On Feb 23, 2:42*pm, Michael Dobony wrote:
On Wed, 23 Feb 2011 06:00:58 -0500, Nate Nagel wrote:
On 02/22/2011 11:33 PM, Michael Dobony wrote:
On Tue, 22 Feb 2011 16:30:51 -0600, Michael Dobony wrote:

On Mon, 21 Feb 2011 21:30:34 -0500, RBM wrote:

*wrote in message
m...
On Mon, 21 Feb 2011 15:53:22 -0800, *wrote:

On 2/21/2011 10:15, Ed Pawlowski wrote:

One way to find out is to change the wire from one breaker to another of
the same capacity. *If the swapped breaker still trips, it is the
breaker. *If the breaker the line was swapped to trips it, it is the
circuit.

Before swapping wires around you need to ensure that you don't overload
the neutral.

How?

If you don't understand the concept, get help.

Do tell.

In the event that this particular circuit is part of a multiwire branch
circuit, or Edison circuit, it will be sharing it's neutral with another
circuit breaker served by the other leg of the service. If the OP
unknowingly switches this circuit with a breaker that is not on a leg of the
same potential, he will have two circuits of the same potential sharing the
neutral, which can cause an overload to the neutral.

Not possible to swap phases on this ancient beast. All the circuits on one
side of the breaker box are on a single phase with the other side on
another phase.

I swapped out breakers from another unused box to check. So far, no tripped
breaker.

Well, it tripped tonight. I reset it and it is still on. Will check in the
morning to see if it stayed on all night. As far as we can determine only
the one set of outdoor security lights are on that circuit. Nothing else
seems to be off when it trips. It has a new light sensor on it, so probably
not the culprit. Only 5 bulbs on the run.

Do you have an ammeter?

nate

With the lights off it is pulling 12 amps. 5 lights at 100 watts each (I
think there are 75's in all the sockets) that is only a little over 4
watts. That gives me 4 amps excess capacity. I have no idea what is pulling
those 12 amps.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

no, 5 lights @ 100W is 500W divided by 120V is 4.2A so if with the
lights off you are already pulling 12A that puts you over 15A (or is
this a 20A breaker? I forget.) You ought to be able to neglect
photocell switches etc. as they draw next to no current. Something is
putting a load on that circuit. leave the breaker off; time to start
checking to see what doesn't work... I dunno how accurate a clamp
meter is anyway, I have no experience with them. But if the lights
are the only thing on the ckt. and you're drawing noticeable current
w/ lights off... summat ain't right.

If nothing else, if it is some kind of fault (partially shorted
photocell switch or something) that is causing the 12A draw, you want
to fix it so you're not paying for wasted electricity...

What happens if you pull the photocell and disconnect the wires
there? Still have draw?

nate