Patent ID: 7298598

Claim:
A protective wiring device comprising: a plurality of line terminals coupled to a plurality of load terminals by way of at least one conductive path; a miswire detection circuit coupled to the at least one conductive path, the miswire detection circuit being configured to monitor signal propagation characteristics on the at least one conductive path and generate a miswire detection signal based on the signal propagation characteristics commencing each time source power is applied to either the plurality of line terminals or the plurality of load terminals; a fault detection circuit coupled to the at least one conductive path, the fault detection circuit being configured to detect a fault condition propagating on the at least one conductive path, the fault detection circuit being configured to generate a trip signal in response to either the fault condition or the miswire detection signal; and a circuit interrupter coupled to the fault detection circuit, the circuit interrupter being configured to introduce an electrical discontinuity in the at least one conductive path in response to the trip signal.