Live earth on track lights

[Rasha]

Hi Guys, I'm an enthusiastic DIYer, no formal training but can do basic electrical tasks, at least I thought so...

Some advice would be helpful on the cause of a live earth cable on some track lighting I was changing.

The original track lights were low voltage with very old transformers, I wanted to change them for 240v tracks, 3 tracks of 2m each with 3 spots on each.

They seemed to be all separately wired (1.5mm cable) so I removed the transformers and connected the power feed to the existing track cables using junction boxes and for the first 2 tracks all was fine, nice and safe and worked fine.

On the third one I wired up the track then connected up the cables to the junction box and switched on the mains and while testing I found that the earth connection in the junction box was live !

I checked the wiring in the track connector and all is correct so I'm confused at how the earth can be live on this track, obviously I have reached my limit of electrical knowledge and hope you can educate me on this.

Any help or comments would be much appreciated.

 

[Darkwood]

Welcome to the forum

 

[davesparks]

Is it a phantom voltage or a real voltage?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Rasha]

it was enough to light up the screwdriver voltage tester that I was using, I didn't have a proper voltage tester with me. Would this be a phantom voltage ?

 

[telectrix]

if the track was designed for 12 Volts, it could be that the insulation between live parts and the track is breaking down at the higher voltage. only an educated guess, mind.

 

[Octopus]

^^^ wot he said.

Are you sure that changing 12v systems to 230v systems is a sensible thing to do?

 

[ruston]

What they both said ^^^, and chuck the neon in the bin.

 

[davesparks]

it was enough to light up the screwdriver voltage tester that I was using, I didn't have a proper voltage tester with me. Would this be a phantom voltage ?

If you didn't have a proper voltage tester you shouldn't even have started the job.
Those neon screwdrivers are incredibly dangerous and should have been banned years ago

 

[Adam W]

What they both said ^^^, and chuck the neon in the bin.

:iagree:
So have you replaced the 12v tracks for 230v tracks, or simply modified the old ones?

I'd be interested to know exactly how 'live' the earth is - you can still have a little bit of electricity going through the earth safely, although obviously there shouldn't be a dangerous amount.

 

[Marvo]

I also agree I'm afraid and in the interests of safety I'm closing this thread.

If you've modified the original fittings then what you're doing by changing the track voltage from 12v to 230v is dangerous and almost certainly in direct contravention of manufacturers instructions. Even if you've installed new tracks there's a very real chance you're going to cause an injury or a fire so I'd strongly recommend you isolate the CU and disconnect the lights again then get an electrician in to test the lighting circuit because it also sounds like there's a safety issue with the CPC (earthing) which requires proper equipment to test.