Fault - the smell is like an old "cap" gun

[Octopus]

Ok - this is going to sound odd but a good customer of mine has a fault on a lighting circuit - the odd thing is that the smell was like the "cap" guns from my early days!

Any suggestions of what might make that smell (assuming you remember it too)

I've given them a quick temporary fix for tonight so they don't have use of 3 sets of lights .......... and will be going back tomorrow when its light and I have more time

Thanks

 

[ruston]

Ozone caused by arcing.

 

[chris gray]

I would guess at a loose connection

 

[westward10]

Maybe they have been firing a cap gun.

 

[Octopus]

Maybe they have been firing a cap gun.

I would have thought that a "staff member" would be better than that.

 

[ruston]

I got chucked out of the pictures for firing one when I was a lad.
It was a lone star Lone Ranger look alike.

 

[ipf]

Don't forget to take your water pistol with you when you go back

 

[ruston]

And a mask if it is strong.

 

[ipf]

And a mask if it is strong.

Why? Tonto never had one.

 

[KEV 1 N]

Is this one of those “shot in the dark” faults or is it gonna be easy to fix like “shooting fish in a barrel” but don’t “jump the gun” or you might end up “shooting yourself in the foot”

Can’t think of any more gun puns!!

 

[ruston]

Why? Tonto never had one.

It was him that made all the smells. That is why he was always behind Kemosabe.

 

[GMES]

What about a burnt out transformer somewhere, just thinking of the smell of melted plastic.

 

[ruston]

Could be , or Bakelite. Depends how old the gear is .

 

[Octopus]

There is some MICC on this circuit ...........

 

[westward10]

Sounds like it could be some old electrical insulating varnish, any old floris on site.

 

[Dave OCD]

I was just going to suggest an old choke/ballast overheating.
Knackered old lampholders tend to smell 'fishy' rather than the old cap gun smell.

 

[PEG]

Sulphurous and fulminate type odours,can also come from baking insects and beetles,in,say a light fitting...

I went to give an opinion on a particularly poor new CU fitment,last week...the fitter is allegedly a scheme member...all i could smell was fear...

 

[stevethesparks]

After viewing several posters in different threads, I think we need a "miserable git" button.

 

[PEG]

After viewing several posters in different threads, I think we need a "miserable git" button.

...Which ironically,is what my missus calls my parts...

 

[buzzlightyear]

Could be old VIr cable .just thinking about that .the smell i took the grankds to watch the big giants in tels neck of the woods and can you imagine the crowds there.where some s&&t desided to have S&&t inthe crowed and woman in front of us had walk in it and the smell .
the woman in front did not where to look .trying to get it off like trying to get snow off her boots .

 

[marconi]

A thought - look for signs of green verdigris on bare copper sheathed MICC caused by dampness and made worse by the combination of damp and lime cement. The outer copper sheath may have split/have holes in it leading to the magnesium oxide absorbing moisture - and then the occurrence of some 'low level' arcing and tracking when the cable is energised. The same thing can sometimes happen if bare copper MICC is in contact with damp wood - most wood is naturally acidic.

 

[Spoon]

After viewing several posters in different threads, I think we need a "miserable git" button.

Noooooo... Not a good idea. I'd get that all the time...

 

[Squid]

...Which ironically,is what my missus calls my parts...

We don't need to now about your sex life on here, cheers........

 

[Squid]

Leave it a month then do a quote for a full rewire once the house burns down.........

 

[Octopus]

Thanks for the varied and interesting off topic responses ..

This was the culprit!

 

[marconi]

Nice to get some closure on a problem and it reported back to the EF. How did you find it and do you know what was wrong with the lamp?

 

[Octopus]

Nice to get some closure on a problem and it reported back to the EF. How did you find it and do you know what was wrong with the lamp?

To locate it I used my basic fault finding skills - and in the daylight, one of the tracking light holders had a a "different" smell anddark mark around the inside ... so I started to look at the GU10 LED's more closely which I had removed - and smelling them too!

All I can say is that the GU10 LED doesn't work any more ...

An interesting fault to locate and learn from .........

 

[Rpa07]

The new fault finding method of ‘scratch and sniff’ - nice catch Murdoch!

 

[multimick]

had exactly the same thing in my office 2 megaman modo gu10's blew within an hour of each other ,same smell

 

[electric al]

what about the cap gun ?

 

[Darkwood]

The cap gun smell, pardon my age is common to the older gen' it is often associated with overheated contactors made from bakelite but we of course have moved on from this to plastics but the actual smell can be caused by carbonisation caused by arcing and tracking and can effect different materials yet smell the same, plastics don't give the same smell but electronic components can still give that familiar smell when they commit suicide.
There are a many examples to give out such a smell and many are common ones and I suspect an electronic component failed.

The fishy smell was mentioned and that is usually associated with the insulation coating on windings of motors, chokes, transformers etc if they overheat, it also common to see white smoke on these failures if you are there to witness them, this is a routine question I ask if an operator of a machine if they see smoke and says they could smell it.

 

[a-z electrics]

Is the light switch a trigger? That would be a clue

 

[Squid]

For the slow ones on here the issue has been resolved, I can imagine the emergency call outs "we'll be there in two weeks" oooh argh oooh argh as my cow is birthing.......... ;o))))) (wifey nickname) ;o)))))

 

[a-z electrics]

Yes actually the cap smell could ironically be to do with exploding capacitors too.. I now recall in my electronic industry days. The big ones don't half go with a bang too!

 

[suffolkspark]

Have you still got the gu10? Be good to have a photo of its giblets

 

[Octopus]

Have you still got the gu10? Be good to have a photo of its giblets

Sorry no .... left it with the client

 

[suffolkspark]

Sad times