Am I missing something why gfci trips instantly

[machsnell]

Ok so I made this light for my bathroom.

I got 3 light sockets with 2 wire soow type cord.

I ran the 3 cords into a jb and I pulled romex from the attic to bathroom wall where fixture would be.

I am connecting this 3 light fixture I made to the switched ceiling light.

I connected the hots and neutrals together and I connected the ground from romex to fixture cover.

I went up to the attic and I took an old extension cord missing the female end and connected those wires to the romex just to quickly see how the light worked before digging in insulation amd opening can's jb.

I plugged the extension cord into a gfi outlet in attic and it popped it immediately. I connected cord to another gfi outlet downstairs. Same thing

I assumed the cord had cut or something amd so I disconnected the cord from romex and plugged the cord (with nothing on female end side) into the gfi outlet and it was fine no trip.

So I domt know if my fixture I made is bad or doesnt work on a gfi circuit or shouldn't be on a gfi circuit?

Is the 2 wire thing an issue? Could the bulbs be cheap Chinese **** and throwing it?

Did romex get damaged possibly and that is making it trip gfi?

Totally confused please help

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[pattenp]

You have current bleeding somewhere to ground. Use a meter to check the wiring if you can't visually see the problem.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

You made the light?

Bare wire touching ground somewhere?

 

[dogdog]

Maybe do a process of elimination, take out the lights cap the wires at the blue box... go up there and plug into the GFCI and if it pops you know it is your structural wiring.

If it doesn't go back to each light.. if it is socket-ed.. OHM or continuity it without the bulbs in...

If that doesn't help maybe connect one light at a time and see what pops ?

 

[machsnell]

Yes I made it.

Dog dog that sounds easy enough. I will try that.

Will gfi trip even if there is nothing at the end of the circuit drawing current?

Not including something obvious like a short.

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[dogdog]

It should trip if your wire touch ground or something shorted also for gfci... few incident me <-- nicked the wire on the cut or metal box causing short or ground or what nots... best is if you have multi meter and test continuity first...

like unhook everything... leave wire open... test if there is a short with hot to neutral, hot to ground , neutral to ground... it should not beep.. those kinda stuff... I don't know GFCI enough to say yea nay... just use common sense safety and process elimination is what I would do...

 

[Terry D]

Check for your grounded conductor (neutral) touching the metal of the fuxture. Either remove the fixture and ohm out the neutral and the metal base, there should be no continuity between them. Or simply disconnect the ground from the fixture and see if the gfci holds, this will also tell you. Make sure all the neutrals are connected to the outer shell of the sockets and the hots are connected to the center.

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[Terry D]

Also check were you are getting power from the other light. If you somehow connected to a different neutral that what the gfci is monitoring, this will trip it

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[machsnell]

It should trip if your wire touch ground or something shorted also for gfci... few incident me <-- nicked the wire on the cut or metal box causing short or ground or what nots... best is if you have multi meter and test continuity first...

like unhook everything... leave wire open... test if there is a short with hot to neutral, hot to ground , neutral to ground... it should not beep.. those kinda stuff... I don't know GFCI enough to say yea nay... just use common sense safety and process elimination is what I would do...

Perfect makes sense. Thanks



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[machsnell]

Make sure all the neutrals are connected to the outer shell of the sockets and the hots are connected to the center.

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I should have explained the socket and cord came premade in a light I just didnt use the fixture

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[machsnell]

Also check were you are getting power from the other light. If you somehow connected to a different neutral that what the gfci is monitoring, this will trip it

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I didn't connect it to the other light yet. I basically just wanted to test it and happened to test on a gfi outlet fortunately.

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[nsula_country]

Remove bulbs and power it up again?

Remove bulbs 1 at a time?

CT

 

[machsnell]

Remove bulbs and power it up again?

Remove bulbs 1 at a time?

CT

This would be easiest since it's all connected currently.

Will report back tomorrow morning w results

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[Jeepster04]

I'd get myself a multi meter and start checking things. Set it to ohm's and see what you get between the black and the ground when its not hooked up. Something may be internally grounding on the lights.

