mcd tripping

bugsntinas

last night one of the mcd's took to tripping it serves the upstairs lights x3 and the outdoor lights,1 security,1 in garge and 1 socket.what would cause it to do so?this morning i checked all the wires outdoors and nothing is wrong.disconnected each wire in turn and it still tripped.came in doors to test lights and the result is.if i leave all 3 on they stay on for at least 5 mins,1 bedroom less than 1 min and the other 1 min and the bathroom with the energy bulb over 2 mins

maxfresh

i would say its a short circuit in one of the lampholders of the lights ,turn off all the lights on the circuit and switch on one at a time and see which one trips the mcb

Could be a dodgy MCB too. Had the same problem at home a few months back. Spent ages checking the wiring for the lighting and couldnt find any problems. Changed the MCB in the end and that solved it. The house is not even 5 years old which I thought was strange. It happens

bugsntinas

cheers for the replies.the funny,well not,thing is when the lights are turned on either all together or individually they don't trip it straight away.also when nothing is turned on it still trips after about 10 mins.

meercat

bugsntinas wrote: »

cheers for the replies.the funny,well not,thing is when the lights are turned on either all together or individually they don't trip it straight away.also when nothing is turned on it still trips after about 10 mins.

check the outside lights
are there any wires outside that are just taped up with insulation tape(sometimes water penetrates and wont instantly trip)

bugsntinas

will do

meercat

a socket should not be on with your lights either

what size (rating)trip activates
10 or 20 amp

bugsntinas

meercat wrote: »

a socket should not be on with your lights either

what size (rating)trip activates
10 or 20 amp

the socket was a diy job over a year ago.i have a light in the garage so i joined a cable to the feed.i've had no problems at all.the rating on the mcd is 10.we've been here for 5 years and this is the first time this one has tripped.

scubapro

Do you have something plugged into the socket?

meercat

bugsntinas wrote: »

the socket was a diy job over a year ago.i have a light in the garage so i joined a cable to the feed.i've had no problems at all.the rating on the mcd is 10.we've been here for 5 years and this is the first time this one has tripped.

probably not why this is tripping now but i would advise you to remove the socket from this circuit as the cable is likely to be too small and sockets should be protected by a rcd

the trip you have a problem with is most commonly called a mcb
(miniature circuit breaker)

bugsntinas

nothing plugged into the socket when it started tripping as i always either remove plug or switch off the circuit breaker(safety socket thingy)the cable is nice thick stuff which was used for electric fencing and also the outside security light.don't want to start forking out money but i'm probably gonna have to get a new mcd.

LostInLM

bugsntinas wrote: »

nothing plugged into the socket when it started tripping as i always either remove plug or switch off the circuit breaker(safety socket thingy)the cable is nice thick stuff which was used for electric fencing and also the outside security light.don't want to start forking out money but i'm probably gonna have to get a new mcd.

Out of curiosity can you upload a picture of this setup?

haulagebasher

Doesn't matter what cable is on the socket - the power is still coming to that thick cable through much lighter lighting wiring.
You could have overloaded the lighing wires and coused a short.

I'd strongly advise getting rid of this spur. You're not supposed to put a socket spur onto a lighting circuit.

And it's mcb and rcd