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Introduction
2. Introduction
When dealing with electricity, safety has top priority. Every electrician must be
particularly conscientious when safety is concerned and must apply the required
protective measures correctly. In consumer’s installations, residual current pro-
tective devices must be given unreserved preference over alternative protective
devices.
In addition to fault protection (protection in cases of indirect contact), residual
current protective devices with rated residual currents up to 30 mA also provide
“additional protection” in cases of direct contact. Fires caused by ground-fault
currents can also be prevented at a very early stage.
In many cases, the DIN VDE standards require the use of residual current protec-
tive devices. Electricians should therefore make sure that they are fully informed
about residual current protective devices.
In addition to information on the protective effect of residual current protective
devices, an understanding of how the devices function is also conveyed. In order
to optimally adapt the use of residual current protective devices to the require-
ments of the electrical installation, the functionality of the different versions of
residual current protective devices is discussed and the user is given practical
installation and application tips.
3. Protection through residual current protective devices
The basic prerequisite for use of a residual current protective device in order to
automatically disconnect the power supply as a protective measure is that an
appropriately grounded protective conductor is connected to the system com-
ponents and equipment to be protected. Current can then pass through a human
body only when two faults occur (interruption of the PE conductor in addition to a
fault in the insulation) or when there is unintentional contact between live parts.
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