Help. I fused the lights in the bathroom when changing a light fitting.?

Question

The breaker won't snap back to "on" but creeps toward the off position.

Yes, I did cross the wires, how do I fix?

The bathroom, bedroom. and hall were all wired to a 10 amp breaker, did not seem right, I rewired to an unused 15 amp breaker nearby. Thanks.

Answer 1

When you say "crossed," do you mean that you touched the black to the white or do you mean you connected black to white and white to black? The difference is critical.

I have never seen a breaker "creep." When they trip, they don't really move very far sometimes, but they don't keep moving, either way. Sometimes they are in between on and off when they are tripped. Please elaborate on this.

You had a 10 amp breaker? Are you sure?

It is a very bad idea to move a wire from one capacity breaker to another. You are now telling the circuit that the wire can handle 15 amps, not just 10. If the wire really was rated at 10 amps, it is not safe to put it on a 15 amp breaker.

Did you did touch black and white with the circuit on and you got an explosion, loud pop, bright flash or whatever? If so, you may have melted some wires and they are now dangerous.

The reason I asked you to verify the 10 amp rating is because most wiring is a minimum of 14 gauge which is rated at 15 amps. I can't remember ever seeing a 10 amp breaker. Perhaps I did in the old days and just forgot. Is the breaker many decades old?

Answer 2

What I discern (which may be wrong because of your discription or some other unknown) from your statement and results is that you have two light fixtures operating on one switch (and it likely does the same thing no matter which way you throw the switch) and you accidentally crossed the wires or crossed one wire to ground causing a dead short to ground. If your house hasn't burned down already, carefully unwrap this now (and be careful not to get shocked). Place green to ground on any fixture, black to black and white to white. If this is confusing or you have something different then have someone else with more experience take a look at this and wire it back for you.

Answer 3

here is where it gets tricky. see the theory goes black to black, white to white, and ground to green. but, if the lights are controlled by a switch next to the door , then you need to know if the power has been run to the switch or the light(s). now if the power is run to the switch then the black wires (hot) are hooked up to the switch. the white wires are connected and the switch and box are hooked to the ground. then over at the first light the wires from the switch and the second light are hooked to the wires to the first light, black to black, white to white, and a ground wire from the light box to all of the ground wires in the box. BUT, if the power was run to the light box then that changes most of what i just said. see now a wire is run to the switch from the light box, but it only has three wires in it, the black, white, and ground. in this wire both the black and the white are now hot and they are both hooked up to the switch. so electricity can be tricky to say the least, if not deadly. and since you are working where electricity will be used near water, do everyone in your house a favor and call an electrician. better safe than sorry. no sense getting someone killed to save a couple of dollars. good luck.

Answer 4

Call a certified electrician. He can check your circuits, change and install a new circuit breaker properly. Until its repaired do not force the switch into the "on" position, this could cause further problems. Oh by the way make sure the light switch to the fixture remains in the "off" position until this is repaired.

Answer 5

I agree with Zen, you have shorted a wire to ground. An open circuit won't trip a breaker. DON'T force a tripped breaker it trips to protect you, leave it tripped or off and call an electrician, he will have the tools and know how to fix it. I myself have 7 yrs electrical experience .

Answer 6

You have ground out the circuit when you changed the light.
Most likely you crossed wires.

Answer 7

U HAVE TO SHUT THE BREAKER OFF COMPLETELY AND TURN IT BACK ON. IF IT TRIPS AGAIN, A QUICK CLICK, THEN U HAVE A OPEN CIRCUIT SOMEWHERE.
DISCONNECT WHAT U TRIED TO FIX AND RESET THE BREAKER AGAIN, REMEMBER U MUST TURN IT OFF COMPLETELY BEFORE TURNING IT BACK ON, IF IT QUICK TRIPS THEN U NEED TO CALL A ELECTRICIAN.