Lights tripping - nothing obvious

[Joe5y]

Evening all,

Over the past 2 month our middle floor lights (we have 3 floors) keep tripping. All the lights go out and it requires me to go into the garage and flick the switch. Point of consideration;

1. Sometimes this would ‘fix’ it for 10 days sometimes 10 minutes.
2. There is no rhyme or reason, it will just go off even with nothing on or with no change.
3. There has been no recent work(s) in the house with no drilling walls or similar.
4. No bulbs have blown.
5. It is ONLY the lights on that floor (on it’s on cut off switch)

So far I have done the following;

1. Checked all switches by taking them off the wall and making sure all connections were as they should be.
2. Checked all lights, crowns and transformers for any loose connections. Nothing apparent but I don’t have the knowledge to check transformers etc.
3. Swapped the kill switch in the garage for another to make sure it wasn’t just that.
4. I’ve taken the panel off the breaker in the garage to make sure it hasn’t got any loose connections.

The panel is the garage is old (see pic) but I can’t think how this would effect or create my issue as everything else works as it should.



I AM NOT AN ELECTRICIAN so please please give me an idea of what I can do next, I’m sick of dark showers and now I have a 5 Day year old it’s become very impractical!

I’m based in Woodley, Reading and am paternity leave currently so If you know anyone that can take a look please do recommend

[matjk]

They look like thermal trips (not RCD) but can’t be 100% from the photo ! If it is RCD that’s tripping it then it could be a pain to find , if it’s just thermal a sparky can just measure the current the lighting circuit is pulling is to high, if it is he would need to investigate what’s causing it , it could be the breaker it’s self , that are pretty cheap to change

[megaphone]

Do you have any down-lights? Are they 12v with transformers?

[Joe5y]

megaphone said:

Do you have any down-lights? Are they 12v with transformers?

In the 3 bedrooms on that floor they’re all on normal centre lights that have been in place for over 2 years.

In the bathroom there is 3 down lights with transformers and a spurred fan that has an isolation switch. The bathroom is actually being started next month - full conversation including lighting etc.

[anonymous-user]

Maybe worth changing bulbs if practical, those which are on when the circuit trips. I’ve had bulbs cause similar in the past..

[P700DEE]

Replace the trip. They don't last forever and start to trip randomly rather than actually fail.

[Joe5y]

What with arrival of the new little man I’ve decoded to upgrade the whole board for the correct RCD unit. This may or may not rectify the issue but either way it needs doing.

This is being done next week.

Curiously, the lights have been on ALL day today - yesterday, wouldn’t stay on more than 5 minutes.