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Company Information
Our Vision
To safeguard life, health, property, and energy through electrical distribution system technology.
Our Mission
Maximize installation of electrical fire and shock prevention technology to save lives.
Our History
2D2C, Inc. has developed and patented technologies that can significantly reduce or eliminate household electrical fires and electrocutions. These technologies are easy to use and implement. They can be installed in existing homes without replacing any of the existing electrical distribution system.
In 1998, company founders experienced a smoldering lamp signaling a pending fire, yet the branch circuit breaker did not trip. Overloaded appliances can ignite fires without tripping a circuit breaker because they draw much less current than branch wiring can provide. Circuit breakers are designed to prevent overloads in branch circuit wiring, not in appliances.
The circuit breaker could not protect against this lamp fire since a 15 Amp circuit breaker needs at least 17 Amps for an hour before it trips, whereas a 100 Watt powered incandescent light bulb draws less than one Ampere. The founders invented an intelligent receptacle solution to prevent fire ignition from overloaded appliances, lamps and extension cords. The founders named this protection to be "Overload Fault Circuit Interrupter" (OFCI) technology. Additionally, the prototype kept electricity turned off at the receptacle socket until a cord plug is inserted to prevent child shocks. They named this protection to be "Shock Fault Circuit Interrupter" (SFCI) technology. Patents were applied for and granted.
From 2002 to 2006, Greg Baker and Steve Montgomery led a team to convert the OFCI concept into a manufactureable product. The company established a Canadian division (called OFI, Inc.) and set up a research and development (R&D) laboratory in Ontario, Canada. Montgomery hired an engineering team and developed a cost effective, manufactureable smart receptacle design that incorporated OFCI and SFCI protection.
After researching its ability to prevent fires, the team enhanced the outlet design with added protection against fires from bad wire junctions in walls and open-neutral conditions. They named this added protection to be "Power Fault Circuit Interrupter" (PFCI) technology. PFCI detects electrical current flowing through high-resistance electrical connections and detects over-voltage and under-voltage conditions. Patents for this technology are pending as of May 2006.
In the summer of 2008, the team combined the appliance overload protection (then called Overload Fault Circuit Interrupter, OFCI) and bad wire-junction protection (then called Power Fault Circuit Interrupter, PFCI) and renamed the combination as Electrical Fault Circuit Interrupter (EFCI), since both are needed for complete fire protection in a building.
The first commercial products to protect against fires using EFCI technology are sold under the SafePlug® (www.safeplug.com) brand name. Both the SafePlug Model 1200 series and Model 1300 series electrical outlets have been tested and listed against UL safety standards 498, 498A and 1449, and FCC emissions standards for the United States, and certified against CSA safety standard C22.2 42-99 and Industry Canada emissions standards for Canada. The Model 1200 installs as a retrofit over an existing electrical receptacle. The Model 1300 installs at the time of new construction in a standard double-wide electrical box.
2D2C has a number of alliances with companies involved in fire safety and electrical distribution.