A fast safety switch on the AC side that cuts power if current leaks to earth (e.g. through a person). Required on inverter/shore AC circuits.
On the AC side, an RCD (or GFCI) is what protects a person: it cuts power in milliseconds if current leaks to earth — for instance through someone touching a fault.
It sits in the AC panel on the inverter output and shore inlet, guarding every mains socket and appliance circuit.
Design your van, boat, cabin or RV system in Wattonomy and it includes an RCD/GFCI on the AC distribution whenever your design runs mains loads — from the appliances you actually run, sized to the recognized standard for your region. You see it on the wiring diagram, in the sized parts list, and in a plain-English build pack that explains the reasoning behind every choice. No account, no email — about a minute to a complete, validated design.
They do the same job — cutting power on an earth-leakage fault — under different names (RCD in Europe/UK/AU, GFCI in North America).
Yes — any inverter or shore AC circuit feeding sockets should be protected by an RCD/GFCI to protect people from shock.
It takes about a minute. No account, no email.