November 5, 20205 yr I intermittently experience earth leakage tripping after heavy rains. Last night the lights were flickering (on mains) and I went to check what the problem could be. After a few seconds the earth leakage tripped. I noticed something I think is strange, but maybe it is normal. The live wire comes out of the main trip switch, goes to the digital meter, comes out of the meter and goes to the earth leakage (entering on top) from the bottom of the earth leakage it goes to the last three trip switches for plugs. The funny thing I see is that from the input of the earth leakage on top there is a copper busbar bridging over to the other trip switches, but not going through the earth leakage at all. Would this not override the earth leakage protection of the first five trip switches? Is this normal, or could this be causing the tripping problem?
November 5, 20205 yr Make sure that both the live and the neutral are fed through the earth leakage. On the downstream side the live and neutral wires are only supplying the loads designated. These cannot be connected to any other live or neutral circuits!
November 5, 20205 yr Author 1 hour ago, Richard Mackay said: Make sure that both the live and the neutral are fed through the earth leakage. They are both. 1 hour ago, Richard Mackay said: These cannot be connected to any other live or neutral circuits! They are not. 1 hour ago, Vassen said: It is normal to have some circuits protected and others not This sounds strange, but it answers my question. 1 hour ago, Vassen said: In your case it’s either something connected to the last 3 circuits that are faulty or it’s the earth leakage itself. Last night I rocked the trip switches individual to check if they were mounted and sturdy then I heard what sounded like a sparking noise coming from either the main trip switch or the earth leakage. I suspect the earth leakage as it has been the one tripping. Thank you Vassen and Richard for your assistance. 🙏🏻 I think I must change the earth leakage and give it a few days.
November 5, 20205 yr Trial and error is the way to check these devices.. (You can't measure the leakage currents that trip these devices!)
November 6, 20205 yr 17 hours ago, Vassen said: It means that the first 5 circuits do not have protection. It is normal to have some circuits protected and others not. I’m not really sure which the regulation says should be protected. Lighting circuits do not require EL protection but plug points do. Another thing to bear in mind is that a neutral to ground fault can trip these devices as can live to ground. The switches on plug points only switch the live (not the neutral). So if you suspect something that's plugged into a plug point unplug the device!
November 6, 20205 yr 17 hours ago, Solaris said: Last night I rocked the trip switches individual to check if they were mounted and sturdy then I heard what sounded like a sparking noise coming from either the main trip switch or the earth leakage. I suspect the earth leakage as it has been the one tripping. Looking at that black wire going into the top of that main switch, (nr2 written on it) it looks like the black wire has signs of heat damage, unless it’s just shades that I see, but just inspect that wire a bit closer for signs of damage. I doubt that would trip the earth leakage but it could explain the crackling sound you hear.
November 6, 20205 yr Author 4 minutes ago, Gerrie said: it looks like the black wire has signs of heat damage I notice that the wire in question is a twisted cable. I’m not sure if this is normal/legal. This is the main feed coming into the house from Eksdom. I will check it to be sure.
November 6, 20205 yr Author 59 minutes ago, Richard Mackay said: Lighting circuits do not require EL protection but plug points do I can tell you that the first five trip switches that do not have EL include: Some lights, some plugs and geyser. The last three trip switches that are going through the EL first are: some other plugs and some lights mainly in the garage. During the rainy season of last year I had the same problem of earth leakage tripping randomly. I got a sparkie out to check and he could not find the problem. He added that something is Seriously wrong with the wiring, but he did not elaborate. It seems to happen every time there is a heavy rain.
November 6, 20205 yr Author 3 hours ago, Vassen said: The some plugs is an issue. I thought so. I would also think the geyser not having EL would be an issue, but I am not a sparkie. I’m going to call a professional in. Thank you to everyone who replied. 👍
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.