 

[AngryBeaver]

you need a meter to check between N and hot. that is how a GFCI works. it doesn't need a ground to trip. since you have piggy backed neutrals, I'd start at the Junction box... if one of your neutrals is tied to ground, that will cause it to grip also, because the GFI tips on hot to neutral imbalance, and if its tied to ground.. you essentially have a dead short from hot to ground....

 

[nadogail]

The GFCI constantly compares the line current being fed to the plugged in load with the neutral current being returned from the load; if they don't balance the GFCI shuts the line current off. That imbalance is like line current being leaked to ground.

Think of a radio being dropped into a full bathtub, a GFCI is supposed to keep the person in the tub from being electrocuted.

For that reason I DO NOT use a GFCI when wiring a receptacle feeding a refrigerator. The allowable leakage current on an Automatic Defroster is greater than the trip current for a GFCI. I use a single receptacle dedicated to the refrigerator.

 

[wyliesdiesels]

The GFCI constantly compares the line current being fed to the plugged in load with the neutral current being returned from the load; if they don't balance the GFCI shuts the line current off. That imbalance is like line current being leaked to ground.

Think of a radio being dropped into a full bathtub, a GFCI is supposed to keep the person in the tub from being electrocuted.

For that reason I DO NOT use a GFCI when wiring a receptacle feeding a refrigerator. The allowable leakage current on an Automatic Defroster is greater than the trip current for a GFCI. I use a single receptacle dedicated to the refrigerator.

Not quite.

If there is no alternate pathway for the current to go to, its possible for the GFCI to not trip and someone gets electrocuted.

There needs to be an alternate pathway.

Somewhere on the internet, there is a video of a live hair dryer being dunked into a sink full of water while plugged into a GFCI outlet. The water was live and lethal, however the GFCI didnt trip because there was no alternate pathway for current to go to.

Now if the sink had a metal drain and tail piece that was connected to metal plumbing that was bonded, then the GFCI wouldve tripped.

 

[AntonLargiader]

Somewhere on the internet, there is a video of a live hair dryer being dunked into a sink full of water while plugged into a GFCI outlet. The water was live and lethal, however the GFCI didnt trip because there was no alternate pathway for current to go to.

Live I can see, but lethal needs a pathway. Are you saying that there’s a pathway out into the tub full of water, through a person and back into the hair dryer that current would preferentially follow, rather than just shorting within the hair dryer?

 

[wyliesdiesels]

Live I can see, but lethal needs a pathway. Are you saying that there’s a pathway out into the tub full of water, through a person and back into the hair dryer that current would preferentially follow, rather than just shorting within the hair dryer?

Yes think of the cast iron enamel coated tub. Not enough fault current to trip the breaker but enough to stop someone’s heart.

Did you hear about this story?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/467225001

 

[AntonLargiader]

I don't see why that fault current wouldn't trip a GFCI. The article made no mention of the phone or whatever it was being GFCI protected, and I assume the fault current through the cast iron bathtub you mention would also trip a GFCI if it got to lethal levels. I see "lethal" described as levels closer to 100mA, while a GFCI breaker trips well below that.

What exactly is the lethal fault path you envision in post 17 that would not trip a GFCI? The way I read the post, you're suggesting a fault path that goes out of the hair dryer, through the person and back into the hair dryer so that it keeps the neutral balanced with the hot. I don't see it in real life, hence my comment that the water might be live, but not lethal.

 

[ddawg16]

No report?

I was going to mention, one of the most common mistakes people make wiring up GFCI's is to tie the line and load side neutrals together....

The GFCI works fine as long as there is no load on the load side...hence, you can plug into the GFCI and it does not trip. But the moment you plug in something connected to the load side....trip....

 

[machsnell]

No report?

I was going to mention, one of the most common mistakes people make wiring up GFCI's is to tie the line and load side neutrals together....

The GFCI works fine as long as there is no load on the load side...hence, you can plug into the GFCI and it does not trip. But the moment you plug in something connected to the load side....trip....

Sorry ddawg and others. My bad for not getting to it. Long works days keeping the man down.

I will try a few things tonight w bulbs and vm.


Thanks for all the help gents....as always


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[sberry]

If using a recept make sure in coming is wired to line, had a call a while back where the guy wired line to load.