Street lights tripping my house!

Stemanic · 31-10-2012 9:00am #1

Hi guys I posted this on the Electric Ireland forum and they suggested you guys might be of help here. Thanks

Hi, this is going to sound strange but here are the facts.

During October each year the street lights in our estate switch to coming on early when the evenings get dark.

Between 17:05 and 17:08 everyday all the sockets in my house trip out. Within the next 20 to 30 secs the street lights on our street come on. This is everyday, every single day. Obviously there is a huge inconvenience for us when we are in the house but also a huge worry when we are away as fridge's defrost etc.

I need help. It is too much of a coincidence for anyone to dismiss this as not being related to the light coming on but funny enough it does not happen during the summer time months when the lights come on later. And also it is only my house that is effected on the road.

Any thoughts would be appreciated and advice on who to contact for resolution.

Wils110 · 31-10-2012 9:06am

Anyone ever do any dodgy electrical work before you lived there like hook the lamppost to the house supply

M cebee · 31-10-2012 9:23am

do you have anything on a timer?

brightspark · 31-10-2012 9:59am

do you have any outdoor lights with dawn to dusk sensors?

tiny timy · 31-10-2012 10:04am

Get an electrician in to check your circuits.sounds like something is on a timer somewhere.if the sockets only trip and not your lights its something in the house i'd say, as the street lighting would surely trip the whole house along with its own lighting circuit if they were to blame.sounds very odd. Also as far as i'm aware, public street lighting is nothing to do with esb, its airtricity that look after that i think.

Condatis · 31-10-2012 10:05am

It could be a timer right enough – does your heating come on around that time?

gozunda · 31-10-2012 10:09am

Stemanic wrote: »

Hi guys I posted this on the Electric Ireland forum and they suggested you guys might be of help here. Thanks

Hi, this is going to sound strange but here are the facts.

During October each year the street lights in our estate switch to coming on early when the evenings get dark.

Between 17:05 and 17:08 everyday all the sockets in my house trip out. Within the next 20 to 30 secs the street lights on our street come on. This is everyday, every single day. Obviously there is a huge inconvenience for us when we are in the house but also a huge worry when we are away as fridge's defrost etc.

I need help. It is too much of a coincidence for anyone to dismiss this as not being related to the light coming on but funny enough it does not happen during the summer time months when the lights come on later. And also it is only my house that is effected on the road.

Any thoughts would be appreciated and advice on who to contact for resolution.

Contact your local county council : local authority and report this. Ask that the issue be investigated immediately. A ground to earth fault could possibly be interfering with other ground based cables in your area. Have you asked your neighbours if they experience similar problems?

Edit: Street lighting is under the remit of your local authority - take a reference number from your nearest lighting pole / street light and quote the number so they check installation details etc.

anthony4335 · 31-10-2012 10:13am

Contact your energy provider, as this most likely not an issue with your house but with the local network. They will have to put a monitor onto your supply.

mitosis · 31-10-2012 10:20am

OP, the street lights thing is coincidence.

Consider:

It does not happen when lights come on in summer.

It only happens to you.

I suggest you check anything on a timer in your home that you might only use when the days get dark/cooler. Immersion, or heating, would be my guess for culprit.

Bruthal · 31-10-2012 10:30am

Stemanic wrote: »

Hi guys I posted this on the Electric Ireland forum and they suggested you guys might be of help here. Thanks

Hi, this is going to sound strange but here are the facts.

During October each year the street lights in our estate switch to coming on early when the evenings get dark.

Between 17:05 and 17:08 everyday all the sockets in my house trip out. Within the next 20 to 30 secs the street lights on our street come on. This is everyday, every single day. Obviously there is a huge inconvenience for us when we are in the house but also a huge worry when we are away as fridge's defrost etc.

I need help. It is too much of a coincidence for anyone to dismiss this as not being related to the light coming on but funny enough it does not happen during the summer time months when the lights come on later. And also it is only my house that is effected on the road.

Any thoughts would be appreciated and advice on who to contact for resolution.

You possibly have an outdoor sensor, coming on when its getting dark, and the sensor and whatecer its controlling is powered from the sockets, and this is tripping your socket RCD, a problem only occurring recently perhaps.

