Smart Distribution Board with Per-Circuit Current Monitoring Dashboard

When a workshop MCB trips, the usual response is to reset it and hope — nobody knows which circuit was actually overloaded, or whether the board is balanced across phases. This project turns a standard 10-way distribution board into an instrumented one: a clamp CT on every outgoing circuit feeds an ESP32 through a multi-channel conditioning stage. Firmware computes per-circuit RMS current, compares each against its MCB rating, watches phase balance, and publishes everything over Wi-Fi via MQTT. The dashboard shows a live circuit table with current-vs-rating bars, total board load, a phase-balance readout and 24-hour per-circuit profiles, with alerts when any circuit crosses 80% of its breaker rating. Built with proper panel practice — MCBs, terminal blocks, earth bonding — it demonstrates both instrumentation and protection awareness.

1. Each outgoing circuit of the 10-way board passes through its own clamp CT, wired to the multi-channel conditioning stage and ESP32.
2. Firmware samples all channels, computes RMS current per circuit, totals the board load and evaluates the phase-balance math.
3. Every 5 seconds (design target) the ESP32 publishes the 10 currents, totals and status flags as JSON over Wi-Fi via MQTT.
4. The dashboard renders the circuit table with current-vs-rating bars, the board total and the phase-balance readout.
5. When any circuit crosses 80% of its MCB rating, an alert is raised with the circuit ID, current and rating.
6. 24-hour per-circuit profiles are stored for the load-analysis view and the report.
7. The buyer calibrates each CT channel against a clamp reference meter with the documented procedure.

Tech stack:

• ESP32 development board
• 10-way distribution board + MCBs
• Clamp CTs x10 (SCT-013 class)
• Multi-channel CT conditioning stage
• MQTT broker + web dashboard
• Arduino IDE (C/C++ firmware)
• Workshop load bank (demo circuits)
• Clamp reference meter (calibration)

• [Per-circuit CT monitoring] A clamp current transformer on each of the 10 outgoing circuits gives true per-circuit current — the missing visibility in ordinary boards.
• [Overload pre-alerts] Each circuit is compared against its MCB rating; crossing 80% raises a dashboard alert before the breaker ever trips.
• [Live circuit dashboard] Circuit table with current-vs-rating bars, total board load, phase-balance readout and per-circuit 24-hour profiles.
• [Phase-balance watch] The dashboard computes imbalance across the three phases and flags persistent imbalance for the report's analysis.
• [MQTT telemetry] The ESP32 publishes all 10 channels as JSON over Wi-Fi via MQTT with a design-target 5-second interval.
• [Proper panel build] MCBs, terminal blocks, earth bonding and cable management in an enclosure — distribution-board practice, not a breadboard.
• [Trip forensics] If a breaker trips, the dashboard's history shows exactly which circuit was climbing and when — the story behind the trip.

• Working instrumented 10-way distribution board (MCBs, 10 CTs, ESP32) with load bank
• Complete firmware source (multi-channel RMS, balance math, MQTT)
• Live web dashboard (circuit table, profiles, alerts) demonstrated with the board
• Panel wiring diagram and single-line layout
• Per-channel CT calibration procedure against a clamp reference
• Component list with ratings
• Project report PDF (distribution background, CT metering, protection coordination, methodology)
• PPT presentation for final review
• Viva Q&A preparation document (CTs, MCB coordination, phase balance, MQTT)
• Setup and demonstration guide

• Demonstrated with workshop demo loads — it is an instrumented board demonstration, not a certified installation for a real premises.
• Per-circuit accuracy is approximately +/-3% (expected) after calibration — enough for overload trending, not for sub-billing.
• The dashboard alerts on overload conditions; it does not replace the MCB's protection function, which the report states explicitly.
• Phase-balance math assumes the configured phase assignment per circuit; wrong assignment reads as imbalance.
• Mains assembly is enclosed and supervised per the build guide; students do not work on live conductors.