Jumping to conclusions...

John Rumm · 2021-11-22T01:04:45+00:00

A fairly dull tale of electricity, and making assumptions!Following a heavy rain storm a few weeks back, one of my garden circuits was tripping its RCD. So I though I would work out what was going wrong and fix it.So there is a SWA that feeds a junction box, and that then connects to two pillar mounted lights (controlled by a separate PIR detector) and one socket close to where the cars are parked (handy for battery chargers etc, or when my mate with his leaf visits and needs a top up!)So I though, I would make a start at the job and disconnected the feed to the main junction box at the end of the SWA and then check if the RCD will reset. Yes it does. So the SWA is good.Aha I thought, I know what this will be. Previously one of the pillar lights was tripping the RCD because insects had managed to migrate lots of wet soil or other damp gunge into the small connection box hidden under the base of the lamp. So I fixed that one by ditching the box, putting in some wagos and cocooning them in self amalgamating tape, before tucking them back under the base of the lamp. So I unscrewed the other lamp from the top of the pillar, scooped out loads of damp soil, and opened its small connection box. It did not look too bad in there, however I gave it the same treatment.Nipped back to the JB and tested it with the insulation resistance tester, expecting a sensible result, and, less than 100k Ohms resistance (i.e. not good!) measuring between L&N joined (so as not to expose the PIR to 500V) to earth. So I disconnected the light I had just fixed, and that was no different. Disconnected the other lamp fixed last time. Also no better.That's odd since there is only the one socket remaining connected now, and that was literally 10" away on the other side of the wall with a cable running straight out of the back of the JB and into the back of the socket - so not much scope for that being damaged. So I looked at the socket, and it looked ok. However I disconnected it at its terminals,...

Nov 22, 2021 Last reply: 4 years ago 43 Replies

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williamwright 4 years ago

Yes, I think he's got a screw loose.

Bill

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Jim Jackson 4 years ago

Don't waste you breath Bill. There's a lot of people spout here that match the discription above.

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williamwright 4 years ago

Wise words!

Bill

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Fredxx 4 years ago

Very wise words indeed.

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