lights going off

[timje_2000]

hi,

first off id like to say im not electrically minded, so some terms i use may be wrong, so i apologies for that.

we have our lights (about 7 in total) through the house on one fuse, on the main board in the cellar. About 2 weeks ago we were sat watching TV when all the lights in the house went out. We flipped the fuse back on and noticed one of our dimmer light bulbs had blown, so we replaced it. Then the next day the blew again, flipped it back up and noticed no bulbs had blown this time. They then tripped more frequently, sometimes after couple of mins sometimes after hours. Eventually we took all the light fittings down, made sure they were all tight, and took all the light switches off and did the same. Now when we switch the fuse up, it takes abour 2 mins for it to trip out. We have replaced the fuse, which is a 6amp, and still does the same.

Is there anything else that I can check before getting an electrician in?

thanks for replies in advance.

tim

 

[timje_2000]

just like to add, its not a fuse, its a miniture circuit breaker, after a little looking around.

 

[il78]

Have you by any chance been doing any DIY (ie, hanging pictures, lifting floorboards etc) or any water ingress / damp spots......

You said that you have checked all connections to the light fittings and switches does this include the terminations within your fuseboard..

Does the MCB still trip out when all the light switches are in the off position?

 

[timje_2000]

no diy

checked only light fittings and switches, dont know anything about the terminations.

yes, all lights are off still trips.

 

[Big_Spark]

It could be the dimmer switch on the light that first poped causing the MCB to trip initially.

I have seen cheap ones, especially the electronic type, develope faults when a cheap lamp blows.

A Good quality lamp has glass fuses built into the base part of the bulb, these are designed to limit current flow when the lamp is on it's way out, thus preventing a fuse or NCB from operating and taking out all the lights. Cheaper lamps, like Mazda and their ilke, do not have this feature, consequently they can cause the fuse/MCB to operate.

However, on electronic dimmers, this ramping of the current just prior to the bulb blowing can cause the electronics to fail too, when that happens I have seen two effects, Earth leakage sufficient to operate protective devices or the dimmer simply won't operate as designed.

 

[timje_2000]

i did try removing the dimmer switch, leaving it off, switch lights back on and see if they still tripped. I think they did.

 

[securespark]

Credit the poor guy to his invention, FWL.....Ballotini!

My OSRAM hat gets doffed again....they are double fused, but the downside is a lot of them are made in France........

 

[Big_Spark]

Credit the poor guy to his invention, FWL.....Ballotini!

My OSRAM hat gets doffed again....they are double fused, but the downside is a lot of them are made in France........

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