Electrician in the House?

djrequiem

djrequiem

Member
I'm continuing a line from a GFCI outlet. All I'm doing is adding two additional outlets to a line than only has two already (one regular, one GFCI). I installed the first outlet and checked it for power. Tested good. Following the same method I installed the next. No juice. Every time I turn power on at the breaker it trips the GFCI outlet. After I pulled the dead one out, now the formerly hot outlet which I just installed doesn't fire the tester. I'm using brand new 12/2 wire, new outlets and boxes. I'm sort of opposed to paying $$$$ for an electrician and also don't want to show some strange electrician my grow rooms. Although its not operational yet it's very obvious what the rooms are set up for. It's legal but the less people know the less people know...
 
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mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
OK, for starters,USA right? europe is different.
a gfi has 2 sets of terminals on the back,1 labeled line (or feed) & the other labeled load.you want your black wire from the breaker to go to the hot side marked line (gold screw terminal) & the white from the panel to go to the line side neutral (silver screw terminal).ground wire to the ground terminal. power it up & test. if all good, move on to the first outlet.attach the black & white wires from your romex to the load terminals of the gfi,attach ground & wire the outlet (remember black to gold terminal & white to silver terminal) attach grounds and power up & test.
if you trip the gfi, disconect the black wire feeding the outlet at the gfi and power it up again,if it still trips,disconect the white at the gfi. if still tripping,disconect the ground. post back & we can continue. if the first outlet works,add the 2nd .
my guess is you crossed wires on 1 of the outlets & attached the black to the silver screw somewhere or the ground is touching the white when you jam everything back in the box.plastic ot metal boxes?
remember to shut off the breaker every time you make a change and be careful.

I'll check back in am
 
djrequiem

djrequiem

Member
mrmadcow said:
OK, for starters,USA right? europe is different.
a gfi has 2 sets of terminals on the back,1 labeled line (or feed) & the other labeled load.you want your black wire from the breaker to go to the hot side marked line (gold screw terminal) & the white from the panel to go to the line side neutral (silver screw terminal).ground wire to the ground terminal. power it up & test. if all good, move on to the first outlet.attach the black & white wires from your romex to the load terminals of the gfi,attach ground & wire the outlet (remember black to gold terminal & white to silver terminal) attach grounds and power up & test.
if you trip the gfi, disconect the black wire feeding the outlet at the gfi and power it up again,if it still trips,disconect the white at the gfi. if still tripping,disconect the ground. post back & we can continue. if the first outlet works,add the 2nd .
my guess is you crossed wires on 1 of the outlets & attached the black to the silver screw somewhere or the ground is touching the white when you jam everything back in the box.plastic ot metal boxes?
remember to shut off the breaker every time you make a change and be careful.

I'll check back in am
Click to expand...
I pulled the outlet completely out. I turned power back on and checked the exposed wires. Everything was hot. Turned power off, reconnected and still have nothing. I live in America, and have plastic boxes. Maybe the outlet is bad (it's new)? It shows two screw spots for 'line' (which is going towards the breaker), two screw spots for 'load' which continues the circuit to the last outlet. That leaves one last screw for a ground. Completed outlet like shown on diagram (load on top, line on bottom, ground connected and caped, whites on right, black on left. Wire ends are short and clean to prevent any shorting/fire.) The newly installed outlet wouldn't constantly shut off the GFCI outlet if it wasn't grounded properly, only if it detected current running through the ground (indicating a short), right?
 
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mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
lack of ground wont trip gfi but a short between white and ground will. do you have a meter? it could be a bad outlet but not likely,suspect the gfi is bad & not letting current through it.
you have power at the gfi right? you could wire the outlet to the line side to test the outlet- it will work but wont be protected by gfi.
sounds like you need a meter to troubleshoot any further
w/ gfi out of box & not shorting on anything, power up circiut & confirm 120 volts at line side terminals of gfi and again at load side screws, if good check at outlet. you should have 120volts between black wire & white wire.
careful when doing this 120 will bite. if you are touching the black wire when it is powered & touch anything grounded,waterpipe, concrete floor, ect you will get a shock. work slow & carefully.
 
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sweetcheekz

Active Member
I just did some wiring and it's working (after a couple very small hiccups), but I'm by no means an expert.

I had a similar problem and my issue was ground wire. I had a ground that wasn't fully tightened (oops) and it'd trip instantly, got that tight and gfi has worked since.
 
djrequiem

djrequiem

Member
I have a tester that lights up 110v, 220v, 277v, or 460v if I touch live sockets/outlets/wires. I think the starting box (that continues to trip) is going bad. I unplugged everything and reset it. The wires out of the wall lit up the 110v light on my tester. After I carefully re-installed the new outlet (only hooked up line, *not* load side). Turned the power on, reset the box. Nothing. Trips instantly. Turned power at the breaker off. Now, once I've removed it completely again, I turned on the breaker. With no new outlet and no exposed touching wires, the original gfi will continuously trip.
 
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mrmadcow

Well-Known Member
sounds like a bad gfi. you can throw a regular outlet in its spot till you pick up a new gfi if you need the power now
 
djrequiem

djrequiem

Member
I removed the gfi and found the ground was flimzy aluminum wiring (made out of tiny wires). Nothing is aluminum anywhere else, kind of suprised to see it. You think that was the problem?
 
djrequiem

djrequiem

Member
It was built in 1994. My dad and grandpa built it and installed the outlet. Because it was supposed to be used a lot they put in a gfi outlet. My dad doesn't remember using the wire and my grandpa is dead. So no asking him. It was always a weak line and would trip at the breaker a lot (they tell me, I've only seen it happen once and the line is RARELY used.) Every other line was much stronger (powered PA systems, A.C.s, tools, big grow lights, etc.) The one time I saw it happen, the line tripped with just a radio and drill. Regardless, I pulled it off and capped the wires. Now the whole line works like a charm.
 
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