- Coming up on this week's news, confusion reigns over the use of RCDs with electric vehicle chargers following a probe by Swedish authorities. Pictures emerge of the electrical work of serial botcher Jake Hughes, and action, Britain's movie production boom is proving a massive boost for electrical contractors. Welcome to Electrical News Weekly in association with Scame, whether you're listening in the van, on site, or down at the wholesale counter, I'm Joe Robinson. And I've been through the best of the electrical industry news to save you the trouble. And as always, if you think you spotted the two words I've been challenged to slip into this week's show, comment with them below for the chance to win a prize. Confusion reigns this week over the use of RCDs with electric vehicle chargers. The uncertainty follows a probe by Sweden's Electrical Safety Authority into charge points. The Swedes are unhappy with the chargers from Norwegian maker Easee as they say they can't see the RCD inside the units. They've even threatened the company with a sales ban but Easee says it does include RCDs in its chargers. They're just not in the traditional style. They're not on a DIN rail and they don't have a manual push button for testing. Instead, the RCD is integrated into the electronics and the testing is automatic. It argues that it achieves the necessary protections and is compliant with the relevant sections of the standards. The company says an integrated RCD is not specifically defined in any standard. So in place of a dedicated standard it has applied the relevant parts of the standards for Type A RCDs and for EV chargers. And it says its equipment matches the trip levels and timings of those documents. It argues, therefore, that its chargers don't require a separate RCD. It also says it can achieve the requirement for a manual test by adding a digital test button to its app. Again, it's not clear if this will be accepted by the Swedish Electrical Safety Authority. It's now up to the Swedes to either accept or reject Easee's argument. The decision could also affect the half a million Easee units that have already been installed across Europe, including the UK. A number of other EV charger manufacturers also had integrated RCDs, but they ditched them in recent years as concern mounted over their compliance with the standards. Specifically, they were worried about one particularly difficult requirement that the contacts need to survive a short circuit on their output without any protection from an MCB in a consumer unit. This is difficult for circuit board relays to achieve as they're not as substantial as the traditional contacts you'd find in the hardwired RCDs used in electrical installations. These manufacturers now recommend that installers fit an RCD unit in addition to their charger. Some say the problem stems from the fact that the standard for EV chargers, IEC 62955, is not recognized by the wiring regulations. So the only way to fully comply is to have a traditional Type A RCD with a manual push button protecting the incoming cable. The controversy has left electrical contractors in doubt over whether to connect a separate RCD to an Easee charger or not. They'll now have to wait until the Swedes publish their verdict in a week's time to get certainty. Interestingly, a couple of years ago, we carried out an RCD test on an Easee charger and found that it tripped within the required times quite comfortably. If you'd like to see the proof I've left a link in the show notes to a video showing that in some detail. Maybe the Swedish Electrical Safety Authority should subscribe to eFIXX. We could have saved them a ton of time in their investigation. Also, they could help us out by replying to the sudden influx of Swedish viewers who've been leaving comments on there the past few days. Needless to say, we'll watch developments closely on this story as it flip flops backwards and forwards and keep you posted on both our website and in future Electrical News Weekly bulletins. In other news, electricians working at a factory building nuclear warheads are threatening to walk out in a row over the cost of living. A hundred sparks employed by NG Bailey at the Atomic Weapons Authority in Berkshire are voting this week on whether to take strike action. The dispute is over NG Bailey's alleged refusal to pay a bonus of £6.50 an hour, despite it being given the green light by the authority. The extra payment is being given by other electrical contractors on the project, says the Unite Union. If the workers vote for industrial action, the strikes could begin in March. Unite boss, Sharon Graham, said that NG Bailey's behavior was beyond comprehension. The union has urged the company to return to the negotiating table. One man who won't be returning to electrical work anytime soon is fake spark, Jake Hughes of Chester. You'll recall that in last