# RCD needed - advice appreciated



## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Our Hymer is fitted with a Doepke RCD with the code FIB 13/0,03. It has failed. We've looked on the internet for one of these, which we assume is a 13amp RCD. The Doepke UK website appears to deal only with the trade and we haven't found the specification we want elsewhere (ebay etc.) Does anyone have any suggestions where we could get one, fairly swiftly?

Also, would it be OK to fit a 16amp RCD, or might it even be more appropriate there seemed to be some of them for sale on-line, but not Doepke.



Thanks

Chris and John


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## rayc (Jun 3, 2008)

ChrisandJohn said:


> Our Hymer is fitted with a Doepke RCD with the code FIB 13/0,03. It has failed. We've looked on the internet for one of these, which we assume is a 13amp RCD. The Doepke UK website appears to deal only with the trade and we haven't found the specification we want elsewhere (ebay etc.) Does anyone have any suggestions where we could get one, fairly swiftly?
> 
> Also, would it be OK to fit a 16amp RCD, or might it even be more appropriate there seemed to be some of them for sale on-line, but not Doepke.
> 
> ...


Yes it's 13A with an operating trip current of 30mAmps which is standard.
Any manufacturers 13 or 16A ones will do as long as they physically fit.


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## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

Hi,

An RCD is an RCD and I can't see why the new one you have identified will not be perfectly OK.

16 amps only refers to the maximum current that you should pass through it and in no way indicated how much protection it gives you.

They all protect by comparing the live with neutral and if there is a difference then they assume there is a leak to earth/ fault and trip.


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Changed*

Hello,

Just changed mine.

See my post here

Ours was all on 1 x 16a

I bought a 16 + 6a and changed it to 2 x 16a.

One of these
Upgraded with one of these

TM


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## teemyob (Nov 22, 2005)

*Buy*

Or you can buy your brand on ebay. Try contacting a trader on ebay who is listing the doepke brand

Here

But are you confusing your RCD's with MCB's and RCBO's ?


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## clive1821 (Mar 27, 2010)

Hi Its dose not matter about the rateing of the RCD 40 amp will do, its the load current it will take, its the mcb's which matter what current they will trip out at, mine in the van are mostley 10 amp with a 6 amp and a 15 amp it depends what the mcb is protecting and the cable size the mcb is covering, if you are using the rcbo's then it matters what size of rating you install......


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## bktayken (Oct 11, 2008)

*RCD*

If you are not already fixed up would have though B&Q or the like would have them as they are a used in domestic fuseboards now.
The other poster are right in amps is not an issue but it must be 30mA model for safety.
Brian


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## bktayken (Oct 11, 2008)

*Rcd*

Teemyobs MK installation is spot on if you want to update your electrics from the old breaker type to the latest RCD protection especially if you intend continental touring with the polarity issues ...it looks a really neat unit.

Brian


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## trek (May 1, 2005)

can I ask why you say that the RCB has failed ?

is it because it keeps tripping ?

perhaps the RCB is ok & there is a fault on the circuitry ?


another thought

for full protection from reversed polarity then dual pole MCBs would be required

the MK's are single pole are they not ?

so if the mains supply is reversed & the MCB trips, the van neutral would still be live as the supply is reversed!


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## bktayken (Oct 11, 2008)

*RCD*

trek the MK unit is a quote ......•40A 30mA DP RCD......DP is a double pole unit so when it trips it breaks both the live and neutral so no feed to the single MCBs or the neutral connector block... agree double pole MCB are better but that would require a larger fuse box.

Brian


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

A big thank-you to all who have contributed. An appropriate RCD, as advised, has been successfully fitted.
If posters knew my electrical knowledge and skills they would prolly have said 'take it to a professional'! Just because my dad used to re-wire pranged Lancaster bombers doesn't make it a genetically transferable skill, but I thought I'd have a go with the RCD on the Hymer, and with your encouragement and knowledge it worked out.
In answer to one query: by 'failed' I meant some kind of electro-mechanical breakdown inside this totally enclosed device.
John


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## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

Hi that's great.

I worked for over 30 years in West Gorton in Manchester for what was ICL and later became Fujitsu. The site at West Gorton had previously belonged to English Electric or Marconi and was originally made up of a number of large hanger type buildings which became production lines and R&D facilities for large mainframe computers.
After a few years I was talking to a lady who worked there during the war and she told me that the Lancaster fuselages were made a few miles up the road and then brought by road on large frames to have their wiring looms inserted at the West Gorton Plant.
Although Fujitsu moves out 5 or 6 years ago the production crew for that high quality TV show Shameless park up on the site and if I'm channel hopping I sometimes see the factory or the pubs and shops that I used to use. The area is depressing but was once an amazing centre of engineering with Beyer Peacock at the back and Crossley Engineering / Rolls Royce just up the road.

If I had two boys rather than two girls thats the sort of thing I would tell them and if they were anything like me I know they would be interested.


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## ChrisandJohn (Feb 3, 2008)

Bill,
Your post prompted many memories for me too, as I have some acquaintance with that part of Manchester.

Dad was at Sealand, near Chester. First at no. 5 flying training school, where his first job was to change the Klaxon on a Sunderland flying boat. When the real war started in May 1940 he was transferred to 25 maintenance unit on the same enormous site, fixing one damn Spitfire/Hurricane/Lancaster after another until 1945.

Meanwhile, my mum was working in Trafford Park at Metro Vicks and her last job, which she loved, was working with the best electro-mechanical engineers from Britain and the US on Pipe Line Under the Ocean (PLUTO). She had to make really new high-tension switch gear parts and relays. Their motto was 'It has to work first time, all the time'! Bit long winded, but as we know it did and the D-Day invasion forces had fuel oil pumped from England soon after they landed. On the boys v girls issue, mum's soldering was far better than my father's - though I never told him!
John


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## BillCreer (Jan 23, 2010)

Hi John,
I was near Sealand last week as I stayed on the "Air" car park in Chester. I took the dog for a run (me on the bike) down the river bank towards Connors Key way. I know Sealand is somewhere on the right hand side and they make the airbus wings on the the left bank.
There is a special slipway to allow them to load the wings on special barges to transport them to France. An interesting area and I must follow the Sealand signs next time to see what's there.


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