One of my circuit breakers is tripping out the mains electrics.

nitkn

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My hookup was working fine until suddenly it wasn't! There are three circuit breakers, and I narrowed it down to the one that supplies the fridge and the battery charger. However it still trips out the electrics even when these are both turned off. When this circuit breaker is turned off the rest of the system works fine.

I'm wondering if the circuit breaker itself could be faulty? Or any other ideas for solving it!
 
nitkn said:
My hookup was working fine until suddenly it wasn't! There are three circuit breakers, and I narrowed it down to the one that supplies the fridge and the battery charger. However it still trips out the electrics even when these are both turned off. When this circuit breaker is turned off the rest of the system works fine.

I'm wondering if the circuit breaker itself could be faulty? Or any other ideas for solving it!
Click to expand...
Swap it for another to test.
 
From what you've said either the fridge or the battery charger is faulty.
If you turn the faulty circuit breaker on it is probably the charger and if you turn it on after a while there's a good possibility it's the fridge.
They both need checking with a multi meter to check for short circuits or connection with the earth.
 
Lee said:
From what you've said either the fridge or the battery charger is faulty.
If you turn the faulty circuit breaker on it is probably the charger and if you turn it on after a while there's a good possibility it's the fridge.
They both need checking with a multi meter to check for short circuits or connection with the earth.
Click to expand...
He just said it still trips when both are turned of, hence maybe the trip may be faulty, stick a new one in or swap one of the others in its place to test.
Make sure you disconnect th 2 thought to be units as it could be a faulty switch within them.
 
trevskoda said:
He just said it still trips when both are turned of, hence maybe the trip may be faulty, stick a new one in or swap one of the others in its place to test.
Click to expand...
Turning off isn't sufficient. The devices need to be disconnected physically to be sure.

Breakers can for sure fail, but the testing done so far is not conclusive.

trevskoda said:
Make sure you disconnect th 2 thought to be units as it could be a faulty switch within them.
Click to expand...
indeed so
 
Lee said:
From what you've said either the fridge or the battery charger is faulty.
Click to expand...

I disagree, OP says it still trips when both are switched off.
nitkn said:
However it still trips out the electrics even when these are both turned off.
Click to expand...

Which, to my mind, indicates that the problem is between (and inclusive of) and the breaker and the on/off switch on a device.
i.e. the breaker,
the cable from the PDU to the battery charger socket / the battery charger socket / the battery charger plug/ the cable from the battery charger socket to the battery charger / internal wring in the charger
as above for the fridge.

For me the first step in problem solving is to apply Kepnerr Trego logic and ask your self "As anything changed since there was no problem"
If so concentrate on this.

Next step is to ask yourself "Are there any easy cheap meaningful checks I can do, to eliminate probable causes?"
In your case, swap the breaker, because this is most likely cause of the problem; is relatively easy to and involves no expense.

Now it is a case of divide and conquer! (To give it the posh name this is "binary chop" trouble shooting, you keep reducing the possibilities and eventually identify the fault).

The easiest way to divide your problem is to decide if the problem is before of after the device plugs.
Un plug both devices from their sockets and see if things still trip.

Continue dividing the possibilities.

Good Luck
 
Just swap 2 of the existing breakers over, if the fault follows the breaker then the breaker is at fault and needs replacing. If it doesn't then the issue is somewhere else.
Next thing would be to separate the wiring to fridge and charger and remove/reintroduce them individually, this will narrow down the search further still.
 
r4dent said:
I disagree, OP says it still trips when both are switched off.


Which, to my mind, indicates that the problem is between (and inclusive of) and the breaker and the on/off switch on a device.
i.e. the breaker,
the cable from the PDU to the battery charger socket / the battery charger socket / the battery charger plug/ the cable from the battery charger socket to the battery charger / internal wring in the charger
as above for the fridge.

For me the first step in problem solving is to apply Kepnerr Trego logic and ask your self "As anything changed since there was no problem"
If so concentrate on this.

Next step is to ask yourself "Are there any easy cheap meaningful checks I can do, to eliminate probable causes?"
In your case, swap the breaker, because this is most likely cause of the problem; is relatively easy to and involves no expense.

Now it is a case of divide and conquer! (To give it the posh name this is "binary chop" trouble shooting, you keep reducing the possibilities and eventually identify the fault).

The easiest way to divide your problem is to decide if the problem is before of after the device plugs.
Un plug both devices from their sockets and see if things still trip.

Continue dividing the possibilities.

Good Luck
Click to expand...
Or just use a test meter. :giggle:
 
r4dent said:
A little more detail about what and how you are testing would help.

No point checking continuity which tends to lead to non functioning rather than tripping.
Click to expand...
Overloads cause tripping. If 2 out of 3 are tripping, that would suggest a fault within the unit but the mains supply cable needs ruling out first. Easily traced with a meter. There is a very small chance that the motorhome wiring itself could be faulty after the unit.
 
maingate said:
Overloads cause tripping. If 2 out of 3 are tripping, that would suggest a fault within the unit but the mains supply cable needs ruling out first. Easily traced with a meter. There is a very small chance that the motorhome wiring itself could be faulty after the unit.
Click to expand...

High current is the root cause of overloads. In turn high current can be caused by too many devices in parallel or by a single low resistance device (the ultimate example being a short circuit -i.e. zero resistance)

I'm not sure what you mean by "If 2 out of 3 are tripping, that would suggest a fault within the unit" but the OP reports that 1 breaker is tripping whilst the others are functioning correctly which indicates that all is OK up to and including the 230v going into the PDU.

I agree that a fault in the circuit proving power to the sockets is unlikely.
The sockets themselves and every thing thereafter are possible causes.
I suggested that the OP unplugs the fridge and battery charger to evaluate the circuit and sockets.,
 
r4dent said:
High current is the root cause of overloads. In turn high current can be caused by too many devices in parallel or by a single low resistance device (the ultimate example being a short circuit -i.e. zero resistance)

I'm not sure what you mean by "If 2 out of 3 are tripping, that would suggest a fault within the unit" but the OP reports that 1 breaker is tripping whilst the others are functioning correctly which indicates that all is OK up to and including the 230v going into the PDU.

I agree that a fault in the circuit proving power to the sockets is unlikely.
The sockets themselves and every thing thereafter are possible causes.
I suggested that the OP unplugs the fridge and battery charger to evaluate the circuit and sockets.,
Click to expand...
I never discuss hypothetical situations. It was my job to solve and correct electrical problems on equipment and I never ceased to be surprised at the weird and wonderful faults I encountered. Therefore I am out. :giggle:
 
maingate said:
I never discuss hypothetical situations. It was my job to solve and correct electrical problems on equipment and I never ceased to be surprised at the weird and wonderful faults I encountered. Therefore I am out. :giggle:
Click to expand...
I never like diagnosing faults online, esp, electrical faults, it's bad enough sometimes face to face.
 
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