AI Board Scanner — Photograph a Consumer Unit, Auto-Fill Your Certificate

The AI Board Scanner transforms the most tedious part of electrical certification — manually recording every circuit in a consumer unit — into a single photograph. Open the scanner in Elec-Mate, point your phone camera at the board, and tap to capture. The AI analyses the image and returns a complete schedule of circuits within seconds.

The technology uses advanced computer vision trained on thousands of UK consumer units. It recognises protective devices by their physical shape, label text, colour coding, and spatial position within the board. The result is a structured dataset that maps directly onto your EICR or EIC certificate schedule of circuits.

You always review the extracted data before it enters your certificate. The AI is highly accurate with modern, well-labelled boards — typically 95% or higher — but older, modified, or poorly labelled boards may require more manual correction. Even so, reviewing and correcting is far faster than typing everything from scratch.

The scanner uses a multi-stage recognition pipeline. First, it detects the overall board layout — identifying the enclosure boundaries, DIN rail positions, and device locations. Then it analyses each device individually, reading the text on labels, identifying the device type from its physical characteristics, and extracting the current rating.

Modern consumer units with clear labelling and clean circuit charts produce the best results. The AI can read both printed labels and handwritten circuit descriptions, though printed text is more reliably recognised. For boards with a circuit chart on the door or cover, the scanner can extract circuit descriptions from the chart and match them to the corresponding devices.

The recognition works in real-world lighting conditions — including the dim lighting typical of meter cupboards and basement plant rooms. The camera flash provides supplementary illumination when needed. For best results, ensure the board cover is removed and all devices are visible.

This technology powers the same AI capabilities used across all 16 certificate types in Elec-Mate, giving you a seamless workflow from board scan to completed certificate.

The AI identifies the following device types by their physical appearance and label information:

• MCBs (Miniature Circuit Breakers) — type B, C, and D identified from the trip curve marking. Current ratings from 6A to 125A recognised from the device face.
• RCBOs (Residual Current Breaker with Overcurrent) — identified by the wider body, test button, and dual function labelling. Both Type A and Type AC variants recognised.
• RCDs (Residual Current Devices) — main switch RCDs and split-load RCDs identified by size, test button position, and rated residual operating current (typically 30mA or 100mA).
• SPDs (Surge Protection Devices) — identified by their distinctive form factor, status indicator window, and manufacturer markings. Type 2 SPDs are the most common in domestic boards.
• AFDDs (Arc Fault Detection Devices) — identified by the AFDD marking and wider module width. Required under BS 7671:2018+A2:2022 for certain high-risk locations.
• Main Switch / Isolator — the main incoming isolator identified by position, size, and current rating (typically 80A or 100A for domestic installations).

Each device identification includes the manufacturer where recognisable. The AI is trained on components from Hager, Wylex, Schneider Electric, MK, Contactum, Fusebox, Chint, and other common UK brands. For more on how these devices relate to consumer unit regulations, see our dedicated guide.

The real power of the Board Scanner is what happens after recognition. The extracted data flows directly into your certificate form, pre-populating fields that would otherwise require manual entry:

• Circuit numbers assigned in order from left to right across the board
• Circuit descriptions from the circuit chart (where available)
• Protective device type (MCB, RCBO, RCD) for each circuit
• Current rating of each protective device
• Trip curve type (B, C, or D) for MCBs
• RCD rated residual operating current where applicable
• Main switch rating and type

For a typical 12-circuit domestic consumer unit, this eliminates approximately 5-10 minutes of manual data entry per certificate. Over the course of a week — if you are completing 3-5 EICRs daily — this saves 1-3 hours of administrative time. That is time you can spend on actual testing or travelling to your next job.

The auto-population works with both EICR certificates and EIC certificates. For Minor Works certificates, the scanner can identify the specific circuit being worked on and pre-fill its details.

The AI Board Scanner works with virtually every type of consumer unit and distribution board found in UK installations:

• Single-row domestic boards — standard domestic consumer units with a single DIN rail, typically 6-18 ways. The most common board type and the one the AI handles most accurately.
• Split-load boards — boards with an RCD protecting one bank of circuits. The AI identifies the split-load configuration and maps circuits to the correct RCD protection group.
• Dual RCD boards — boards with two RCDs protecting separate banks. Circuit grouping and RCD assignment are correctly identified.
• RCBO boards — fully populated RCBO boards where every circuit has individual RCD protection. Each RCBO is identified with its dual rating (overcurrent and residual current).
• Three-phase distribution boards — commercial and industrial boards with three-phase supply. Phase allocation is identified where labelling permits.

Older rewireable fuse boards and BS 3036 fusegear are also recognised, though with lower confidence due to the lack of standardised labelling. The AI identifies fuse carriers and approximate ratings from physical size and colour coding. For these boards, you should expect to make more manual corrections after scanning.

The Board Scanner requires a network connection because the AI image processing runs on cloud servers. However, the scan itself takes only a few seconds — even on a slow 3G connection, the round trip is typically under 10 seconds. On 4G or 5G, results return in 2-5 seconds.

If you are in a location with no signal at all, you can photograph the board and process the scan later when connectivity returns. The photo is saved locally and queued for processing. Once you are back in range, the scan completes and the data populates your certificate.

The rest of the certificate workflow — entering property details, recording test results, adding observations, capturing signatures — works fully offline. See our offline electrical app page for full details on offline capabilities. You can also explore our full range of electrical testing calculators that work without an internet connection.