Difference Between ELCB and RCCB?

ELCB is a 3-wire device whereas an RCCD has only two. Apart from that, the job they all do is the same: protecting people against the risk of a fatal electric shock during a fault.

The RCCB has circuit overcurrent protection whereas the RCD may not, just tripping on live/neutral current dissimilarity.

Have a look in BS7671.

RCCB does not have overcurrent protection, only an RCBO (Residual Current Breaker with Overcurrent protection) has.

ELCB (Earth Leakage Circuit breaker ) also called as shock guards is a voltage sensing operating system.In case of line voltage come in contact with metal body ( some one accidentally come in cotact with the metal body of any electrical equipment which has a leakage current and the same is used it may cause fetal electrical shock or even death )the leakage voltage passes to earth through the device and the circuit is instantly tripped for safety . ELCBs are voltage operated and mainly used in TT earthing system. This system has a disadvantage of nuicance tripping and being replaced by RCCB.
The RCDs (Residual Current Device) or RCCB (residual Current Circuit Breaker ) are current sensing protection devices and are one and same . They give safety against earth leakage current only. They do not operate on normal over loads and for that purpose MCBs have to be installed in the circuit in addition to RCCB.

For details read the following links.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_leakage_circuit_breaker

http://electrical-engineering-portal.com/what-is-the-difference-between-mcb-mccb-elcb-and-rccb

You did hit on one of the nuisance tripping issues and ABYC allowed the amperage to run up to 30 Amps. As for the RCCB, this is mostly used in the UK where as the ELCB is mainly used in the states with ABYC's blessing, although there were many years that they did reject it but after so many deaths being in the waters where marinas are and the currents in the waters are so great, they had to adopt some safety factors.

We recommend using the ELCB's for shore power, the only issue is now we are dealing with battery chargers running 240VAC input with 80A outputs. This bypasses the ELCB's capabilities, and surpasses all GFCI's and RCCB's or RCD's at this point. And now we are more and more recommending gensets for hybrid applications and there is just nothing to protect the owners/users against stray currents on the market yet. Which is why perfect wiring is so much more important now more than ever.

If anyone has any ideas on high voltage/current application devices, I am all ears for the PHEV/Hybrid boating industry up to 144VDC nominal at this point.

Difference between ELCB and RCCB

• ELCB is the old name and often refers to voltage operated devices that are no longer available and it is advised you replace them if you find one.
• RCCB or RCD is the new name that specifies current operated (hence the new name to distinguish from voltage operated).
• The new RCCB is best because it will detect any earth fault. The voltage type only detects earth faults that flow back through the main earth wire so this is why they stopped being used.
• The easy way to tell an old voltage operated trip is to look for the main earth wire connected through it.
• RCCB will only have the line and neutral connections.
• ELCB is working based on Earth leakage current. But RCCB is not having sensing or connectivity of Earth, because fundamentally Phase current is equal to the neutral current in single phase. That's why RCCB can trip when the both currents are deferent and it withstand up to both the currents are same. Both the neutral and phase currents are different that means current is flowing through the Earth.
• Finally both are working for same, but the thing is connectivity is difference.
• RCD does not necessarily require an earth connection itself (it monitors only the live and neutral).In addition it detects current flows to earth even in equipment without an earth of its own.
• This means that an RCD will continue to give shock protection in equipment that has a faulty earth. It is these properties that have made the RCD more popular than its rivals. For example, earth-leakage circuit breakers (ELCBs) were widely used about ten years ago. These devices measured the voltage on the earth conductor; if this voltage was not zero this indicated a current leakage to earth. The problem is that ELCBs need a sound earth connection, as does the equipment it protects. As a result, the use of ELCBs is no longer recommended.

RCD (Residual Current Device / RCCB(Residual Current Circuit Breaker)

Characteristics

• Phase(line) and Neutral both wires connected through RCD.
• It trips the circuit when there is earth fault current.
• The amount of current flows through the phase (line) should return through neutral .
• It detects by RCD. any mismatch between two currents flowing through phase and neutral detect by -RCD and trip the circuit within 30 Milliseconed.
• If a house has an earth system connected to an earth rod and not the main incoming cable, then it must have all circuits protected by an RCD (because u mite not be able to get enough fault current to trip a MCB)
• RCDs are an extremely effective form of shock protection

The most widely used are 30 mA (milliamp) and 100 mA devices. A current flow of 30 mA (or 0.03 amps) is sufficiently small that it makes it very difficult to receive a dangerous shock. Even 100 mA is a relatively small figure when compared to the current that may flow in an earth fault without such protection (hundred of amps)

A 300/500 mA RCCB may be used where only fire protection is required. eg., on lighting circuits, where the risk of electric shock is small.