TLDR
- A remotely monitored temporary distribution board is a standard 63A, 125A, 160A, 250A or 400A site board with CT clamps, voltage taps, and a residual current sensor retrofitted inside. Data goes to the cloud over 4G.
- Spine measures both the main boards and the distribution and sub-boards below them. The main board feeds the distribution and sub-boards underneath it, and Spine sees consumption at both levels.
- Spine fits onto the existing board without sending it back to the factory.
- The alerts that matter on a real jobsite: overload, voltage sag, earth fault, cabinet temperature, generator under-load. Optional sensors add condition monitoring, such as an alert when the cabinet is opened outside working hours.
- Switching from rental to owned boards typically makes sense when a single site runs longer than 18 to 24 months, or when the same board rotates across multiple projects.
- The standard measurement is accurate but not MID-approved. Billable MID metering is a separate add-on accessory.
What is a remotely monitored distribution board?
A remotely monitored temporary distribution board is an ordinary site distribution panel with measurement sensors and a data link added. Currents, voltages, residual currents, and cabinet temperature are streamed to the cloud and accessed from a phone or browser.
Site power distribution is tiered. The main board takes the incoming feed, and through it power is distributed to the distribution and sub-boards below it. Spine measures both levels: the main boards and the distribution and sub-boards underneath them. The whole chain, from the incoming feed to an individual sub-board, shows up on one platform.
Spine is TSR-Elsite’s measurement platform that adds this layer as a retrofit. It does not need to be ordered factory-integrated. The measurement is added to the board already in use on site.
A detail that often goes unnoticed: the current data inside a site board normally does not exist anywhere. The main board’s meter shows one number per month. There is no per-circuit, no per-phase, no time-stamped record. Remote monitoring puts those numbers on screen.
How is the monitoring layer actually installed?
From a fitter’s point of view, the steps are these. The Spine unit goes inside the cabinet. CT clamps go around the live phases of the incoming feed. Voltage is taken from the busbar or the distribution terminal. Residual current is read from the existing summation CT or a dedicated residual current monitor. A temperature sensor sits at the hottest point of the enclosure.
The uplink runs over built-in 4G with a fixed eSIM. No fixed network connection is needed.
Once installed, the board appears in app.spine-electric.io. The user names the board (for example ”Airport Site, Block B, Board 1”), tags its type (250A main, 63A sub-distribution, and so on) and sets the alert thresholds.
One important point: Spine does not change the board’s electrical function. Protection devices, switches, and ratings stay as they were.
What does a monitored board measure and alert on?
The parameters fall into six categories. Reviewed in the order a site supervisor would actually look at them.
1. Current per phase
Spine reads L1, L2 and L3 separately. This tells you whether the load is balanced across phases or whether one phase is pinned at the top. A common jobsite problem is that a single inductive load (a compressor, a battery charger on a diesel genset) pulls one phase to its limit while the other two sit idle.
The alert fires when current crosses a configured threshold, typically 90 percent of the nominal rating.
2. Voltage per phase
Long feed cables and cheap gensets cause voltage sag. When the board’s incoming voltage drops below 215 V, variable speed drives shut down to protect themselves, welders trip out, and tower cranes go into fault. Spine alerts before that point.
3. Earth fault and residual current
IEC 61439-4 requires a residual current device on a site board. Spine reads the continuous RCM value and alerts when the trend climbs toward the trip threshold. This exposes a creeping cable fault before the board takes itself off line.
4. Cabinet temperature
Rising cabinet temperature points to overload, poor ventilation, or a loose terminal. Above 60 degrees Celsius the breaker rating has to be reassessed. Above 80 degrees the cabinet is a fire risk.
5. Condition monitoring with optional sensors
Site boards get stolen from, and unauthorised draws happen at weekends. With an optional sensor the board can raise an alert when the cabinet is opened outside normal hours.
6. Generator load
When the board sits on a genset feed, Spine calculates the real-time load percentage from delivered power against generator nameplate. A generator runs most efficiently at around 70 to 80 percent load. A clearly lower sustained load means the genset is burning fuel at partial load and can start to wet stack.
Spine does not generate a load profile itself, nor does it perform actual load management. It measures consumption at board level and makes it visible, which the OEM telematics on the genset cannot see. That visibility makes load management easier, because the decisions are made on reliable data. Actually starting and stopping an auxiliary load belongs to the separate Spine device built for generators, not to this board-monitoring system.
Which board size is right?
Temporary distribution boards are classified by their incoming feed: 63A, 125A, 160A, 250A, 400A and 630A. Sizing is done through diversity factors rather than the sum of the outgoing currents. In practice a large main board feeds the smaller distribution and sub-boards below it, and Spine can be fitted at either level.
| Rating | Typical use | Typical outlets | Spine connection |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63A | Small refurb, single trade, site cabin | 1× 63A CEE + 4–6× 16A + 2× 32A | CT 16/63A, voltage from busbar |
| 125A | Mid-size site, sub-distribution boards | 1× 125A + 2× 63A + 4× 32A + 6× 16A | CT 125A, per-phase |
| 160A | Apartment block, infrastructure first stage, dewatering and heating | 1× 160A + 2× 63A + 4× 32A + lighting | CT 200A, voltage + RCM |
| 250A | Large construction, block-level main board, genset feed | 1× 250A + 2× 125A + 4× 63A + heater circuits | CT 250A, MID optional |
| 400A / 630A | Hospital, shipyard, large infrastructure, festival main | Multi-feeder, sub-cabinets, MID for billing | CT 400/600A, MID + per-outlet metering |
Spine is not locked to a single size. The same measurement unit scales from 63A to 630A by swapping the CT clamp range.
