Why does my DIY extension lead trip the circuit breaker?

[Tiga]

Yes, (hangs head in shame) that is what I did, N and E reversed. I'd rather just move on now and never speak of this again as I'm feeling rather embarassed and foolish about the whole thing! As soon as I turned the socket round and looked at it the' 'right' way up I could see the problem...doh! I'll probably just buy one next time.

 

[EddieM]

Yes, (hangs head in shame) that is what I did, N and E reversed. I'd rather just move on now and never speak of this again as I'm feeling rather embarassed and foolish about the whole thing! As soon as I turned the socket round and looked at it the' 'right' way up I could see the problem...doh! I'll probably just buy one next time.

Ok, not sure how you managed that even having the plug upside down. But if you resolved it then no matter.

 

[SUNRAY]

Yes, (hangs head in shame) that is what I did, N and E reversed. I'd rather just move on now and never speak of this again as I'm feeling rather embarassed and foolish about the whole thing! As soon as I turned the socket round and looked at it the' 'right' way up I could see the problem...doh! I'll probably just buy one next time.

Thanks for the feedback.

If it's any consolation the 4 way sockets I used to wire on a regular basis had a removeable cover at the right end for the connexions and the terminals were L,E,N from top to bottom for years, I wired 2 units using that format, mounted them in a rack, plugged second into first and successfully PATested end to end. Sadly the format had changed to E,L,N so I'd flipped L & E. Luckily it tripped a RCD at first use. Yes I was reminded about it for a while but if I'd asked for a second opinion it would likely have been spotted, corrected by me and immediately faded into oblivion

 

[bernardgreen]

as I'm feeling rather embarassed and foolish about the whole thing!

We have all done some thing that made us feel like that. So you are not alone.

 

[EddieM]

Last thing and I'll leave it be. Probably everyone on here, regardless of their ability / complexity of work they have done will have made a mistake, human nature I'm afraid, however going forward never be tempted to do mains electrical work on a trial and error basis, that can be very dangerous.

 

[SUNRAY]

If you look at my pic again all 3 wires are in the wrong place, just as if the plug were turned 120 degrees then wired.
EDIT: If the plug had been turned the other way the earth pin of the socket would have been live

 

[Tiga]

Thanks all, you've been very kind about my obvious mistake. My extension is now wired correctly and working. I knew the problem was probably something simple....just didn't realise that the something simple was me!
I won't let it put me off a bit of DIY but, don't worry, I have a healthy respect for electricity (and gas). Oh, I forgot to mention that I also recently had to unplumb my macerator toilet, clean it, strip it down, replace the capacitor then rebuild and replumb it. What a hellish job that was.

 

[JohnW2]

I won't let it put me off a bit of DIY but, don't worry, I have a healthy respect for electricity (and gas). Oh, I forgot to mention that I also recently had to unplumb my macerator toilet, clean it, strip it down, replace the capacitor then rebuild and replumb it. What a hellish job that was.

Indeed - a task I have to undertake every year or two, but I have to say that I have found it not to be as dreadful a job as I had initially feared it might be (not the least because they are more 'simple' inside than I had expected)!

Kind Regards, John