Lighting circuit MCB tripping

[kiedis]

The MCB for our upstairs lighting circuit keeps tripping.

My sister just went upstairs and said the lights weren't working, so I opened the cover of the consumer unit and the breaker was off, I tried switching it back on, but it keeps tripping. Any help would be great. Thanks

 

[nickblake]

Its possible a fault in one of the lights pendant ,etc ,if your inexperianced in fault finding on electrical installations i would reccomend that you leave it to a suitably qualified electrician

 

[Guest123]

If you're not able to reset it and are not a spark then I would respectfully suggest calling one.

Reason being that there isn't much you could do about a problem such as this with proper test equipment.

One thing you could try is to try to reset once, if it wont then switch all the light switches to the other position and try again. It might work, it might not but it may gaive you some more info to pass on to the electrician.

 

[lemau]

MCB Miniature circuit breaker function is to protect circuit from overload and short circuit...when MCB tripping..maybe the lighting component broken or cable leakage.try check this 2 possible

 

[Jimmyb]

have you got a energy saving bulb thats blow ive had this a few time now

 

[markthespark]

have you got a energy saving bulb thats blow ive had this a few time now

has anyone heard of this before? Im having trouble with a lighting fault at a friends house, the MCB trips intermittantly so i suspect there is water getting in somewhere as the breaker some times resets for a while and other times it trips straight away.

i have checked all the outside lights for damp and they are fine.

going back tomorrow to split and IR test the circuit.

its a massive house and its wired in singles so it would take abit of time.

I am going to strart by switching all the switches in the off position and IR the circuit, if thats fine ill switch each switch on indiviually testing as i go until i get a bad reading.

has anyone got any other ideas?

many thanks.

 

[Guest112]

has anyone heard of this before? Im having trouble with a lighting fault at a friends house, the MCB trips intermittantly so i suspect there is water getting in somewhere as the breaker some times resets for a while and other times it trips straight away.

i have checked all the outside lights for damp and they are fine.

going back tomorrow to split and IR test the circuit.

its a massive house and its wired in singles so it would take abit of time.

I am going to strart by switching all the switches in the off position and IR the circuit, if thats fine ill switch each switch on indiviually testing as i go until i get a bad reading.

has anyone got any other ideas?

many thanks.

would it be too much hassle removing the lamps instead? By hassle I mean not obstructed by furniture ect, atleast then you could turn all switches ON and whe doing your IR tests you'd be testing the lot like

 

[markthespark]

I could for some of them but on the circuit there is 2 outside lights and 2 flouresent light.

What sort if readings would i expect to see that would trip an MCB?

The consumer Unit is an old wylex one with bs3036 rewireable fuses so it must have been a reacurring dead short to blow one of those. Ive replaced it with one of those plug in MCBs.

cheers

 

[Octopus]

FFS this thread is 3 1/2 years old!! You should start your own thread.

 

[R G]

That MCB must be well and truly Knacked , Still re setting it after 3 and half years,,,,LOL,,,

 

[davesparks]

Markthespark

First rule out an dodgy lamp.

Then IR test the circuit properly, remove all lamps and disconnect the fluorescents.

If you test as you have described by turning on one switch at a time with the lamps in it isn't going to help you narrow it down much. The lamp forms a connection from live to neutral and the neutral is common throughout the circuit. So by switching on one lamp you are then bringing every lamp into the test.

 

[markthespark]

Cheers dave im going to remove all the lamps before i start, switch all the switches to the off position then IR the circuit, if all is ok, turn them on 1 by 1 to hopefully find the offending part of the circuit.

Many thanks.