Fault finding car park lamp posts

[@richardkear9840]

Still one of the best most comprehensive you tubers out there. Keep up the great work mate.

[@mjd_double-ya3904]

IR test at the load side of each post with supply disconnected. No lifter needed. Admittedly it's a ball ache. Good luck with the wedding.

[@adrianraith3831]

My normal method with these is to disconnect all the posts and see if the RCBO will reset to prove the supply cable, and then reconnect posts either individually or in groups and see if it'll reset; it's just a bit time consuming covering a big site. Lampposts tend to be a PITA at the best of times simply because they suffer a lot from wind / weather damage, especially (as many people seem to like doing) with pre-flexed floods wired (badly) into junction boxes.

[@sergiofernandez3725]

Hi Mike I am not a Spark but I love your content been watching you for a couple of years. Its great to see you doing installs or troublshooting. You take pride in your work and your work methodically and to a high standard. When you go back to that site can you link out the lighting columns and disconnect all but 1 lamp and then test. Then onto the next one. I have a strong suspicion that the faillure is due to inrush current or a faulty ballast but if one of the light units is filled with water that will not help. Good luck for the wedding. I look forward to your future content

[@shuichinz]

I wasnt a spark when i started watching, started my apprenticeship as an industrial spark 6 months ago shoutout from NZ

[@Arachnoid_of_the_underverse]

If you do go back test each disconnected post individually at the base taking a note of all your readings. It will give a clearer indication of if its an accumulation of these earth leakage issues causing the problem. As has been mentioned it may well be water ingress in the lamp head or deterioration of the units themselves thats the problem but you could lay the facts before the client and suggest a course of action i.e. fitting repalcements

[@Paul_Holmes]

Good to see you again. Totally understand regarding your load, family first, we'll be here when you publish :)

[@ettselectricalservices9428]

Hi Mike. As I see this… DNO supply separate from the office block so it’s not classed as a final circuit feeding outside lighting. (No additional protection required) If the rated OCPD satisfies a Zs reading that disconnects within 5s an RCD is not required for street lighting metal or not 👍🏻 Just put it on an MCB and it will still comply with those IR readings. Good work…. 👌🏼

[@wolvolad25]

So pleased for the load out business, great news

[@BigBangSparky]

That regulation about lighting that is accessible to the public needing to be protected by an RCD (714.411.3.4) excludes street lighting. Also maybe those thorn bushes are there to make the street lights inaccessible to the public as well as electricians😅

[@martin54123]

So that's where Thorn electrical came from😂😂😂

[@ia4387]

Keep the fault finding videos coming. Great video here.

[@polarbear7720]

Had something similar some years back on a railway station turned out to be cumulative earth leakage on the lamposts, could get so many on before it tripped , did not matter what order the fuses were replaced in the lampost cut outs stripped the whole circuit down trying to pin a single fault down, outside lighting a nightmare on rcbo especially older installs.

[@M0PAX]

love a good fault find

[@davidpenn2518]

At least you can add pruning to your CV 😊

[@danwatson8790]

Not a spark but international protection I thought it stood for thanks for the knowledge

[@MrUtube1916]

Great video Mike! Love to see a bit of fault finding. Where'd you get that jacket man? Looks decent

[@BeaconFTW]

Man made this job 20x longer than it should have been, first port of call should have been halfway and split

[@anthonybragg]

It was a shame the cutouts were not D.P. or disconnect the neutral of the flex. I bet some of the control gears are rusting.

[@cliveramsbotty6077]

i did a job in thatcham. set the fire alarm off. and it was one of them that automatically summons the fire brigade.

[@admirableawesome2317]

really enjoy all the information you share!!

[@carlflatman9496]

Congratulations to both of you the 16th enjoy the day.

[@YGELLYPIKER]

I’m at 7 mins in I’m guessing photocell full of water

[@ElectricianTV]

Really good video, Mikey I always thought IP rating was international protection, learn something new every day. Them time clock are so expensive. they are bombproof.

[@EPD993]

I was also taught international protection and i think its in part 2 of bs7671 at abbreviations

[@simonmartin3433]

That's because it is international protection .

[@cumberland1234]

Love those Sangamo solar time clocks - no need for a photocell. Just remember to set them to GMT.

[@YGELLYPIKER]

@@residualelectrical was on my way to wholesalers to pick one of them up got blinded by sun and drove into oncoming bus

[@thetruth6693]

Another cracking video mate 👌

[@TheHomeent]

Wedding on 16th June...!! You posted this on the 14th June and I'm watching today on the 15th. So either your heath kick is super massive, or its not this year... 😁 Either way all the best and congratulations. I'm sure she will appreciate the effort but would love you either way, I wish you both all the best. 🎉🎉

[@ForTheBirbs]

Thanks for another interesting video. Congratulations on your wedding

[@cumberland1234]

Best wishes for Friday 👍

[@walseee]

Guys what’s the best bag to buy on loadout?

[@TheHomeent]

You wondered how many of us watching are electricians. You'll need to run a poll. 1 tick in the electrician poll from me. Would have tested slightly different, once you've pulled all the fuses and proven supply cables I would have IR'd the posts individually at the post. Just as quick probably as putting three back together and walking back to the board to test. All the best on the wedding. I don't expect an answer as its your big day tomorrow.

