(Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breaker

[BlackbirdViera]

I have a 2 year old 3 storey town house. I turned the bathroom (top floor) lights on last night (4x recessed spots) and there was an almighty flash and the breaker (bottom floor) tripped.

I did a little test and discovered that all the other lights on the top floor work, it is just the bathroom which trips the breaker... Isolate the top floor and no lights work, activiate the top floor, and all lights work, but the bathroom trips it out.

My next test was to swap out one of the bulbs, and the same thing happend - an almighty flash, and it tripped out again - though it appeared to come from one spot this time - the one where I swapped out the bulb.

The bathroom is a main bathroom and at the same time an en-suite, so there are two light switches (on the landing and in the bedroom) - both of these trip the breaker.

Any idea what it could be, and what my next avenue should be?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Starbuck]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

Ian not to keep on, but I was trying to advise a bloke who asked for help. If he went into B+Q and asked for LV lights they would take him to the 12V halogen aisle.

 

[Gravid]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

I had this once, but on GU 10 spots. Customer phoned saying the exact same thing, the MCB would trip when they put their landing lights on and they saw a flash from one of the spots when switched. It was a brand new house they'd been in about 12 mths.

They had been wired as loop in loop out and whoever had 2nd fixed them hadn't pulled all the cable out on the last light and just joined it out leaving a leg going to nothing!!! Over time this had melted, i suppose causing a short cct, all the joint box was kind of half melted and brittle too.

Maybe this is the same just a thought.

 

[Des 56]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

Bs 7671 speak and B+Q speak are different animals

This is an electricians forun so terminology should be important
This is a non electrician topic so terminology should make sense, to him
No big deal either way folks

The lights may be off one transformer or more
They may be mains voltage ( notice the sneaky diplomatic terminology there)

It will be difficult for him to fault find unless he is familliar with these differences
He needs to provide more info or pay a man to sort it

 

[BEN5637]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

my bet is the 230v cable is too close to the lamp and has been burnt causing the short, failing that its a knackered transformer

 

[Spudnik]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

Could very well be a burnt cable as you say.

Normally, when a transformer has popped, once the MCB has been reset, the lights work again albeit with one out.

 

[BEN5637]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

True, unless transformer has melted close to the lamp

 

[sparks1234]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

Bound to be melted cable on back of a lamp, how many people do you know that would ask for extra low voltage lamp, I would think 99% of people call them low voltage lamps.

So next question, are they lamps or bulbs?

 

[Des 56]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

So next question, are they lamps or bulbs?

Could be neither
When I was a lot younger my Father (old miner)always called them Globes

 

[ChristianG]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

I thought you planted bulbs?

 

[mechelec]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

Lets hope this otherwise usefull forum does not descend to the level of some others out there.

 

[Spudnik]

Re: (Non-electician) needs advice please! - bathroom lights pop/flash and trip breake

It wont on my watch.