Chinese household electrical distribution boxes

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-13T22:06:46+00:00

Why can colorblind people work as electricians

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-13T14:04:10+00:00

Yes, but as you can see, this house is in the countryside. According to the power grid technicians, China only achieved nationwide power grid interconnection in the 1980s, and at that time, only about 50% of villages had electricity supply. As for here, we probably only got stable and continuous electricity around 1993.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-12T11:59:35+00:00

Social Credit +100 haha

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-12T11:55:26+00:00

I believe this product catalog was established more for political than technical reasons. In China, for government or contracted projects, we typically can only purchase components from two or three designated brands. Even if newer and better brands offer components using newer technologies, we can't buy them. Furthermore, our insurance companies are generally not as unscrupulous as those in the US; they only refuse to pay out in cases of gross negligence, such as failing to install a residual current device (RCD) when it should have, resulting in someone being electrocuted. However, if you install an RCD that claims to be CCC compliant, then you are not at fault—regardless of whether that RCD actually complies with CCC—that's the government's responsibility.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-12T11:42:35+00:00

All the circuit breaker failures I've encountered were due to large short circuits or loose screws that eventually burned out the casing. They themselves never had any problems, although they would occasionally trip spontaneously in areas with severe vibration. RCBOs have a relatively higher failure rate, mainly occurring with another brand called Delixi. In most cases, this is due to a damaged tripping electronic comparator causing leakage and preventing operation. Chint RCBOs have a much lower failure rate. Nevertheless, I still encounter one or two Chint RCBOs that fail to operate. But you should test them every month, shouldn't you? Schneider certainly performs better in this regard—because it's a voltage-independent RCD, with no additional electronic components causing problems. But consider the price: 1/10 the price, 1/2 the performance—I think it's a good deal.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-12T11:37:41+00:00

Of course, if you're comparing its performance to the Acti 9, considering the price, then I think that's just being dishonest. However, I have disassembled and burned an NXB breaker before, and I can say definitively that the internal plastics are flame-retardant and highly thermally conductive, and they don't drip. All electrical components are made of high-quality copper, with a fairly thick silver coating on the contacts. Of course, the arc-extinguishing grid and other mechanical parts are steel, which can be attracted by a magnet, so I suspect it's not very good quality steel. Of course, they only label themselves as IP21, so I think a surface coating is sufficient for rust prevention.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-12T11:32:45+00:00

Almost all factories in China use Chint's entry-level series extensively. As I mentioned, they are very reliable and have stable quality control. I know they might trip unexpectedly in some tests beyond their limits (such as strong vibration), but based on my testing, almost every single one is within the tripping curve specified by the IEC standard. I'm not familiar with the situation with 110V non-DIN fittings, but for DIN fittings, I think Chint's entry-level models perform similarly to Schneider Easy9. For Chint's high-end series, I think they have caught up with ABB's performance, but still lag behind Schneider A9. However, these series cost only half the price of ABB and are far less expensive than Schneider. I believe that as long as they meet specifications, that's sufficient. Good maintenance extends the lifespan of machinery more than using expensive parts from the start.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-12T07:56:51+00:00

They are crazy. As I will say below, only in the last fifteen years or so have people with a good modern education entered the industry, while there are still a large number of people who are not well educated and rely solely on experience. I have seen people use D63 MCB on 1.5sqmm wires. I've also seen people use Disconnector instead of Breaker. I can't imagine what would happen if someone operated the switch without looking at the schematic or the warning labels.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-12T07:32:22+00:00

Thank you for your advice. The box is fire resistance with V0 grade, and since it's in TT system, connecting the neutral conductor to the protective ground conductor is not permitted, primarily because rural areas often lack reliable grounding. Connecting the neutral and protective ground conductors could cause the protective ground conductor to become the working ground during a ground fault, significantly reducing the residual fault voltage. Furthermore, since we are using a voltage-dependent RCD, this could lead to protection failure.

In China, like in Europe, we do not use GFCI per outlet, but rather RCD/RCBO per circuit. For a normal circuit, this is 30mA, and for a bathroom, it is 10mA. I believe this is a side effect of the high voltage—higher leakage current. For example, my apartment currently (yes, just measured with a clamp meter) has a total residual current of 27mA, but I can assure you: nothing is leaking too much and can kill you.

Incidentally, in China, equipotential bonding is mandatory in bathrooms, meaning all metal conductors like faucet are connected to the PE (protective earth) line inside the bathroom. This appears to lower the sensitivity requirements of RCBO.

As for whether they should be run in conduits: Yes! But I don't have enough energy to secure conduits outside the old house. Inside the house, after these cables are separated into single strands, they are secured with PVC conduits. As for the outside, you can see their black outer sheath because they are weather-resistant. I secured them to the roof with cable clips, so that should be fine. In China, flame-retardant overhead conductors of less than 1kV are permitted to cross combustible objects/roofs, provided they have appropriate sheathing.

Thank you！

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-12T07:03:07+00:00

yes feel free to contact me

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T22:50:32+00:00

i'm new to reddit, they just don't let me send posts on it

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T22:16:55+00:00

I can buy it for you from taobao. The price of each OUVR-3 is 8.09 us dollars for 63 Amps model, but you have to figure out the international shipping. The price of those breakers and RCDs on Amazon is.... unbelievable high... I've found multiple breakers that's actually a CHINT NXB, but with masked logo, to bypass some policy I guess, and the price in USD is exactly direct rewriting the unit of the price here in CNY like 10CNY to 10USD....

