Troubleshooting and Repairing Electrical Circuits

[trevmar]

Is a 'Challenger A1515' actually a trip breaker, or just a switch? Could someone have put a separate GFI down the line - the circuit controls outside lighting and upstairs bathroom outlets and all are dead.

[markmark]

The mormal circuit for a house is 15 amps. The outside lights should be on a dedicated circuit. A 100 watt bulb draws .8 amps. A 1875 watt hair dryer draws 17 amps. If the outside lights are on and the bathroom lights are on, with a hair dryer operating, either the GFIC or the circuit breaker will trip every time.

[trevmar]

Thanks m^2, what had me fooled was there was no GFI in the upstairs bathroom at the back of the house where the lights are...........but, at the FRONT of the house near the panel is a downstairs bathroom (which is seldom used) with a GFI that had tripped, presumably because it's on the same way to the upstairs one - duh.

Let me also use this forum briefly to alert users planning on replacing LV underwater lighting with M16 LED units.........the ones sold by SuperBrightLEDs (St Louis) have the LEDs mounted on the front face - which is probably fine for track lighting, but they won't fit all underwater modules, certainly not mine. I'm guessing this is because the original halogens run hot and need a flat face touching the circular waterproof glass seal to conduct heat away. So - not all M16s are created equal!