks want remote control and all that....but for 90% of installations, a good ol' breaker with technology that is 100 years old will work just fine...and be 1/3 of the cost.....and be readily available. $.02
 
..like AFCI where the only folks making money on them is the manufacturer and the EC is left holding the bag for all the trip calls, well then, that's a problem.
Blame it on the standard.

Fire & safety devices are governed by OSHA's selection of NRTL test standards, and CPSC's investigation of standard compliance, however de-funded or industry-appointee hamstrung between political administrations.

While commercial & industrial solid-state over-current devices endure extreme utility excursions (perhaps EM shielding borrowed from inverters per UL 1741 SA), nothing in UL 1699, 489, or 67 test requirements define or limit nuisance trips, premature failure, or utility-grid exposure.

UL 1741 SA is a safety standard that lays out the manufacturing (including software) and product testing requirements with the goal of producing inverters more capable of riding through grid excursions, and won't apply to devices that only rectify utility sources for DC logic, such as AFCI's, GFCI's, or Siemens UL listed file E82615.

No recalls should be expected without listing violations, or catastrophic failures resulting in casualty. Keeping any residential solid-state device working may indefinitely require technical skills in the field with OEM tech support.

Unskilled laborer shops and their slave masters may need to lobby their AHJ's to amended out more labor-intensive devices, an order of magnitude more expensive, to force manufactures to keep making the legacy thermal-magnetic device.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top