Heures creuse

[Department71]

Reading the threads about off peak electricity we have decided to go ahead with it, with that in mind I intend to put a contacteur jour/nuit into the fuse board to run the water heater etc.. I need a signal wire to go from the meter to the contacteur, I assume it does not need to be a heavy cable. Any assistance appreciated as althouth I am happy and safe dealing with electricity I want to do it right before the elec people come to replace the meter.

Cheers

Steve 

[Gyn_Paul]

If you don't currently have a HP/HC meter, then EDF will come and fit you one - free of charge usually . It's also a good time to review changing you puissance to the next band if you are planning to add any current-heavy appliances. They will change the rating in the EDF breaker at the same time.

Usually (but not always) they supply you with a couple of tails of thin black wire going into/out of the meter. These form the signal wire to switch the circuit (on the current Landis & Gyr meters they are connected to T1 & T2 in the bottom [unsealed] panel).

The meter doesn't put any volts on either of these terminals: it is simply a switch which closes during the cheap period(s)

When you install the Jour/Nuit contacteur you also need a 2A mini breaker. Feed this with a phase and neutral. Connect one of the tails (it matter not which) to the switched phase side of the 2A breaker and the other to one of the terminal of the contacteur which feeds the relay. The neutral goes directly from the switched neutral of the 2A breaker to the other relay terminal.  I noticed an 'etc.' after the water heater: check the rating of the contacteur to ensure you're not asking it to switch a greater load than it was intended for (a dish-washer, a washing machine, and a chauffeau all heating water at once will probably be over the top for one contacteur !) there is nothing to stop you feeding a number of contacteurs in parallel with the same signal wire.

Note also the contacteur doesn't replace the usual breaker for each dedicated circuit. I like to have them upstream of the J/N contacteur, but I don't suppose it really matters.

Hope this helps.

paul

ps. you'll be astonished how expensive the 2A breaker is compared to the 10's, 16's, and 20As

[Department71]

Paul,

Many thanks for the quick reply, we will look into this further when we go back in a couple of weeks. The etc would be the washing machine. but it is primarily for the water heater. They don't charge more for electricity if I have this fitted and keep the same puissance do they?

Regards

Steve