S
sparks monkey
Hi people
Maybe somone can give me some pointers, Generally with faults i'm pretty good but this one has got me stumped!
I was working in an old house that the owner required some modernising, so we did a kitchen and moved and added few lights and switches around as you do. The board was an old 16th wylex type with enough ways to slip in a new rcd unit. I tested the non rcd side and found a short live to earth 57M/ohms (the MCB was holding in), so i went to the van and swaped testers and tried my back up set, same result. I tracked it down to a radial lighting circuit serving 2 downstairs rooms and the upstairs. So i set about looking into checking the customer fitted fancy light fitting, not pretty and amongst the faults in them none of which were down L-E, i ended up at the end of the radial (typically) to the GU10 down lights we fitted. I then disconected the main feed to them, tested and the fault was there, i then disconnected the junction box and tested each cable and found the fault was on the downlighters side, i then disconected the middle downlight tested, the fault was on the both lives and both earths!!, so i disconnected all downlights, tested all cables and the fault had mysterously vanished! I checked all cable entries from factory connections to the main bodies for chaffing, everything was sound, I checked all the cable clamps for signs of a pressure fault, again nothing apparent, so i connected everything back up and its back!! I tested the earth for power and was getting about 0.02A (on an uncaliberated amp meter), MCB stays in everything works fine but its not right,
any ideas?
Maybe somone can give me some pointers, Generally with faults i'm pretty good but this one has got me stumped!
I was working in an old house that the owner required some modernising, so we did a kitchen and moved and added few lights and switches around as you do. The board was an old 16th wylex type with enough ways to slip in a new rcd unit. I tested the non rcd side and found a short live to earth 57M/ohms (the MCB was holding in), so i went to the van and swaped testers and tried my back up set, same result. I tracked it down to a radial lighting circuit serving 2 downstairs rooms and the upstairs. So i set about looking into checking the customer fitted fancy light fitting, not pretty and amongst the faults in them none of which were down L-E, i ended up at the end of the radial (typically) to the GU10 down lights we fitted. I then disconected the main feed to them, tested and the fault was there, i then disconnected the junction box and tested each cable and found the fault was on the downlighters side, i then disconected the middle downlight tested, the fault was on the both lives and both earths!!, so i disconnected all downlights, tested all cables and the fault had mysterously vanished! I checked all cable entries from factory connections to the main bodies for chaffing, everything was sound, I checked all the cable clamps for signs of a pressure fault, again nothing apparent, so i connected everything back up and its back!! I tested the earth for power and was getting about 0.02A (on an uncaliberated amp meter), MCB stays in everything works fine but its not right,
any ideas?