Or else a timer coming on at that time every evening, but is only now causing problems.

If the time of tripping stays identical over the next week or 2, then its likely a timer.

Do you reset, and then it works fine again until the next day?

Stemanic · 31-10-2012 10:36am

Thanks guys, I've nothing on a timer in the house except the heating and that doesn't come on until 18:30.

Mitosis, your considerations are correct, it does not happen to my neighbours and only happens in wintertime. But seriously mate, i know where your coming from but it cannot be a coincidence. It's every day and 20-30secs before the street lights come on.

Bruthal · 31-10-2012 10:36am

anthony4335 wrote: »

Contact your energy provider, as this most likely not an issue with your house but with the local network. They will have to put a monitor onto your supply.

Not highly likely. The OP is the only one affected, and only their sockets. A likely problem within the house tripping the RCD.

Strange things do happen though, where RCD`s are involved.

TheBody · 31-10-2012 10:38am

Have you considered calling out a priest? :pac:

Bruthal · 31-10-2012 10:45am

Stemanic wrote: »

Thanks guys, I've nothing on a timer in the house except the heating and that doesn't come on until 18:30.

Mitosis, your considerations are correct, it does not happen to my neighbours and only happens in wintertime. But seriously mate, i know where your coming from but it cannot be a coincidence. It's every day and 20-30secs before the street lights come on.

How long has it been happening?

M cebee · 31-10-2012 11:21am

i wouldn't rule out a connection
i've seen it happen with fluorescent lighting on lighting circuits trip a separate rcd
i think older rcds are more susceptible to trip from transients
a newer rcd may not trip-if there's nothing else going on

Stemanic · 31-10-2012 11:44am

robbie7730 wrote: »

How long has it been happening?

3 to 4 years mate... :mad:

Bruthal · 31-10-2012 12:07pm

M cebee wrote: »

i wouldn't rule out a connection
i've seen it happen with fluorescent lighting on lighting circuits trip a separate rcd
i think older rcds are more susceptible to trip from transients
a newer rcd may not trip-if there's nothing else going on

Strange things can happen alright. I was going to suggest trying a new rcd as well.

Also, maybe get something with a relatively high load, such as a kettle, and boil water from cold in it, in different rooms around the house, which will indicate if there are any neutral earth faults on any socket circuits.

It could be possible as well, that if the overall earth leakage was just below the RCD trip threshold, from more items, (or a particular one) being on in wintertime, it may be more sensitive to tripping from other influences as well.

M cebee · 31-10-2012 12:21pm

y

robbie7730 wrote: »

Strange things can happen alright. I was going to suggest trying a new rcd as well.

Also, maybe get something with a relatively high load, such as a kettle, and boil water from cold in it, in different rooms around the house, which will indicate if there are any neutral earth faults on any socket circuits.

It could be possible as well, that if the overall earth leakage was just below the RCD trip threshold, from more items, (or a particular one) being on in wintertime, it may be more sensitive to tripping from other influences as well.

ive seen fluorecents trip an unrelated rcd but never this
if it was an old rcd i would swop it out anyhow-if there's a connection between the 2 events

Max_Charger · 31-10-2012 6:14pm

This sounds very odd, but it must be something in the house if it's tripping the rcd. It's prob already after happening today, but tomorrow before it normally happens try turning off all the socket and lighting MCB's and leave the RCD still on. Be interesting to see if it still trips, I bet it won't.

maxfresh · 31-10-2012 6:24pm

Maybe get a electrician with an rcd tester and get him to do a ramp test on the rcd to see if its working correctly

31-10-2012 8:36pm

I agree with the other posters, I do not believe that the sockets tripping in your house is related to the street lights turning on.

Every electrical device that is connected to the RCD that is tripping "leaks" a certain amount of current to earth. This also applies (to a lesser degree) to the electrical cables connected to the RCD. As different devices are switched on / plugged in this leakage current will increase. It is possible that each day at approximately the time that the street lights come on the total electrical load causes the leakage current to increase to such a magnitude that it causes the RCD to operate. This could be due to a stat switching a heater (or immersion) on or a shower pump / circulation pump (possibly within the boiler) may switch on at this time. Alternatively it could be due to a single faulty device switching on (such as an immersion) or a steam from a kettle entering a socket (cup of tea at about the same time each night?).

