Electrical help

[pbui3057]

I am finishing my garage and doing some minor rewiring. Add an outlet here, switch one there. Nothing too extensive. I am having a strange problem all of a sudden. The light in the garage is your standard single 60 watt bulb screw in type. I took the fixture out and replaced it with a round 3 prong receptacle.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=78568-334-869-SP-L

The original fixture had the ground wire there but it was not strapped to the fixture. I switched out the fixture with the new receptacle so that I could put 4 - double 4ft T8 fluorescent lights in. I originally had a light bulb adapter

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=72573-334-715V-SP-L&lpage=none

and ran the grounded lights into a grounded adapter and plugged it into the fixture and it worked without any problems.

Now my lights sometimes work. Other times I will hit the switch and it will turn on for a second and then I will lose power in the garage except for the GFCI receptacle. I still have power there. Every other receptacle is dead. Sometimes the garage door will trigger it also. After waiting for a while, they will magically work again. The only things that I can think of on that circuit are the garage outlets, the front porch outlet, the lighted front address sign, the doorbell and an outlet in the backyard. It's a 15 amp line. The garage door takes 6 amps at the most when in use. The lights are about 2.5 amps? Nothing else is on or plugged in. Any ideas why they would automatically reset themselves???

[phi1l]

It's hard to tell exactly what is going on there without actually seeing it, you may need an actual electrician. I don't know of a self-resetting circuit breaker for residential wiring so it sound like something strange and potentially dangerous is going on here. But here's a few things you can check:

First, examine your wiring closely. You may have some marginal wiring that somehow manages to create a short when it gets hot. Make sure that the hot and neutral wire hare hooked up where they should be.

Second, check the actual voltage with a multi-meter. Make sure that you actually have a hot & neutral wire running to the garage and not 2 hots or a Neutral & ground out there.

Third, you said the doorbell is on that circuit? I hope you mean the doorbell transformer. The Doorbell and HVAC control wiring should be on a separate low current 24V circuit through a step down transformer.


Good Luck, these kind of problems can be particularly difficult to stamp out.

[reddog552]

U are going to find a loose connection at fault.Check all of your connections they are(probably 90%)arking some where.Thus on agan off again. Loose conections cause fires. Get this fixed fast.

[crokett]

I don't think it is a safety device - breaker or GFCI either. I am not aware of any for residential wiring that reset themselves after they trip. I agree that it sounds like marginal wiring creating a short.

[LCHIEN]

first thing that pops into my mind is that you have the GFI in backwards, i.e. the incomin power is wired to the protected output of the GFI and the GFI's input side is wired to the protected part of the circuit.

The clue is that the GFI stays live but the downstream circuit cuts off.
The GFI has a switch and it is between the Incoming side and the OUTLET/protected side. When you first enable it, the switch is closed and the outlet and downstream work because the switch is closed. When you turn on the light or some load the GFCI is tripped an opens the switch to disconnect the protected side. Here's where your goes wrong: The protected side still being connected to the line operated the otlet on the GFCI. But the switch disconnects what it thinks is the output which is really the input side. So nothing downstream works.
Why your GFCI trips is another issue. The lights might be such a complex load at turn on that it confuses the GFCI or the GFCI is confused because its backwards... I haven't though t this thru completely.

But, I would first check that the GFCI is wired in the correct direction, its easy to reverse because there's just two sets of lookalike terminals. It's actually a serious but common error and in many cases it apparently works. Try tripping it with the test button and see if the outlet goes dead (it should) if not, its bad or backwards.

Then once the GFCI is working correctly, see if it still trips and replace it if necessary.. If its an ol GFCI, then replace it anyway, they're cheap an new ones are better than old ones. The one i bough recently has circuits in place and labels to keep you from wiring it in backwards.

[pbui3057]

The wiring was put in by KB Homes. I was just modifying it a little bit.

The GFCI was new because I thought that was the original culprit. The GFCI works properly with the test and reset button. The one I bought has a light that turns on when there is power present but the GFCI is tripped and turns off when there is power running through.

Sorry I meant doorbell transformer. Could temperature hot wiring cause all of the outlets to stop working and then start working again when the wire has cooled down? Would a short circuit cause a GFCI to pop? My GFCI did not pop when the downstream outlets died. The only thing I had added was the round receptacle in the ceiling.

[pbui3057]

Nevermind!

I thought I had it fixed but no go. Any more ideas?

[windmill]

Could temperature hot wiring cause all of the outlets to stop working and then start working again when the wire has cooled down? Would a short circuit cause a GFCI to pop? My GFCI did not pop when the downstream outlets died. The only thing I had added was the round receptacle in the ceiling.

Have you checked the switch? The switch may have been about to go, and adding the extra load from the lights could have pushed it over the edge. Simple to check and cheap to replace.

[pbui3057]

Can a switch do that? I didn't think they were really a wear and tear item. Would that cause all of the outlets to stop working?

[master53yoda]

verify the connections in the receptacle you replaced. if you used wirenuts make sure they are all OK sounds like a bad connection to me.

[pbui3057]

I finally figured it out. I hope. KB drywalled half of the wall. I drywalled the other half. I must have hit the doorbell transformer on accident somehow. I started to physically hit all of the outlets with my hand and when I hit the transformer, I had power back in the garage!!! I took the transformer off of the wall and sure enough, the wire nut was loose and making a bad connection. Tightened everything back up, closed up my outlets and switches, and so far so good. Thanks to all for the suggestions and the help. You guys are the best.