What a monitored board does not do
Spine is not a breaker and does not replace protective equipment. On overload it raises an alert, and the disconnection itself is handled by the board’s own protection. Statutory protections (residual current device, overcurrent protection, insulation testing) stay on traditional hardware.
Spine measures consumption as standard, and the standard measurement is accurate but not MID-approved. Billable MID metering is a separate add-on accessory, fitted to the outgoing circuits where subcontractors need to be invoiced.
Remote monitoring also does not replace a site electrician. An alert tells a human where to look, and someone still walks over to the cabinet when the board asks for attention.
Hire or buy?
There is no single right answer, but the rules of thumb are clear.
Hire wins when:
The project is under 12 months. One site, no recurring need. The size requirement changes between phases (250A in groundworks, 125A in finishing). Capex is constrained. This is the typical UK / EU construction project.
Purchase wins when:
The same board rotates across multiple sites within the contractor’s fleet. The project runs over 18 to 24 months. There is a tight integration with an internal monitoring or safety system, so Spine retrofit value compounds. Standardisation across the firm’s fleet matters.
Spine makes the choice easier. For the rental fleet operator, Spine is a differentiator that supports a premium day rate. For the asset owner, Spine is a system that stays in service when the project ends and follows onto the next one.
Standards and compliance
Construction-site distribution boards are built to the following standards:
- IEC 61439-1: general rules for low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies
- IEC 61439-4 (second edition, October 2023): particular requirements for assemblies for construction sites
- SFS-EN 61439-4: current Finnish national adoption (replaced SFS-EN 60439-4)
Billable metering requires a separate MID-approved add-on (Measuring Instruments Directive 2014/32/EU); Spine’s standard measurement is not MID-approved.
Spine is designed so that the measurement does not affect the board’s type testing. Confirm this for each installation; it is the question procurement teams ask most often when anything is added to a board.
How Spine differs from the alternatives
Short answers to the common ”Spine versus X” questions.
| Vendor | What they offer | Where Spine differs |
|---|---|---|
| Rental fleets (Cramo, Renta, Sähkömatti, Sunbelt) | Day-rate hire on 63A to 400A boards. | Unmetered hire fleet is still common in the market, but some rental companies already offer measured distribution: Renta, for example, feeds Spine measurement data into its RentaEasy customer portal. |
| Walther-Werke IPD (DACH) | Cloud planning software for site power. €99 per user per month. | IPD plans the design, Spine monitors the live operation. The products sit in different phases and complement each other. |
| MENNEKES AMAXX (DACH / EU) | Modular IP44 enclosure system with CEE sockets. No IoT layer. | Spine is fitted inside the AMAXX cabinet as a retrofit. |
| Aggreko Connect / ARM (UK / DACH) | Locked to Aggreko’s hired generator fleet. Does not extend onto third-party assets. | Spine is vendor neutral. Any board, any genset. |
| Prolectric Smart Distribution Board (UK) | Festival and event distribution, single product. | Wider remit: construction, infrastructure, shipyards, events. |
A worked example: a 250A main board on a large site
The following is a worked example rather than a customer case. It shows what a typical deployment looks like.
Picture a residential block project. The main board is 250A, and through it power is fed to four sub-distribution boards: two 125A boards for concrete pumps and dewatering, two 63A boards for cabins and general lighting. The site electrician inspects the boards once a day, sometimes once a week.
Spine is fitted on the main board and on all four sub-boards. From then on the site’s full power consumption is visible in real time at both the main board and each sub-board level, and the genset’s real load percentage replaces the operator’s rough estimate.
A typical first catch could look like this: during cold nights the residual current on one outgoing circuit climbs gradually and approaches the trip threshold. The fault traces to a wet cable joint and is fixed before the board takes itself off line. One unplanned shutdown avoided.
The same pattern repeats often enough on real sites that it belongs in the business case.
Frequently asked questions
1. What is temporary distribution board remote monitoring?
Temporary distribution board remote monitoring is the streaming of currents, voltages, residual currents, and cabinet temperature from a site distribution board to a cloud platform, accessible from a phone or browser. Spine is a retrofit system that adds this layer to any existing 63A to 630A board without sending the cabinet back to the factory. Spine measures both the main boards and the distribution and sub-boards below them.
2. Does Spine work with boards that are more than five years old?
Yes. Spine needs only sufficient internal space for the CT clamps and the Spine unit. Spine suits the most common board models; confirm compatibility for your model with the equipment supplier.
3. What does it cost?
Pricing depends on the board’s rating and on options such as MID billing or external sensors. Request a quote with your size class and TSR-Elsite returns a written price.
4. Is Spine MID-certified?
Spine measures consumption as standard, and the standard measurement is accurate but not MID-approved. Billable MID metering is a separate add-on accessory fitted to the outgoing circuits where subcontractor invoicing is needed.
5. Can Spine be moved between sites?
Yes. Spine is designed to be portable. The fitter unclips the CT clamps and voltage taps, moves the unit to the next site, and reconnects. The history stays in the cloud and the board is renamed on the platform.