[@pichacker]

Might have missed it but was the contactor bridged when testing?

[@eS-jb6iv]

Can you please elaborate on why the lamppost requires RCD protection? Lighting only needs to be covered by an RCD if it serves a special location

[@JimWhitaker]

Given that RCD protection is so cheap, why would you not install one? Notwithstanding the regs.

[@eS-jb6iv]

@@JimWhitaker Because RCDs are renown for nuisance tripping and in that situation a very dark road will be left without street lights. Same reasons as to why you don’t put medical equipment like life support systems on an RCD. It says in BS7671 (in amendment 2 also) that street lights are omitted from RCD protection, for this very reason. Not sure where Residual is getting this regulation from. I do a lot of Highway Work and if you put street lightning on an RCD you will get the sack. No hate towards Residual, I was genuinely curious is there was an update to this regulation that I missed but it would appear not

[@rjkelectrical6086]

@@eS-jb6iv regulations are so contradicting, so many book so many difference of opinions. Why do street light not need need RCD protection other than nuisance tripping?

[@MS-Patriot2]

@@rjkelectrical6086the person who knew about street lighting and risk management was on holiday the week the IET made up that rule. It’s a huge Vicky Pollard ‘yeah but, no but……’.

[@mastergraphic9998]

​@@rjkelectrical6086 because mcb or rcbo are prone to nuisance tripping and corrosion in damp or humid environments. All street lighting should be using a 6amp or 10amp bs88 fuse. Commando sockets on columns need rcbo

[@bradnihill2116]

Personally I would have just picked what I thought was the pole in the middle of the circuit and split it there to start with.

[@mattjones5726]

surly it would of been easier to remove all fuses then turn the circuit on then put one fuse in at a time to find the fault

[@wisey3954]

Ye were cutting aboot they bushes like Tarzan ya madman

[@electricalstuff259]

Congrats on the marriage my man.

[@chrisardern4594]

Earth clamping direct onto the swa ? Time delay RCBO might get you over the start up current if you can find one. Or even a c type rcbo.

[@Ragnar8504]

A type C isn't going to help if the RCD side trips out and at up to 25 mA that's certainly the case. C only affects the magnetic trip of the MCB part, not even the thermal trip.

[@tomorichard]

Just purchased one of those lunch boxes from you. Ju St what I was looking for

[@piotrlobacz]

IP stands for international protection 😉

[@samfish6938]

water in fixtures

[@lewisreynods5358]

IP means international protection btw 👍🏼

[@lewisreynods5358]

@@residualelectrical Check your abbreviations in your brown book. International protection code.

[@looking9175]

It would be nice to have these types of documents affordably priced. This one's about £330

[@wolvolad25]

People naming there own stores the with similar names ? 37:40

[@deltalima4]

Congrats with the marriage!

[@J1T]

chage to D curve rcbo, pack bags n go home job done😎

[@J1T]

@@residualelectrical I know 😂 we see a lot of faults with column lighting like the ones in the video; usually just the fitting needs replaced due to water ingress over the years in poor installs. Never seen earth leakage causing tripping before so was good to see that and get a better understanding from it. Great video once again!

[@simonmartin3433]

WOW.

[@G7OEA]

I'm and Ex-spark. I qualified on the 16th edition, but left the industry to go into IT / Networking.

[@kevy427]

SiteAuditPro is brilliant. I’ve been using it for a few years and is ideal for providing a report along with your EICR or fault-finding jobs. It’s easy to use and saves faffing around with trying to organise a PDF or Word document with photos, words, arrows and circles. Another great video👍

[@brianhewitt8618]

👌

[@YGELLYPIKER]

If you had stuck in at school you wouldn’t have ended up a sparky now they don’t teach that at school

[@tschubb1992]

Not a spark, but surely the next step is to disconnect the Neutral and CPC at the base of each lamppost, then retest/test the flex going up the post? Interesting stuff on the health side 👍 Great content as always, cheers 👍

[@Ragnar8504]

@@residualelectrical Yeah, I'd be tempted to pull all fuses at the lampposts and reconnect them one by one, measuring earth leakage every time. That way you can rule out the ballasts. Possibly even liven up the circuit with all the lamps out of the circuit first. I've got zero experience with discharge lighting but that inrush leakage sounds a lot like ballast to me. If my math is correct, you need an IR as low as 7.7 kΩ for 230 V mains voltage to drive 30 mA through an earth fault, so the 4 MΩ isn't the issue, it has to be that blip at startup.

[@Ragnar8504]

@@residualelectrical It's Ohm's law. R=V/I, V being 230 V mains voltage and I the nominal trip current of the RCD in amps, in this case 0.03 A. In reality you need to err on the side of caution because the actual voltage can be up to 253 V (230 V +10%) and the RCD can trip as low as 18 mA if I remember correctly but you still need horribly low IR values for an actual RCD trip. Your initial readings around 0.01 MΩ were dangerously close to tripping conditions though, definitely something wrong there. A very good video, I love systematic fault finding!

[@malcolmcroll7556]

who is the Boss you or your new to-be wife ??

[@AdamSparky]

Site audit pro is a game changer been using it for a good few years now