Maxguard DB boxes: PVC consumer units, metalclad DB-E and DB-N boards, ready-to-use SPS/SPB/SPM sets, and prices

Maxguard, the Shah Alam switchgear brand, makes the box as well as the breakers. Its catalogue has plastic consumer units, empty metalclad boards in several depths and ready-to-use metal boards already fitted with an incomer, an RCCB, busbar and wiring. “DB box Maxguard” listings on Shopee are mostly the metalclad boards, and wiremen in the groups treat Maxguard as the budget choice next to Schneider and Hager.

The catalogue on Maxguard’s site is headed 2023 but prints “March 2022” inside; its DB pages are printed pages 20–29. We read every enclosure table by hand and checked it against an automated read of the same pages. The table below shows the plastic units, the Economy and one- to three-row DB-N boards, and every ready-to-use board: 62 of the 99 enclosure codes in the catalogue.

Plastic consumer units (MG series)

The MG units are surface-mounted plastic boxes “suitable for fitting devices with maximum rating of 63A” for “domestic and commercial installations”. There are two materials:

• MG…N, “Hight Impact PS” (polystyrene): MG0800N (8 ways) to MG5400N (3 rows of 18, 54 ways). The 30-, 45- and 54-way N units have a non-transparent cover.
• MG…FR, “PS Fire Retardant (FR) to IEC 60695-2-11”, with a non-transparent cover: MG1550FR to MG5400FR. There’s no 8- or 10.5-way FR unit.

The catalogue page carries a red note: “As per IEC Standard requirements, we strongly advise to use consumer units with ABS Fire Retardant (FR) for better protection against hazardous continuous burning in case of fire.” The FR table itself says polystyrene, not ABS, so ask which material you’re getting. Two table errors to ignore: MG1550N’s module count is printed as 54 and MG1850N’s as 17, although they’re the 15.5- and 18.5-way units. The catalogue gives no IP rating for the MG units.

Empty metalclad boards

All are IEC 60439-3 boards, IP30, epoxy powder-coated mild steel, “fitted with one set neutral and earth link” and supplied “without components, wiring and busbar”:

• Economy DB-E (1.0mm steel): DB1010E, DB1014E, DB1018E and DB1022E (one row of 10–22 ways, 85mm deep), DB2030E and DB2036E (two rows) and DB3045E (three rows of 15).
• DB-N (1.2mm steel, 1.5mm for seven and eight rows): DB112N to DB127N in one row, DB232N and DB236N in two, DB348N and DB354N in three, and up to DB8176N (eight rows, 176 ways) for larger buildings.
• DB-MN and DB-MNS (13 and 12 codes, 13 to 176 ways) are “suitable to fit MCCB as incomer”. The DB-MN table marks which boards also have space for one or two RCCBs (DB113MN and DB119MN: MCCB only); the DB-MNS page doesn’t say. Four deeper boards (DB236N3P, DB354N3P, DB236MN3P, DB354MN3P) have “extra space and depth for outgoing 3P MCB/MCCB”. The table on this page leaves these lines out; an MCCB incomer is more common in larger or three-phase installations.

The drawings show the links each board comes with. Most single-phase boards have one earth link and two neutral links, which is what two RCCB groups need: DB1018E has a 10-way earth link and two 6-way neutral links, DB232N a 16-way earth with 10- and 6-way neutrals. DB1010E has only one 6-way neutral link, so it suits a board with one RCCB group.

The catalogue says the metal boards are light grey (RAL 7035), while Maxguard’s web pages for the Economy, DB-MN and DB-MNS series say white (RAL 9003). Check the colour with the seller if it matters.

Ready-to-use boards with incomer and RCCB

These come “with wiring and busbar”, in 1.0mm steel, IP30. The letter after SP (single-phase) or TP (three-phase) gives the incomer:

The RCCB fitted is a whole-board device: 100mA on single-phase boards (40A with a 32A incomer, 63A with a 63A incomer) and 300mA on three-phase boards (40A, 63A or 100A). That meets ST’s rule that an RCD’s rating must be at least the upstream breaker’s, but it doesn’t cover the 30mA that socket circuits need or the 10mA that water heaters need. Budget for extra RCCBs or RCBOs, such as Maxguard’s ML63-1 RCCBs or ML32-1 RCBOs, in the outgoing ways.

The drawings show one neutral link on every ready-to-use board (10- or 16-way on single-phase, 30-way on three-phase, even on the 54-module DB18WT… boards). A second RCCB group needs its own neutral bar, so ask for one or add it.

Read the code carefully: DB9WTPS63 is a three-phase board, although one distributor’s title calls it “SPN”. Maxguard’s web pages for the SPM/TPM and SPB/TPB series also end with “Fitted with Switchfuse incomer & RCCB”, copied from the SPS page; the catalogue tables say MCCB and MCB.

Maxguard’s catalogue says it is a “Registered switchboard manufacturer (≤600V)” with the Energy Commission and “Approved for Government Projects”. We haven’t checked those claims against ST’s or JKR’s lists for enclosures.

Compared with Hager and Schneider

Maxguard’s metal boards are IP30 and its plastic units don’t state an IP rating. Hager’s IU steel boards and golf plastic boards are IP40, and Schneider’s Resi9 MP is IP40 with flush options. Maxguard is the only one of the three whose Malaysian range includes ready-to-use boards with the incomer and RCCB fitted. The DB box category page covers sizing and the metal-or-plastic choice.

Where to buy and prices

Maxguard sells through dealers (Maxguard brand page). On BigGo Malaysia on 8 October 2026, TOP Electrical Store (Selangor, Shopee) listed these metalclad boards; Good Luck Electrical Trading listed the codes it shares with TOP at the same prices:

At 18 ways, the Economy DB1018E was RM6.80 cheaper than the DB-N DB118N at the same store. Focus Electrical (Pahang) listed DB112N from RM127.83. One TikTok listing priced DB2030E at RM786.71, nearly three times the Shopee price, so check before paying an outlier.

We didn’t find marketplace listings for the MG plastic units or the ready-to-use SPS/SPB/SPM boards; that doesn’t mean they aren’t sold. KVC, a Malaysian distributor, lists DB118N, DB122N, DB232N, DB3045E, DB9WTPM63 and DB9WTPS63 with prices after sign-in. “DB full set” bundles built around Maxguard parts ran from RM270 to RM285 for a 12–16-way set (ME Electrical, Terengganu) and RM377–388 for a 26-way set (TOP Electrical). A listing shows what a seller advertises, not confirmed stock.