Metal consumer unit ....your opinion after fitting.

[Evans Electric]

I've fitted some Control Gear ones from Denmans .  They seem fine  ,  no round KOs but  nice big oblong knock outs on top, bottom and back .

I ran 2 X2 PVC trunking down & across the top of the board & noting that the edges of the KOs were smooth , I couldn't see that gromitt strip would achieve anything whatsoever so didn't fit any. 

Plenty of room with the dinrail below centre .

I found the front cover irritating as it's made to drop down & close ....but it doesn't take a lot to do that these days !! :innocent

You can probably get nicer looking enclosures ...but who cares ...its a fuseboard not a work of art.

 

[Blue Duck]

only installed MK, No complaints, easily configurable, good boards if your not afraid of making your own entry points.

 

[Murdoch]

I quite like the CG units - with the RCBO's - very cost effective and available off the shelf at my local Wilts....

My biggest criticism is the complete lack of round knock outs! and I've not dared to try and drill a 20mm hole in one of the rectangular knock outs  as yet!

 

[Evans Electric]

Yes that cropped up last week Murdo , I wanted a 6 way metal board for a small industrial unit , with an SWA feeder & a couple of conduits .  Didn't fancy drilling the oblong KO,s and ended up with an Eaton .   Eaton call it a consumer unit so I assume its their domestic one , just had 20mm KOs in it . 

It was a strange conversation with the wholesaler.......  you want a 6 way  industrial board , so you want a 3Ph oard .?     No I want a S/Phase metal board but without all big KOs for Twin/E  !!! .  Control Gear didn't seem to do them so it was Eaton .

 

[Andy™]

i would give my opinion, but since you asked for 'after fitting', you will have to wait a while...

 

[M107]

MK ........................Ooooh I had one last week & had to get a replacement set of internal tails, as I torqued up the neutral on the first rcd, the factory fitted lug opened a little & the multi-strand tail popped out of the terminal. But plenty of room inside.

BG............Not bad nice to look at being shiny white, unlike the standard off grey/brown of MK. KO's knock out easily enough. plenty of room inside. Lid holds shut. One gripe the main switch only has a 25mm KO below it, yet the other end of the box has a mahoosive 32mm.

SBS Daves .................they do the job at a fair price. lids bang when testing rcbo's. but shed loads of room. Only complaint the KO's take a fair bit of bashing to get out.

 

[NozSpark]

only installed MK, No complaints, easily configurable, good boards if your not afraid of making your own entry points.

Same here re. MK... a pair of nibblers come in really handy to enlarge the rear KO's

Schnider Easy 9 (old style)  6way with RCBO's is a bit tight for room above RCBO's and no 32mm KO below the main switch,,, only above!

Really need to get a 32mm Q max cutter

 

[Robin Spark]

Hi guys, 

Yes have fitted a couple of eaton consumer units from Denmans. I think they look ok, much better than the burnt out fusebox I replaced it with! Deke there are 20, 25 mm knockouts on the top and combined 32/40mm knockouts each end.

The first board i had to return as one of the dual rcd's had a chewed up terminal screw.

Deke can you remember were some of the stickers removed from the label sheet and already applied to the casing?

Also Qmax cutters are these any good?

 

[Andy™]

Also Qmax cutters are these any good?

yes, i use them all the time. iirc SW and a few others use them too. much better hole than with a holesaw

 

[leesparkykent]

Hager for me..design 10 or design 30. The design 30 comes standard with the tail clamp and cable protector plate for rear entry instead of using grommet strip. With both designs you can get them with or without knockouts.

 

[Robin Spark]

Thank you Andy, I will have a look at getting some of these.

Oh and the Eaton cu's only have 2 measly ko's on the back.

 

[kerching]

Q max?....excellent punches. I use mine with an impact driver/drill.....Been trying to find an affordable hydraulic drive tool with little sucess.

had the misfortune to fit a metal,CED garage unit today

all innards have to be removed so you can get to mounting holes, other than that it was 'acceptable'

 

[NozSpark]

I tend to remove the "Innards" anyway

 

[Sharpend]

These q max jobbies, how quick to use in comparison with standard hole saw? Just the prices are quite good compared with the bosch quick fit hole saws so will look to get some only time is of the essence in my game?? 

 

[Andy™]

depends. if you already have a hole there thats smaller than you want, then probably just as quick. if not you need to drill a hole first for the bolt, but end result is far better with no rough edges to worry about. i still use holesaws though, but not as much now

also, even though the qmax probably do more holes than the holesaw, its still outlasted a few of them

 

[NozSpark]

Qmax are much better than a hole saw IMHO.. no rough edges and the sheet stays absolutely flat

 

[Sharpend]

Ok so drilling a pilot hole is no mean feat, the use of a power tool to tighten the q max is ok then just  searching showed using Allen key to tighten? 

 

[NozSpark]

You are really only meant to tighten them with an allen key and spanner,,,, and you should be able to quite easily on a metal CU

however I have seen people using power tools to tighten them

 

[Evans Electric]

Hi guys, 

Yes have fitted a couple of eaton consumer units from Denmans. I think they look ok, much better than the burnt out fusebox I replaced it with! Deke there are 20, 25 mm knockouts on the top and combined 32/40mm knockouts each end.

The first board i had to return as one of the dual rcd's had a chewed up terminal screw.

Deke can you remember were some of the stickers removed from the label sheet and already applied to the casing?

Also Qmax cutters are these any good?

Robin it sounds like someone has already taken that one to site & brought it back ,  stickers were all on the paper .

You're right about the 32 & 20 mm KOs  .....thing is ...I see that as a S/Ph  industrial board   and the ones with the big square / oblong KOs as  domestic consumer units.

 

[SBS Dave]

MK ........................Ooooh I had one last week & had to get a replacement set of internal tails, as I torqued up the neutral on the first rcd, the factory fitted lug opened a little & the multi-strand tail popped out of the terminal. But plenty of room inside.

BG............Not bad nice to look at being shiny white, unlike the standard off grey/brown of MK. KO's knock out easily enough. plenty of room inside. Lid holds shut. One gripe the main switch only has a 25mm KO below it, yet the other end of the box has a mahoosive 32mm.

SBS Daves .................they do the job at a fair price. lids bang when testing rcbo's. but shed loads of room. Only complaint the KO's take a fair bit of bashing to get out.

Maybe I've gone with the wrong AMD3 box, but I am open to suggestions.

You are right about the knockouts, M107 and in fact  I drill out the 4 tabs on the back knockouts, before bashing them out. This method leaves 4 little half-hole dimples, but they are covered by the rigid busbar insulator strip I use.

I have now come up with my 3-gland inline arrangement, using 3 X 16mm glands. I use a cone drill to drill the 16mm holes, but they are not the neatest holes when finished. I shall probably invest in a Q-max kit.

Incidentally, Chinese factories are having problems with keeping their workforce, certainly in the circuit protection major industrial centres. Workers generally travel in from rural areas and stay near the factories for weeks or months at a time, but a combination of low wages and high costs  of City life, means a lot are staying at home and finding local jobs. This why my Supplier had only 2 workers return after the Spring Holiday and had to recruit a few hundred new staff. This led their 3-4 week lead time to extend out to 10 weeks. I am almost out of Compacts, as a few of you will know, but hopefully, China will ship end of next week.

SBS Dave