week's bulletin 33-year-old Hughes of Scaife Street, York, was found guilty at Chester Crown Court of falsely advertising himself as a fully qualified electrician and a member of the NICEIC. And now images have emerged of his botch jobs in homes across Chester. His workmanship was so bad it often had to be completely removed and started again from scratch. The judge sentenced to 15 weeks in prison suspended for two years, but one of Hughes victims, Dr. Amy Bonsall, says the starting point for such offending should be higher. This would've made it easier for the court to put Hughes behind bars. As it was, the judge said he was spared prison by the skin of his teeth. The booming movie sector is providing a massive boost for electrical contractors. The UK is actually set to overtake Hollywood for studio space in the coming years. It's building one and a half million square feet of film and TV space to cope with the demand from streaming services such as Netflix. Pinewood, Elstree, and Shepperton are all expanding, and they'll be joined by new facilities such as the massive Sunset Studios in Broxbourne, which is set to be the UK's biggest. The buildings need extraordinary levels of electrical installations. For instance, on the new Sky Studios in Hertfordshire, M&E contractor Lorne Stewart installed five and a half kilometers of heavy duty high voltage cabling as well as thousands and thousands of sockets for equipment. Because Sky was so desperate to start production, they moved in before the project was completed. This meant Lorne Stewart had to wire it up while big name actors did their thing before the cameras. But don't expect any selfies with the A-listers. The electricians had to hand in their phones every day in case they were tempted to take some sneaky snaps. So no images of wigwams in Westerns or spaceships in Star Wars can be leaked. They also had to sign non-disclosure agreements as well. And finally, TV's most prominent electrician is hanging up his tool bag after just a year in the trade. Emmerdale's Darcy Grey has called time on playing electrician Marcus Dean in the ITV soap after 54 appearances. We didn't get to see that much of his actual work, but Dean appears to be a very experienced and highly qualified man. Emmerdale's other spark, Noah Dingle, caused controversy in the trade when he emerged from a six-week stay in prison as a fully qualified electrician. Now, just before we get to your favorite bit of the show where I reveal last week's challenge words and winners, we want to thank our premium partners. We couldn't make the news without you. First up, with the best blend of Italian passion and British engineering since my morning espresso. It's Lewden Palazzoli, providing all of your circuit protection needs. And the best thing to come out of Yorkshire since stainless steel and myself, it's Doncaster Cables, the home of EV-Ultra and other groundbreaking and quality cables. Big thanks to you both. We really appreciate your ongoing support for the news. If you think you know the words I've smuggled into this week's show, pop your guess into the comments and we'll dig out a goodie bag prize to the first to get the right answers. Last week's words were poppycock and cacophony, and quite a few people got it right, including the ECA's very own Darren Crannis over on LinkedIn but sadly he's not in the pink this time as he was beaten to the punch by long-term fan of the show and regular commenter Sean Dempsey who despite his crippling self-doubt was the first one past the post this week. Well done to you, Sean. Please click the link in the description below to claim your prize, but really pleased about that one. Coming up for the rest of the week, we've got a Q&A on double pole devices from our new presenter, James Curnow, and keep your eyes peeled as we bring a couple of new collaborators on board in the coming weeks too. It's also a live stream week so we'll have all the usual fun and games from the team on Wednesday evening. And this week we are being joined by Big T. That's Trevor Palmer off of EV Blocks who is a fascinating person with a great story. Hopefully he'll get onto his past travels in the plug and socket towards the end of the show there, so make sure you're dialed in for that. And as well as the ongoing competition for a Virgin Experience Day with Marshall-Tufflex that closes at the end of the month, we've also launched a brand new free training package to help you with your CPD, this time on the subject of best practice when changing a consumer unit. So check both of those out. There'll be links in the show notes. Thanks for listening to this episode of Electrical News Weekly in association with Scame. Make sure you subscribe to receive the next update. Thanks for listening, and until next time have a great week. Stay safe out there. And remember, there's no such thing as a torque calibrated arm.