On Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:18:55 -0400, you wrote:

>Hi all,
>
>I once again need some advice on electrical installation in the EU.
>Specifically, UK and Netherlands.
>
>I have a battery charger which runs on 415V 3-phase AC and it is
>intended for the European market. It is rated at 16A per phase at full
>load.
>
>I had to spec out to our customer what kind of electrical service was
>needed for this. I told them to install a 32A circuit with an IEC60309
>3P+E 6h red 32 Amp receptacle.
>
>Now I am looking at the charger's installation manual and I noticed
>that they spec the "maximum circuit breaker rating" at 16 Amps. I
>asked the manufacturer (US-based) about this and they said that this
>is based on requirements of the "National Electrical Code." This is
>very puzzling because the NEC, as far as I know, it only for North
>America. Apparently the charger relies on the external circuit breaker
>for internal protection and has no input fuse or circuit breaker of
>its own. I verified that there is no such input overcurrent device by
>opening the panels on the charger and inspecting.


>My questions for anyone who is knowledgeable about electrical codes in
>the EU are:
>
>1) What is the relevant code for such industrial electrical
>installations? Is there a pan-EU code or will it be different for each
>country or even each local authority?
>2) Does said code allow the use of a branch circuit breaker as the
>sole input protection for a device such as this?
>3) If I tell the customer to change to a 16A circuit breaker, can I
>leave the 32A receptacle on the circuit or do I have to ask them to
>change that to a 16A one?

The problem here is the device will still have a 32A plug on it and so could be plugged into a
different 32A outlet. Relying on a specific outlet with nonstandard protection seems a risky choice.
>4) It just generally seems strange to me to put a 16A-rated device on
>a 16A circuit. In the US I am used to up-rating the circuit by at
>least 25%. Since the common EU IEC60309 plugs are 16A and 32A, I
>decided to go up to 32A. What is the usual practice in the EU (or if
>that is too general, how about in the UK)?

The strange thing is that the device does not have its own protection. 
The 'best' solution from a technical and practical point of view would be to fit a 16A breaker in/on
the product or hard-wired inline with the supply cable, with a 32A rated cable to a 32A plug. 
 I suspect 16A 3-phase outlets may be relatively uncommon as 3-phase is typically used where you
need more power.

In the UK at least, AFIAK  the scope of wiring regulations tends to end at the outlet.  Other regs
may apply to certain types of plug-in equipment but I'm not sure there are any general regs other
than things like generic product safety. 


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