This month PEW sat down with David Sweetman, Marketing & Business Development Director at Di-Log, to hear about changing testing requirements, safe insolation, lockout kits and more.
Q. How can wholesalers make the most of the UK’s growing EV charging infrastructure?
A. In the UK, there are approximately 33,000 public charging points for around 400,000 plug-in electric vans and passenger vehicles. In order to grow the UK’s EV fleet to 23.2 million EVs by 2032, (that’s 55% of all UK vehicles), the Climate Change Committee (CCC) estimates 325,000 public charging points will be needed. These numbers do not include the EV chargers that are installed at homes and workplaces.
Within the next 12-18 months, I estimate that every electrical engineer will find themselves in a position where they will need to install and verify an EV charge point. So, will they need a Multifunction Installation Tester with EV testing capability? Well, yes! The new Di-LOG DL9130EV incorporates a full Auto EV RCD Test sequence that will verify all the safety devices that protect the user when charging their vehicle. Is there a premium for this feature? No, the DL9130EV remains one of the most competitive feature-packed MFTs in the UK.
Q. What are some of the latest isolation innovations helping to make the industry safer?
A. Those of you that know me, are fully aware of my dedication to helping make our industry safer. Safe Isolation saves lives with one in 25 electrical incidents at work resulting in a fatality, compared with one in 500 from other causes.
I have invested a lot of time developing Di-LOG’s Safe Isolation range of safety equipment, our latest voltage-proving unit, the PU690, has one of the highest safety category ratings of CAT II 750V. The award-winning CombiVolt range is the benchmark for all Voltage Indicators with Di-LOG introducing the first auto-switching voltage and continuity tester to the UK market in 2001.
Q. How does British manufacturing and a UK-based R&D team benefit Di-Log and its customers?
A. Di-LOG is proud to support British manufacturing by designing and building our specialist safety test equipment in the UK. All of our 18th Edition Multifunction Installation Testers have a UK-based R&D team dedicated to designing, building and delivering the most up-to-date technology to meet the continuous needs of our customers.
From time to time, things don’t always go quite to plan and like any electronic device that is designed to work in the most extreme environment, there is always the odd hiccup, so to speak. With UK-based manufacturing, research, development and design teams, issues can be quickly found and resolved – without your equipment potentially seeing more of the world than yourself.
Q. Are there any changes to testing requirements to be aware of in the 18th Edition of the Wiring Regulations, BS 7671:2018 Amendment 2:2022?
A. When the second amendment to BS7671 was published earlier this year, there were several key updates relating to testing and inspecting. One such update was to the process of testing protective devices such as RCDs or RCBOs. BS7671 AM2 now states that the minimum test required for such devices to be an AC test conducted at 1x the trip current.
As a test equipment manufacturer dedicated to a safer industry, and despite what is stated in BS7671 as the minimum regulation, I would still recommend that all RCD specific tests should be conducted to your test equipment capability, this includes the ½, 1x and 5x test most instruments were designed to conduct.
Q. What are ‘lockout kits’ and where should they be used?
A. The final part of an electrical engineer’s ‘safe isolation’ procedure is locking out and tagging out (LOTO). Following this critical safety process prevents the circuit or supply from being energised by locking off the MCB, MCCB or main switch. Even when your customers are working alone, you never can tell who will enter the premises, discover the power to be switched off and inadvertently re-energising putting themselves and others in danger.
The Di-LOG range of lockout kits are designed with safety, versatility and affordability in mind. There are four complete kits in the range covering virtually all installation types, however, we do offer bespoke kits designed around the individual.
The higher the level of kit the more features are included. By adding items such as multiple isolation lockout hasps the kits enable multiple persons to work on the same circuit, with the ability to hold up to six lockout padlocks.
Q. What are Di-Log’s goals for the remainder of the year and into 2023?
A. The team at Di-LOG are dedicated to supporting their national distribution partners by designing and building quality test instrumentation designed around our customer’s needs.
All Di-LOG instruments are designed and manufactured to the highest quality specification and you can be assured that all manufacturing processes adhere to internationally recognised standards. Di-LOG instruments are accurate, safe and rugged – you won’t find a better balance between cost and fitness for purpose.
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