Guest rafal Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 Just installed my DSC 832 and I have very strange electric problem. The panel is connected to its own 6A mcb in the non RCD section of the split load /one section with an isolator switch, other with an RCD/ consumer unit. As soon the mcb is switched on the RCD section trips out!!!! So far I have found the following: - works ok with the RCD section off - it trips with the 832 transformer connected /panel disconnected/ - it trips with the earth wire disconnected - tried different wire from the CU to the transformer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 If you look in the consumer unit you'll see there are 2 neutral bars. You've connected the neutral of the alarm supply to the wrong bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rafal Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 If you look in the consumer unit you'll see there are 2 neutral bars. You've connected the neutral of the alarm supply to the wrong bar. 35222[/snapback] Whoohaaa, result! It is bloody working! Thank you, thank you, and thank you!!!! You have just saved my sanity. I feel a bit like a plonker. But if you do not know, you do not know. After all I am an electronics engineer not an electrician. But have no fear, I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 No probs, I've seen people do this many times over the years! I once worked with a firm that had this subby on a job who changed a consumer unit and did this. By the time he'd finished he'd condemned half the appliances in the house and even meggered a couple of lightbulbs for earth faults before someone else pointed out the fault in the CU! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb-eye Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 No probs, I've seen people do this many times over the years35250[/snapback] Lurch you can fix mine now (that was easy). I have a TT system with an RCD MCB DB The intermittent tripping is a pain in the but. ive used insulation tester, issolated load the lot i recken som ferkin mouse is lickin the cable when im not there. Its been behavin itself for about a month and went again so shove it out with the RCD stuff the regs i want a constant supply.Jef Customers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 22, 2004 Share Posted December 22, 2004 Tricky one, hard to do a lot from here! I'm a bit pushed for tiime at the mo but I'll try and give a more useful response later. For a start, are any of the circuits looking dodgy from the results oif the megger? If everything is on one RCD you could alter the DB so only certain circuits are on a 30mA RCD and the rest, such as lighting and non socket circuits etc.. are on a time delayed 100mA RCD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rafal Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 No probs, I've seen people do this many times over the years! I once worked with a firm that had this subby on a job who changed a consumer unit and did this. By the time he'd finished he'd condemned half the appliances in the house and even meggered a couple of lightbulbs for earth faults before someone else pointed out the fault in the CU! 35250[/snapback] Sometimes it is unbelievable what people can get away with and still call themselves professional. People running around with a neon tester insisting that the spur is ok when the neutral is burned out. A senior Debenhams electrician moved a 3phase socket and rewired lewden plug trying to much the colours of the flex cable and the solid core cable in the socket /blue to blue!/ Lucky I check it before connecting 15k worth of equipment. I made him a little explanation drawing. He got very upset with me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateurandy Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Interesting comments on electricians skills being made here. We had a faulty dishwasher that the engineers came back to many, many times. In the end we discovered that it had been built using a batch of faulty actuators (not sure what you call them, they're wax-filled and electrically heated to move valves) so different bits of it kept failing and shorting. After a few visits and at least 5 replaced controllers one guy decided our house wiring was faulty and stuck a "unsafe do not use" label on the socket. He had "tested" it with some small device and said the earth impedance was too high. Quite how this would blow a dishwasher is beyond me; if it's working properly it won't touch the earth. I hired a big tester myself and everything in the whole house was fine. The particular socket is right next to the consumer unit and earth point so got the best readings. So we contacted the electicity board who came out, checked it all and said the earth was fine. They pointed out that as we have overhead supply the Neutral is actually earthed as well - at every other pole on the route they said. Their comments about the dishwasher engineer were unrepeatable. Of course this was an appliance engineer, not an electrician. The real professionals got it right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 After a few visits and at least 5 replaced controllers one guy decided our house wiring was faulty and stuck a "unsafe do not use" label on the socket. He had "tested" it with some small device and said the earth impedance was too high. 35363[/snapback] AKA 'clutching at straws'! