[SML] PLASA public Review documents

[bruce at ledworklights.com]

>Just for curiosity, I read some of these drafts.

>I shall never, never ever, understand the approach to overcurrent
>production that means that a 100A breaker may be loaded to 80A, and no
>more. If I buy a 100A breaker, I expect it to carry a load of 100A for
>ever and a day. How long it takes to trip with an overcurrent depends
>on the magnitude of that overcurrent, its duration, and on the detail
>design of the breaker. The manufacturer's data usually include this
>information.

>If I want an 80A breaker, I will buy one, and expect not to get a 64A
breaker!

++++++++++++++++

Startup current and temporary surges, not to mention harmonics on the line.
Measurement of current flow is a game of averages when dealing with AC
current, and so de-rating at least partially attempts to account for this
and prevent so-called 'nuisance trips'.  

  Your quibble is with the labeling?  You'd prefer the manufacturer to
de-rate and then label as such?  What happens when some intrepid soul
discovers the 'secret' capacity left and loads to that capacity and then
has a nuisance trip every day and so jams a clothespin against the handle? 
Or even just goes on the net spouting about the terrible design of company
X?

My admittedly testy .02

:Bruce Cooper


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