Problems with the chocks..

[megawats]

Hi Everybody,, I am a newbie here.. bur recently I am encountering problems with our electrical,, I have experienced burning out of chocks in different locations, and mostly it come to a point that the light fittings was burnt too, without the MCB tripping..

May I ask the experts on their advise, should I replace the MCB to RCD's with 100ma's capacity?

Thanks...

 

[Sintra]

Don't quite understand your problem fully but adding 100mA RCD's won't cure it. The cause of the overheating needs to be found and rectified.

 

[megawats]

Hi Sintra,

Thanks for the reply, As you see, I am handling different villas and flats in different location, and one of my problems which I often encounter is the burning of chocks ( which is a real fire hazzard)..
mostly I have noticed that though the chocks have been severely burnt, they do not trip the MCB.. and if i am not mistaken,, chocks should trip the CB before it come to a point of burning right?

Regards..

 

[ian.settle1]

Hi Sintra,

Thanks for the reply, As you see, I am handling different villas and flats in different location, and one of my problems which I often encounter is the burning of chocks ( which is a real fire hazzard)..
mostly I have noticed that though the chocks have been severely burnt, they do not trip the MCB.. and if i am not mistaken,, chocks should trip the CB before it come to a point of burning right?

Regards..

No as unless the metal part of the chock is touching or tracking to earth then the MCB will not trip

 

[megawats]

Thanks Ian, but what do you suggest then? How can I protect the houses from not burning because of these chocks? If I use ELCB's or RCD's would that help to minimize if not to eliminate the problem? or any good brand of light fittings with chocks you could refer? ( IP54 rating)

 

[mad frankie]

are the chocks big enough or if its from the heat generated by the light fittings change the chocks to porcelain.
the term elcbs isnt used any more. rcd is a generic term which covers both rccb and rcbo the later having overload protection also.

 

[megawats]

are the chocks big enough or if its from the heat generated by the light fittings change the chocks to porcelain.
the term elcbs isnt used any more. rcd is a generic term which covers both rccb and rcbo the later having overload protection also.

Hi mad frankie, the chocks are rated enough for the tubelights,(36W and 18w), and I have also a burnt chock maybe 10nos- HPS (1000w) for outdoor tennis court lightings, but all lead to the same scenario that they were not able to trip their MCB's, even when they are already flaming high,..

 

[SirKit Breaker]

I assume you mean connector block (choc block), the white stuff with copper through connections? If so replace with Wago or Helacon connectors. The burning is due to high temp caused by high resistance bad connections, and as previously posted this will not cause the mcb to trip unless they melt and allow the connections to come together and short circuit.

 

[mad frankie]

I assume you mean connector block (choc block), the white stuff with copper through connections? If so replace with Wago or Helacon connectors. The burning is due to high temp caused by high resistance bad connections, and as previously posted this will not cause the mcb to trip unless they melt and allow the connections to come together and short circuit.

porcelain are more fire resistant than wago or helacon they are used in high tempretuare light fittings and cannot melt

 

[Guest123]

Does sound like poor connections to me.

Try swapping them out for helacons, if the problem still persists then try porcelain connectors.

 

[mogga]

mmm just for clarrification from the OP do you mean CHOKEs?? as in discharge lighting , fluorescent lighting or CHOCKS as in slang for connector blocks in fittings??

 

[megawats]

Hi guys,, tnx for all your replies...
I have noticed though, that during the summer time, when humidity is par to high that most of the chocs (ballast) burn.
I was also thinking that moisture (from humidity) caused such problems, that's why i replaced all of my outdoor chocks to encapsulated
Philips BHL 1000 (which from then on I have not experienced that burning to the encapsulated).
but to the light fittings with low wattage chocs(36w, 18w) which were installed in the flats, I do not know what to do to protect the flats, in case these chocs will burn, because the MCB are not tripping, though the light fittings are already flaming high..

 

[megawats]

mmm just for clarrification from the OP do you mean CHOKEs?? as in discharge lighting , fluorescent lighting or CHOCKS as in slang for connector blocks in fittings??

Hi Mogga- yes ..Chokes (ballast) for discharge lighting..
and sorry for all the guys that was mislead ( wrong spelling) I dont intead to..

 

[ian.settle1]

Hi Mogga- yes ..Chokes (ballast) for discharge lighting..
and sorry for all the guys that was mislead ( wrong spelling) I dont intead to..

You vil be taken out at dawn and shot

 

[Marvo]

The cheaper ballasts (I hope you don't mind if I call them ballasts) can overheat and even burn when lamp failure occurs. The better quality ballasts have extra circuitry to shut them off when the tubes reach their end of life and don't strike cleanly. Constantly flashing tubes cause ballasts to overheat.