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IM_Alarms Posted December 23, 2004 Share Posted December 23, 2004 Shall we just call him an Appliance repair man, rather than engineer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Sparking_mad Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 Lurch you can fix mine now (that was easy). I have a TT system with an RCD MCB DB The intermittent tripping is a pain in the but. ive used insulation tester, issolated load the lot i recken som ferkin mouse is lickin the cable when im not there. Its been behavin itself for about a month and went again so shove it out with the RCD stuff the regs i want a constant supply.Jef 35264[/snapback] Is your property a thatched cottage or similar? If not is your C/U a split load board, has the cooker panel got a skt outlet on it, have you got a garage or other similar outbuilding which is outside the equipotential zone of the home ie is it seperated from the house. The reason will become apparent and its not because i'm nosey. I recently got a call to a rural cottage and found the voltage trip inoperative and replaced it with a 30mA rcd and promptly tripped so put in 100mA one instead but to no avail and now am going down the route of putting individual RCBO'S on all circuits supply skt outlets and 1st floor lighting points (dont like lights on rcds) for obvious reasons because of thatch and fires. On a TT system your earthing comes from the rod what was your Earth Loop Impedance reading in an ideal world should be less than 200Ohms but with rcd you can get away with 1666Ohms. How old is the installation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jb-eye Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 Is your property a thatched cottage or similar?If not is your C/U a split load board, has the cooker panel got a skt outlet on it, have you got a garage or other similar outbuilding which is outside the equipotential zone of the home ie is it seperated from the house. The reason will become apparent and its not because i'm nosey. I recently got a call to a rural cottage and found the voltage trip inoperative and replaced it with a 30mA rcd and promptly tripped so put in 100mA one instead but to no avail and now am going down the route of putting individual RCBO'S on all circuits supply skt outlets and 1st floor lighting points (dont like lights on rcds) for obvious reasons because of thatch and fires. On a TT system your earthing comes from the rod what was your Earth Loop Impedance reading in an ideal world should be less than 200Ohms but with rcd you can get away with 1666Ohms. How old is the installation. 54472[/snapback] Looked at all of the above. I completely rewired the place two years ago. I have tested, tested, and tested again and cant find a fault. The problem with intermitent tripping is one trip about every 8 weeks. the problem is no one else is at the property when this happens. Ive tried issolating the usual suspects (both poles of each circuit a curcuit at a time) and still it goes. Its fixed now i just through th RCD away.Jef Customers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nova-Security Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 Looked at all of the above. I completely rewired the place two years ago. I have tested, tested, and tested again and cant find a fault. The problem with intermitent tripping is one trip about every 8 weeks. the problem is no one else is at the property when this happens. Ive tried issolating the usual suspects (both poles of each circuit a curcuit at a time) and still it goes. Its fixed now i just through th RCD away.Jef 54493[/snapback] Why have you thrown it away, could you not have linked it our with a rusty 4" nail just so you dont have a hole in the front of your DB ? www.nova-security.co.uk www.nsiapproved.co.uk No PMs please unless i know you or you are using this board with your proper name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateurandy Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 On a TT system your earthing comes from the rod what was your Earth Loop Impedance reading in an ideal world should be less than 200Ohms but with rcd you can get away with 1666Ohms. How old is the installation. 54472[/snapback] I know I'm diverting from the original subject, but is there a "standard" written down anywhere for ELI? I ask because an appliance engineer said ours was too high and "probably" the cause of the fault he was fixing (no, I didn't believe him either). I think it was about 30 ohms via a rusty rod at the time. Anyway Southern Electric came and checked it, and as we're on overhead cables changed it around. They have earthing rods on every other pole apparently and linked it to those. It's now 0.15 ohm! Beat that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 30 ohms is low, 300 ohms is high. I've also seen much lower than 0.15 ohms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest IM_Alarms Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 Hmm try working at a power station if you want low readings........ 0.01/ 24kA+ meter doesn't go any lower/higher! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 If you look in the consumer unit you'll see there are 2 neutral bars. You've connected the neutral of the alarm supply to the wrong bar. 35222[/snapback] who says sparkys make the best alarm engineers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 24, 2005 Share Posted May 24, 2005 re-appliance engineers,once had a fault with a new washer a relative bought kept tripping the rcd,called out (wont name names) blamed it on the spur supplying the washer,i was there when he turned up..' look he says the washer is live' with one lead on the live and the other the washer casing after much laughing and holding groin area to stop urine leaking,he promtly left in shame....last seen rocking back and forth in a chair mumbling the words gaz and B******d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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