Lights making main breaker trip!

[schmnr]

I have 250 watt metal halides, and today out of the blue they started making my circuit breaker trip, not just the line that the lights are connected to, but the main breaker. Anyone have any ideas why this is happening?

[ckusnierek]

Sounds VERY strange that the Main is tripping. That should be a 100 or 200 amp breaker. The wiring in your wall would melt before they could handle close to that much amps.

Sounds strange, It's only when the light come on?

[schmnr]

I thought it was strange too. The first time I thought maybe it was a fluke, but after I got it back up and turned the metal halides back on, about 10 min later they set the main off again.

[schmnr]

There is also a pretty nice powerstrip and a GFCI that the lights are plugged into.

[ckusnierek]

Still to have the main tripping before a 20 amp breaker does would cause me to take my family out of the house and not go back till I had an electrician there to check it out.

I would think there is something wired seriously wrong for that to be happening.

Have you checked your homes ground? The main grounding rod outside the house?
If it has broke it may cause this to happen.

[schmnr]

Well its only a 15 amp breaker, but I have no idea how to find the grounding rod for my house. It is tripping the 15 amp breaker, but its also tripping the main.

[ckusnierek]

Something sounds seriously WRONG...

But it could just be a faulty main or 15a breaker...

Have you tried the lights in another circuit?

[schmnr]

No, I havent messed with the lights. I just turned them off. I dont really know what I'm going to do about them. Could one of the ballists be causing this?

[ckusnierek]

For a 2.5amp ballast to be still working then trippnig a 200 amp breaker I would suspect something else is wrong. If it was just a short even straight short to ground the GFCI should be tripping not the 15amp much less 200amp main.

Like I said it could be faulty breakers but there are many more appliances in y7our home that draw many more amps than your lights do. Maybe it's a faulty 15 amp breaker causing the main to trip. I would try it in another outlet. If you cannot remove the light run a HD extension cord from another room. just to test it out.

[schmnr]

I will give that a try in the morning. How long can I go on just the PC actinics running before everything starts to suffer. The main thing thats needs it is my duresa clam.

[ckusnierek]

your probably ok for a few (2-3) weeks

[schmnr]

Thanks, its going to be a couple of weeks till I can get someone to test my breaker, it probably is a bad breaker, but I'm wondering if my lights caused the problem.

[Loverotties]

I bet it's a weak breaker,my guess the main.

[schmnr]

Ya, I may have worn out the breaker that the tank is on, its been popped a few times. Its just kind of strange for the main to pop, thats what worried me. probably not going to be a cheap fix. Anyone know a good electrician in Jacksonville?

[TahoeMtn]

My guess is that you are going to find two bad breakers in your box.

The 15 amp and the main, only the main will be very expensive.

If the 15 amp is not GFCI already, replace it with one that is.