G

GBDamo

What's your record, today i found five, yes five, lighting circuits in one MCB. Can I have a winner?

-*-

Emergency call, lights are out accross the practice.

Eleven rooms/areas, twenty seven strip lights.

Eight hours later, two fittings changed. One fitting was the fault the other would have been next months.

"Eight hours to find a faulty fitting" I hear you deride.

Well the thiñg is the five circuits had been rewired by an alarm company and in their wisdom they omitted any switches having all five switched via a one gang key switch at the front door. I could describe the lash up but trust me it was laughable.

The CU was like a lasses suitcase with wires bursting out at the seams.

The lives had been chocked up behing the mass of spaghetti, the earths and neutrals were all over the place, so it took me nearly two hours just to pull all the circuits out in order to test.

IR LN-E showed nothing of significance so...
RCD tested fine, then....

...One at a time they went back in the MCB until ping, faulty circuit found and only seven lights on it, the most of all the circuits.

Then onto disconnecting them one at a time,

First fitting = all good.

Second fitting = burnt out terminals on the ballast, bingo, but no supprisingly fault still pressent.

Third to sixth = all good.

Seventh = visually not too bad but faulty.

Went to the wholesalers and got two new fittings and fitted them.

This is by far the longest it's took me to chase down a dodgy fitting.

Anyone think they'd have done it quicker? If so how?
 
What's your record, today i found five, yes five, lighting circuits in one MCB
and all went back one by one ,good for you ,no fairy lights has well .
 
and all went back one by one ,good for you ,no fairy lights has well .
For now yes, they know what a pain it is as they are on an up front RCD that takes other critical kit out.

Have quoted to migrate them to a new board, see it they pony up or get the alarm monkets back in to put it right.
 
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Sounds like a good job to quote to sort out and then change for led fittings with room occupancy sensors. They'd feel like they were living in the 21st century.
 
I’m not going to say I could’ve done it quicker. Ha, I might still be there :) .
My method when presented with a spaghetti CU is to power off the installation and lift the rail and breakers out. Hopefully you’d have those 5 circuits teased out a bit quicker and safer.
 
What's your record, today i found five, yes five, lighting circuits in one MCB. Can I have a winner?

-*-

Emergency call, lights are out accross the practice.

Eleven rooms/areas, twenty seven strip lights.

Eight hours later, two fittings changed. One fitting was the fault the other would have been next months.

"Eight hours to find a faulty fitting" I hear you deride.

Well the thiñg is the five circuits had been rewired by an alarm company and in their wisdom they omitted any switches having all five switched via a one gang key switch at the front door. I could describe the lash up but trust me it was laughable.

The CU was like a lasses suitcase with wires bursting out at the seams.

The lives had been chocked up behing the mass of spaghetti, the earths and neutrals were all over the place, so it took me nearly two hours just to pull all the circuits out in order to test.

IR LN-E showed nothing of significance so...
RCD tested fine, then....

...One at a time they went back in the MCB until ping, faulty circuit found and only seven lights on it, the most of all the circuits.

Then onto disconnecting them one at a time,

First fitting = all good.

Second fitting = burnt out terminals on the ballast, bingo, but no supprisingly fault still pressent.

Third to sixth = all good.

Seventh = visually not too bad but faulty.

Went to the wholesalers and got two new fittings and fitted them.

This is by far the longest it's took me to chase down a dodgy fitting.

Anyone think they'd have done it quicker? If so how?
Do you mean 5 legs in one OCPD? that equates to 2 circuit, the same a RFC on a 32 AOCPD with a spur from the OCPD that's not 2 circuits that's just 1 same thing really, still only 1 circuit.
 
Do you mean 5 legs in one OCPD? that equates to 2 circuit, the same a RFC on a 32 AOCPD with a spur from the OCPD that's not 2 circuits that's just 1 same thing really, still only 1 circuit.
first line should read 1 circuit not 2, my bad
 
Do you mean 5 legs in one OCPD? that equates to 2 circuit, the same a RFC on a 32 AOCPD with a spur from the OCPD that's not 2 circuits that's just 1 same thing really, still only 1 circuit.
Well ok pedant, but not he best way of arranging a circuit.
 
What do you mean, pedant? I right aint I
?
Technically yes, as always.

Its just this five legged circuit with twenty seven lights mostly 5ft twins originated as five circuits, all now crammed into one C10.
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I’m not going to say I could’ve done it quicker. Ha, I might still be there :) .
My method when presented with a spaghetti CU is to power off the installation and lift the rail and breakers out. Hopefully you’d have those 5 circuits teased out a bit quicker and safer.
Never thought of lifting the rail out, certainly helps to untangle without having to mark everything up.

I'll give it a bash when I next get the chance.
 
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I always think that Wilko is one of our admired, measured contributors with depths yet to be sounded.
 

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