TRIP CODE READER - EATON

OVERVIEW

The Trip Code Reader brings smart connectivity to residential circuit breakers. The device reads a series of blinks from the Eaton’s Thermal Guard breaker and transmits to a mobile device via bluetooth. The app helps electricians and Eaton support technicians quickly diagnose and troubleshoot these errors in the field.

The Problem

Electricians want an easy way to understand why a circuit breaker has tripped. A lot of times they are coming in blind to a problem and try to either recreate the problem or make assumptions. They want and way to build confidence and have a tool help them diagnose any issues.

WHAT IS THE TECHNOLOGY?

The Trip Code Reader is a small device placed over the circuit. This small device uses bluetooth technology to read and send information to a mobile device to display the latest error codes for that particular circuit breaker.

UNDERSTANDING OUR USERS

WORK FLOW PLANNING

HOW MIGHT WE PREVENT ERRORS AND ENABLE ELECTRICIANS TO HAVE THE INFORMATION THEY NEED TO QUICKLY DIAGNOSE A PROBLEM?

One of the challenges was that this technology requires a little tiny dongle to be present. So managing devices became a little complicated. Do you register each dongle or do you have an account where you can store your latest reading? What if you lose your dongle?

Secondly, not all customers were tech savvy. We had to make this very straight forward and even found that we had to give the buttons a little extra breathing room so they were easy to tap on.

With this information in mind, we were able to really create something that was not only helpful but electricians felt excited and empowered to have this information. It helped them and the people they were servicing feel really confident.

REFLECTION

This was a big effort in syncing our internal technical teams with our people in the field. This was a really great opportunity to not only arm our electricians with helpful/impressive tools but to give Eaton a ton of data.

I really got to understand the struggles of going into a job blind. I also got see the relief that comes with getting this information. It was really rewarding and exciting to watch it unfold. The next step is to create a useful system that would provide a way for out internal technical teams to organize and view all the data that is being captured with these reading. So there is a lot of exciting opportunity there as well!