The ITC-BT-52 standard, which regulates installations for charging electric vehicles, establishes specific requirements for the safety and efficiency of electrical infrastructures in homes. An important aspect of this regulation is diagram 2, which mentions how to handle trips due to excess meter consumption and the resetting process from inside the home.
In this article, we will explore how the use of devices such as the COMBI MINI can help you meet these regulatory requirements by providing adequate overvoltage protection and ensuring safe and efficient resetting of the meter in the event of a trip.
What is ITC-BT-52 and why is it important?
ITC-BT-52 is a technical instruction complementary to the Low Voltage Electrotechnical Regulation (REBT), focused on electrical installations for electric vehicle charging. This regulation seeks to ensure that all installations meet the safety and efficiency standards required for the daily use of charge points in domestic and commercial environments.
According to diagram 2 of ITC-BT-52, in the event of a meter trip due to over-consumption, it must be possible to reset the meter from inside the dwelling. This means that the systems must be designed in such a way that it is not necessary to leave the house to restore the power supply, improving the safety and comfort of the user.
COMBI MINI with infinite impedance
The COMBI MINI is a compact protection device designed to protect electrical installations against transient and permanent overvoltages. An outstanding feature of this equipment is its infinite impedance, which means that the COMBI MINI is not “visible” to the energy meter. In simple terms, its infinite impedance means that it does not affect the consumption measurement circuit, which allows the meter to not detect the device as an additional load.
How does the COMBI MINI facilitate meter resetting?
Thanks to this infinite impedance feature, the COMBI MINI allows the energy meter, when triggered by excess consumption, to be reset without the need for additional cut-off elements or automatic reset systems.
Expansion on infinite impedance chargers
In order for the entire electric vehicle charging system to be “invisible” to the smart meter, it is necessary that both the COMBI MINI and the vehicle charger have infinite impedance.
What does this mean?
A charger with infinite impedance is one that, like the COMBI MINI, is not detected by the energy meter in the event of tripping by ICP. In other words, the meter does not perceive the charger as an additional load because the infinite impedance prevents current from being registered in the meter’s measuring circuit.
Why is it important to combine both devices?
- COMBI MINI + Charger with Infinite Impedance: When both devices have infinite impedance, it allows that, in the event of a trip due to excess consumption, the meter reset can be carried out without problems from the home, since neither the charger nor the COMBI-MINI is detected.
- Completely invisible system: If only one of the devices (COMBI MINI or the charger) has infinite impedance, the other could be detected as a load, which would make resetting the meter more complicated. It is therefore essential that both have this feature to ensure that the recharging system is completely invisible to the meter.
What to do if the charger does not have infinite impedance?
In case the car charger does not have infinite impedance, and therefore the smart meter detects all connected loads, it is necessary to use an additional solution to protect the installation against overvoltage, such as our COMBI-PRO.
