Talk:Tag:power=switch

Disconnecting Circuit Breaker

These combination switches are becoming more and more common in air insulated substations to save space. A simple switch=DCB would be enough I think. Gazer75 (talk) 16:30, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

As most circuit breakers can cut both normal and abnormal currents, I see no difference with common circuit breakers. Why should they be distinguised from other circuit breakers?

In air insulated substation, dedicated and cheaper disconnectors are here to save on usage of circuit breaker at every disctonnecting point, but you could only use circuit breakers if you want to Fanfouer (talk) 17:07, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

Nomal circuit breakers with vacume, oil or sf6 do not have a disconnector inside like the DCBs. They are there to protect from abnormal currents only, thus you also have to have a disconnector in the same bay. Gazer75 (talk) 17:41, 3 June 2020 (UTC)

Which type of switches are they?

Which type of switches are they?

On the left is the transformer, next the 3 switches and then the busbar follows.

You can find the place where the photo was taken here.

Can someone help me with the exact name? --geozeisig (talk) 09:25, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

Hi

1 is not a switch, it may be a current transformer for measurement purposes. I don't know OSM tagging for them currently

2 is a circuit breaker (switch=circuit_breaker). 3 phases are mechanically linked, then cables=3 is suitable here if all 3 circuit breakers are mapped on one single node.

3 is a disconnector (switch=disconnector). 3 phases are mechanically linked, then cables=3 is suitable here as well.

I think this situation is similar to yours

All the best Fanfouer (talk) 23:37, 21 August 2020 (UTC)

Cutouts on poles

Hello! I've been mapping distribution lines on OSM for a couple of years now, and I've always mapped cutouts as switch=mechanical. Lately though I've been wondering if that's really the best choice. A lot of cutouts are fused, so switch=circuit_breaker feels more appropriate for those. Then for the non-fused ones, I'm not sure whether switch=mechanical or switch=disconnector would be better… Am I overthinking? PluMGMK (talk) 16:14, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

Hello! That's good wondering. Can you elaborate a bit more on the fused switches please? Can you provide pictures for instance?

Regarding difference between disconnector and mechanical, the first cuts no current (so often coupled with a circuit breaker) and the last cuts normal currents. Mechanical switches are provided with springs that force the disconnection without fear of being damaged by electric lightning. So visually you should see a more complex mechanism for mechanical switches than simpler disconnectors. Fanfouer (talk) 16:38, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response!

Here's an example of fused cutouts: https://www.bing.com/maps?&cp=52.05219~-8.829655&lvl=16.7&dir=108.93666&pi=30.070772&style=x&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027 - you can see the cylindrical tubes in the switches, which contain fuses that can blow and break the load.

And here are some un-fused ones: https://www.bing.com/maps?&cp=52.154768~-8.904187&lvl=17.14545&dir=133.15663&pi=15.8510895&style=x&v=2&sV=2&form=S00027 - it's hard to make out on the Bing Streetside imagery, but these have a solid blade instead of a fuse tube, with two little holes at the midpoint. It sounds like they should be tagged as "disconnector" because they can't break load on their own, although apparently they can be operated using a portable LoadBuster tool to do so.

Also, what about reclosers? I guess those actually are switch=mechanical since they have an electromechanical mechanism to make / break load… PluMGMK (talk) 17:26, 16 June 2025 (UTC)

Me again… After taking another day to think about this, I still really feel that fused cutouts should be switch=circuit_breaker, unfused cutouts should be switch=disconnector, and reclosers should be switch=mechanical. Considering that I've spent the last two years tagging the former two as switch=mechanical and the latter as switch=yes, I have a lot of cleanup work to do… I should run an Overpass query but I'm scared of how big it'll be!

I'm not sure what to do with load-break cutouts, but I've never seen any of those in Ireland, so I guess I don't have to worry about that for now… Then TripSavers (which I've only seen once or twice here) I think should also be switch=mechanical with devices=* set to the number of cutouts on the pole.

This should keep me busy for a while… PluMGMK (talk) 20:17, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

Went ahead and ran the query – 694 nodes to review… PluMGMK (talk) 21:54, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

Hello. I don't recommend to consider fused switches as circuit breakers, as per wikipedia. Electropedia / IEC60050 gives us more knowledge about what looks like a supplementary feature of disconnectors and mechanical switches, respectively on 441-14-19 and 441-14-17.

Thus I recommend to define a supplementary tag, like fused=* to state that a given switch, particularly disconnector and mechanical has got fuses. It doesn't change its nature and ability to cut different currents as a switch, since fuses are sacrificial devices. Fanfouer (talk) 22:16, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

Fair enough, will do! PluMGMK (talk) 22:33, 17 June 2025 (UTC)

Rereading the descriptions again, I just realized that reclosers should be switch=circuit_breaker, since part of their job is to open the circuit on a fault. Probably with gas_insulated=yes (although they can also be oil or vacuum, and I'm not sure how to tell which…) PluMGMK (talk) 09:49, 18 June 2025 (UTC)

All done… PluMGMK (talk) 23:36, 19 June 2025 (UTC)