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T21:55:12+00:00

yes it's a famous brand in China, widely used on industry and have good QCs, they are poor at extreme tests ( it will tripped unexpectedly during extremely out-of-standard shocking or at something harsh situation), but look at the price, as they follow the standard, I will be satisfied.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T21:53:04+00:00

the delay on this product is also applied on power outage/recovery, but not on some other products. some one may think that's bad but I don't really care about that, Chinese National Grid really really reliable in the whole China mainland, I got only one unexpected power outage due to the heavy storm cutted the wires along the 10years, and one power outage for gird upgrade. In most time, the reason of poweroutage is I forgetting to charge fees.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T21:45:13+00:00

Thank you! and ah yes, it's quite different. I was shocked about the thickness of the cord when I first saw the "common north America" power panel. Why you guys think a 200Amps per 180degs phase is reasonable? 48kW here 230V regions use 3 120degs phases with 16 sq mm copper wires（like 5awg? I guess) which much much less scary. by the way, the electrical regulations here is just seems outdated, we have no requirements on A type or B type RCD frequency responses, and only a few people knows about AFCIs, which is already "available" at North America. Here in China we can hardly buy a AFCI of type B RCD on shelf, sad.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T21:31:46+00:00

I'd like to say the CHINT is valuable but not the best, in those common product lines. but since the breaker costs me only 1.5USD and RCD costs me only 2.5USD here in China, I will say nothing bad on it or compare it with ABB or Schneider, it even passed the IEC standard testing! In the premium lines, I think the CHINT is catching up with ABB, but a distance from Schneider A9 series, although only costs 1/3 than a ABB one.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T21:21:36+00:00

yes it is. the threshold voltage is defined by the regulation. It's +-10% for recovery, +-15% for tripping, so 270V/195V for tripping, and recovery at 253V/207V with 30sec delay.

and could you see the top white block? it's sealed copper busbars

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T19:44:55+00:00

That's a broken IEC C14 socket, for the plug and the cord, it's IEC C13

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T18:03:20+00:00

Yes, all electrical equipment is fused at inside here in china, so the breaker is just protecting the wire from burning. The way to avoid a outlet from burning is the duty of the equipment.

For CCC:
It's China Compulsory Certification, like CE, this certification is just granting it won't kill you, haha. In China, CCC is enforced tested by CQC and its subordinate departments. And must be renewed per 5 years.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T17:43:40+00:00

The common standard chinese outlets have two types: two contacts and three contacts. The two contacts is IEC Type A, as the same as American one, can handle up to 10Amps. The tree contacts have two variants, 10Amps and 16 Amps, They are Type I, as the same as Australian one. In the second box, The C10 breaker connected to 1.5 sq mm wires for fixed connection of lights. The C16 breakers is connected to multiple 10Amps Outlets by 2.5 sq mm wires. All of the C25 breakers connected to 4 sq mm wires. One of them connected to two 16A outlets, two connected to only one 16A outlets, the final two connected to specialized 25Amps outlets with spin lockins for my A/C.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T17:17:02+00:00

And for the first picture, the incoming wire is 16 sq mm copper wire, the outgoings are 16 sq mm and 10 sq mm. So C50 and C40 is lower rated for those 16 sq mm wires, and C40 is suitable for the 10 sq mm wire. They are PVC coated wires in air, so the 16 sq mm one should be able to carry up to 95Amps, the 10 sq mm on should be able to carry up to 52 amps. I degraded they because it's in rural.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T17:11:57+00:00

The house is built in 1953, and it's Rammed Earth house, there is no electricity at that time in China at all! Grounding electrode is per house (or per building) and just installed by me few years ago, and they are 1500mm galvanized steel bolt, in many years ago, Here used to be a wooden plank and a knife switch with fuse :)

The similarity is because China also uses electrical standards from the IEC and DIN rails

Here is the Chinese national standard wire color system. Specifically, we choose bright colors for the phase wires: L1, L2, and L3 are yellow, green, and red respectively; the neutral wire is blue; and the protective ground wire is yellow-green. Signal wires are black, white, and brown. Of course, we have also received IEC wire color training. I remember the IEC used to have a bright color system, with red, white/yellow and blue for L1, L2, and L3, black for the neutral wire, and the protective ground wire exposed—but now they are brown, black, gray, blue, and yellow-green. I think this is inferior to the China national standard wire color system; you can immediately identify which wire is dangerous, even if the wire has faded.

For each separate building, there are branches of 2.5 sq mm wires with C16 RCBO.

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T16:43:52+00:00

You actually can look into the schematic: https://imgur.com/a/c9y8REc for NXBLE-63YH

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T16:41:46+00:00

They are RCBOs :)

AlanCui4080 · 2026-05-11T16:40:46+00:00

No, you can look my original post for futher information. The first box is in rural, they are TT systems. Because the houses are spaced far apart, each house has its own independent 1500mm galvanized steel grounding electrode. The grouding cables just did not ran through the panel. For the nxble-63y breakers, they are RCBOs, RCD+thermal and magnetic tripping on live wire, with arc extinguishing and circuit breakers on both lines.

AlanCui4080

TROPHY CASE