As already suggested it could also be a faulty RCD.

Perhaps an RCBO has been installed instead of an RCD and the device is tripping on overload, I have seen this before.

My suggestion would be to slip the sockets up over more than one RCD or better still install an RCBO per socket circuit. This will immediately narrow down the problem and identify the problem circuit (or RCD).

M cebee · 03-11-2012 7:09pm

http://www.scribd.com/doc/86510117/Rcd-Handbook-Dec-2010-49836

Some types of discharge lighting (e.g.high-pressure sodium lamps and metal halide lamps)use external igniters,which produce a series of high voltage pulses,which cease when the lamp starts.These pulses are of short duration but range from 3kV to 4.5kV for high-pressure sodium lamps.Metal halide lamps are ignited by applying 9kV pulses at 10ms intervals for up to 7 seconds directly on to the lamp.The very large number of discharge lamps in use (particularly for street lighting) makes it likely that this is a major source of transient overvoltages.From the foregoing it will be seen that unwanted tripping may be caused by transient overvoltages in the mains supply,originating from outside the installation.

03-11-2012 8:48pm

M cebee wrote: »

http://www.scribd.com/doc/86510117/Rcd-Handbook-Dec-2010-49836

Some types of discharge lighting (e.g.high-pressure sodium lamps and metal halide lamps)use external igniters,which produce a series of high voltage pulses,which cease when the lamp starts.These pulses are of short duration but range from 3kV to 4.5kV for high-pressure sodium lamps.Metal halide lamps are ignited by applying 9kV pulses at 10ms intervals for up to 7 seconds directly on to the lamp.The very large number of discharge lamps in use (particularly for street lighting) makes it likely that this is a major source of transient overvoltages.From the foregoing it will be seen that unwanted tripping may be caused by transient overvoltages in the mains supply,originating from outside the installation.

I do not believe that the street lighting is the cause is the cause.

Here are some of the reasons why I do not believe that this is the case:

1) According to the OP:

it is only my house that is effected on the road

If discharge lighting was the problem, why is it only a problem for the OP and not his neighbours?

2) According to the OP:

funny enough it does not happen during the summer time months when the lights come on later

to me this suggests that the fault is related to an item, load or total loading on the RCD that does not occur during the summer.

M cebee · 03-11-2012 9:00pm

2011 wrote: »

I do not believe that the street lighting is the cause is the cause.

Here are some of the reasons why I do not believe that this is the case:

1) According to the OP:

If discharge lighting was the problem, why is it only a problem for the OP and not his neighbours?

2) According to the OP:

to me this suggests that the fault is related to an item, load or total loading on the RCD that does not occur during the summer.

yes

i'm not advocating the street lights as the cause here

just posting up the info describing possible link between street lights starting up and nuisance trips

Bruthal · 03-11-2012 9:20pm

If there was a slight neutral to earth fault in the house, outside influences in certain circumstances could trip an RCD, and more loading on circuits controlled by the RCD, but not the actual fault one, would make the RCD more sensitive to outside influences. Any loadng on the fault one itself (if there was a fault) would trip the RCD.

That was why I suggest boiling a kettle in all rooms of the house from cold, its a decent test for neutral to earth faults on socket circuits, some of which might go unloaded most of the time.

If the house is neutralised, that would more or less eliminate possible outside influence.

Id say myself the street lighting is an unlikely cause.

Bruthal · 04-11-2012 1:27am

M cebee wrote: »

yes

i'm not advocating the street lights as the cause here

just posting up the info describing possible link between street lights starting up and nuisance trips

Id say nuisance trips from outside influences are probably more likely with overhead lines supplying the houses as well. I remember a house where the RCD was tripping even with the main switch in the house off. There was a neutral-earth short at a socket. The small overhead lines meant the neutral line was a little above earth potential with the loading of a few houses, so a neutral earth fault in the house caused enough current to flow in on the neutral to the short to earth, to trip the RCD even with power to house off.

Mr Magnolia · 04-11-2012 8:56am

How old is the house/cabling/dist.board? Have you an RCD or an older type ELCB? Does your neighbour(s) have the same instal?

Street lights tripping my house!

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