DIYbanter - View Single Post

Don Y[_3_]

On 12/2/2015 5:36 AM, wrote:

Make up a "soft start box" getr an electric heater. take a short
extension cord (or make one uo) and cut the live wire, inserting a
second plug in series with the existing one. Plug the heater into the
second plug, the lights into the first. This will reduce the current

"plug" -- "outlet"

on startup. Wire a switch across the second plug so you can short the
heater out of the circuit after the lights come on. This will tell you
for sure if it is a cold surge problem. If you get a 750/1500 heater
you can select how hard or soft the start is.

Given that the load is so light, I can use an electric hair dryer
and fiddle with the temp setting (cold/warm/hot/blistering) to
gradually increase the effective load. A switch shunting the hair
dryer's connection to remove it completely.

It's worth a try. I'm going to gather more data, first, so I know
exactly how I can reproduce the problem (e.g., if I have to wait
2 hours for the "short" to redevelop, then any tests more frequent
than that would be foolish.