Coming up on this week’s news. A double socket that can detect overheating and  rival AFDDs for safety. A smart meter that can give homeowners an electric  shock is recalled. And our featured innovations today are all about fire safety and security. Welcome to Electrical News Weekly. 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 if you think you’ve 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. A socket that can detect overheating is set to transform the market, say its makers,  and it could end up rivaling AFDDs. More on that in our product focus roundup, so stay tuned. A smart meter that can give homeowners an electric shock or even cause a fire has been urgently  recalled. The UK’s Office for Product Safety and Standards says any contractor who has installed  an affected EDMI Atlas Mk7cD needs to replace it. That’s because, in certain circumstances,  the neutral terminal weld can fail. This can cause the copper bar to come away from  the terminal block. In installations where the neutral wiring is routed through the meter point,  a partial or complete loss of continuity in the neutral circuit can occur. This could result in  elevated voltages on accessible conductive parts or, in cases of high resistance, overheating. The Malaysian-made meter does not meet the requirements of the General Product  Safety Regulations 2005. Affected units were manufactured between October 2022  and October 2024. I’ve put the relevant serial numbers of the faulty units in the show notes. The recall of the Atlas Mk7cD is another blow to the troubled national rollout of  smart meters. While the 25 millionth smart meter was installed last month,  it’s estimated that 35 percent of electricity meters are still the old style. All in all,  it’s a bit of a hodgepodge, and that’s a worry because the longwave radio signal that tells  them to switch between on and off-peak is being turned off at the end of June. The outdated units, known as Radio Teleswitch or RTS meters, have traditionally been used to  switch storage heaters or immersion systems on at night. They allowed special tariffs  like Economy 7. If these meters aren’t replaced in time, some homes, schools,  and businesses could be left without heating and hot water. Others might not be able to  turn the heating off. A meter upgrade takes around two hours to complete, but some jobs  can be more complex if a DNO is needed or the unit isn’t accessible. Electricians are being  asked to advise customers with RTS meters to contact their energy supplier immediately. In other news, Britain’s first HGV charging station has opened in Lincolnshire. There are  eight bays at the site in Harport, Immingham, and each can fully charge an electric lorry in  an hour and a half. The install is a joint venture between Daimler, Traton Group,  and Volvo. The firms aim to build no fewer than 1,700 charging points across Europe. As it happens, Joe Hammond has just released a CPD video on the  special considerations for EV charging installations for commercial vehicles,  made in association with Lewden Palazzoli. I’ve put the link to that in the show notes. Still on charging, Lewden has announced that its Siena AC Mode 3 smart chargers  have just been approved by the UK’s Office for Zero Emission Vehicles. This includes  the Siena 7.4 kilowatt and the 22 kilowatt versions. The units feature optional 4G  connectivity and seamless control via the Monta app, allowing customers to  schedule and optimise charging sessions. The chargers also support solar PV integration. To complement its home chargers, the company offers purpose-built EV consumer units,  including one rated at IP65 for outdoor use. There are also feeder pillars offering configurable  power distribution from 100 amps to 630 amps, designed for car parks and public charging zones. If you didn’t catch last week’s live stream, you missed a good one. We discussed the business of  electrical installation with the team from Simpro Software. And because it was a Gary-free stream,  Gordon ended up doing some speaking. I’ve added the link in the show notes. Also fresh this week is Crompton Controls’ latest catalogue for  electricians. It’s their 120th anniversary edition, so congratulations to them for  some serious staying power. The digital book includes starters, enclosures, and panels. VAC has announced an AI-driven app for homeowners to manage their energy. It works with the Hiconic  all-in-one battery packs, time-of-use tariffs like Octopus Agile, and PV arrays. The app uses machine  learning to understand occupants’ habits and maximise savings. Called the Q Energy platform,  it adapts to weather conditions and manages solar panels, heat pumps, batteries,  and inverters to optimise energy use. There’s a link to a video on that in the show notes. Now welcome to our product focus feature. This week we’re sounding  the alarm for fire safety and security. And the standout development is a smart double  socket that can detect overheating. It could even end up rivaling AFDDs. The CI1 and CI Max were designed to address the electrical faults that  typically cause fires. Inventor Anthony Parit began developing  them after the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017. He’s also the guy who invented number plate  recognition. He says that if these smart sockets had been installed at Grenfell, the fire could  have been stopped before it started. No other socket can claim to prevent fires in this way. The socket has built-in thermal monitoring technology that detects overheating in real  time. It also detects current overloads and loose connections, and it monitors all sockets.  