Patent ID: 7149065

Claim:
A fault interrupter apparatus having a line side and a load side and a conductive path therebetween, said apparatus comprising: a solenoid, adapted to move a plurality of contacts disposed in said conductive path from a first position to a second position; a fault detector for detecting a fault condition; an alarm indicator, adapted to provide status information on the operation of said fault interrupter apparatus; and a processor programmed to receive an input from the fault detector indicating when a fault is detected and to control operation of the solenoid, said processor being adapted to detect four condition states of said fault interrupter apparatus and indicate said four condition states of said fault interrupter apparatus using said alarm indicator, said four condition states comprising a first condition state wherein said solenoid is operational to allow the fault interrupter apparatus to operate normally as a receptacle and said fault detector is operational to allow ground fault circuit interruption protection, a second condition state wherein a fault is detected and said conductive path is opened via said solenoid, a third condition state wherein said fault detector is determined by a test to be not operational, and a fourth condition state wherein the fault interrupter apparatus is operating normally as a receptacle but said fault detector is not operational.