If it senses danger, it automatically cuts the power to prevent ignition. The sockets can also detect other hazards like water leaks, mould,  gas leaks, and even earthquakes. They also reduce energy use by powering down standby  devices when not in use. You can connect the CI1 to air conditioning, washing machines,  automated curtains, and more, with compatibility across Google Home,  Samsung SmartThings, and Apple HomeKit. It’s basically the James Bond of sockets. The sockets are certified for use in the UK, UAE, and Saudi Arabia, with further approvals  expected. The company is also working on worldwide patents. Ajax has launched a range of mains-powered fire and life safety detectors with different  combinations of sensors. The FireProtect 2 AC range includes five models: heat and smoke,  heat smoke and CO, heat only, heat and CO, and CO only. These include sealed backup  batteries that last the life of the detector and meet the UK’s highest safety regulations. They also feature the Vargo 221 terminal  across all bases. All the detectors have built-in radios and can operate with or without a hub for  interconnect functionality. Ajax says installation takes just 90 seconds. Also in the detector space is Hyfire, which is promoting its Pulse Retrofit range to the  social housing sector. It says the range covers 90 percent of existing hardwired  bases. The range includes battery and mains units, head-on and full units, with options  like 10-year rechargeable lithium batteries and fast-fix versions for quicker installs. Kidde Safety Europe has launched a fire alarm controller to make testing and maintenance of  its K-Series wireless alarms easier. The CV9101 is wireless and doesn’t require physical access  to alarms. Occupants can test and silence them remotely using a test or hush button. Kidde  says this is especially useful for elderly or disabled people or in homes with high ceilings. We’ll be featuring the CV9101 in a couple of videos soon. A fire protection product we really like is the SpeedCutter. It’s a drill attachment with an  integrated fire collar. After drilling, you just slot the collar in to maintain fire protection.  During a fire, it expands and seals the hole. No need for intumescent mastic. It’s EI30 rated,  so suitable for 30-minute firewalls with 70 mil studs and 12.5 mil board on each side. Another smart bit of kit is the Thermarestor. It’s installed inside consumer units and panels  to detect overheating. It senses heat from high-resistance connections and sends alerts  via a fire alarm panel, building management system, or other method. Linean has launched a new cable tray clip. It works with all tray brands, locks in by  hand with no tools or steel ties, and installs 90 percent faster. It’s BS7671 compliant,  prevents premature collapse during fire, and is made of fire-rated steel. It’s also  weather resistant and available in five sizes. You can order from City Electrical Factors. And no fire safety roundup would be complete without mentioning PV Stop. It’s a spray that  blacks out solar panels in emergencies. It comes in a metal bottle like a fire  extinguisher. Because solar panels produce power as long as there’s light, you can’t  switch them off easily—but PV Stop blocks light and shuts them down. Safe, simple, and effective. In our question of the week, we asked how you would describe PV Stop in electrical  terms. The choices were isolating solution, de-energising solution,  shutdown solution, or lockout-tagout solution. On LinkedIn, 56 percent chose de-energiser. On  YouTube, 70 percent said the same. So we’re calling that the correct answer. Oxford Safety Components has developed a special crawl board for loft spaces and  similar areas. The CoverSafe Spark board is lightweight,  portable, and made from aerospace-grade GRP. It’s designed to prevent falls through  ceilings and is available with 10 percent off using the code SPARK10 until the end of June. That’s our weekly roundup of products we think deserve more attention. Next week,  we’ll be looking at cable management. As always, we want to hear from you. Send us your stories, projects,  and recommendations so we can share them with the wider eFIXX community. Over  the next few weeks, we’ll be featuring cable management, commercial lighting,  and tools and testing—so if you’ve got photos or product tips, send them in. And just before we reveal last week’s challenge words and winners,  a quick thank you to our premium partners. We couldn’t do the news without you. First up, the people behind the Swiss Army knife of solar inverters and  all-weather batteries—it’s Sunsynk. Next, with manufacturing powered by a  250 megawatt solar PV array, the greenest test instrument maker in Europe—it’s KPS. For top-quality circuit protection and isolators with built-in surge protection—it’s  Whitecliffe Electrical Distribution. For those of you who love motor control,  with great stock and great service—check out Crompton Controls. With the new award-winning Lumo consumer unit and full product support from their  expert team—it’s CPN Cudis. Don’t forget to use code  EIX30 for 30 percent off lighting from Philips and Ecolink—just download the LumExpert app. And finally, from the home of EV Ultra and other quality  innovations—the best thing out of Yorkshire since stainless steel—it’s Doncaster Cables. If you think you’ve worked out the two challenge words I snuck into this week’s show,  drop your guess in the comments. We’ll pick a correct answer at random to win  an eFIXX goodie bag. Entries close at lunchtime on the Thursday after release. Last week’s words were corkscrew and gatekeeper, and the first name out of the electronic hat was  PM Steve. Well done Steve—click the get involved link in the show notes to claim your prize. Thanks for listening to this episode of Electrical News Weekly. Make sure  you subscribe to get the next update. Until next time, have a great week,  stay safe out there—and remember, there’s no such thing as a torque-calibrated arm.