Will try and make this brief. I recently installed a sub panel and needed room in my main for the new twin 30 amp breaker to power up sub. I installed 2 twin mini 15 amp breakers to replace the 4 single 15 amp breakers to make the room needed for the twin 30’s. Powered the main panel back up and that night noticed the lights flickering. Tested the volts in a receptacle that a floor lamp was plugged into. When the lights flickered the volts dropped to 115-118 volts then returned to 121 volts. Went to main panel and isolated the circuit. It was one of the ones on the twin mini 15’s. Went thru and made sure all hots, neutrals and grounds were tight. Even switched the breaker to a new position on the buss and no change. Thx in advance, Pete
Flickering Lights
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Is that the only circuit with this problem? Put this circuit on another breaker and that removed circuit on the new breaker. This will isolate whether it is a bad breaker or a problem in the wiring.
Thank you kindly for your response. It seems to be the only affected circuit. The issue is a bit sporadic. Have had the same lights on now for quite a while and no issues. Notice it mostly at night. Maybe cuz I am sitting here for longer periods of time watching tv ect. This is second group of twin 15s I have tried. The first set were Circuit Limiting breakers. They would not fit in my Siemens panel. So..... I removed the metal tab and opened up the buss slot to allow it to fit on my buss..(I know, I know) not good idea or code. So fired up panel and all worked good. Then the lights started flickering several hours later. (At night). So changed out those breakers to legit Non Circuit Limiting twin 15’s. Now having same issue. Sorry for long post.
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a maxed out local grid may also be playing a part in this problem !
:glasses:
:glasses:
No voltage drop on the sub. The circuits on the sub are fine. To try and isolate the problem, I shut the twin 30’s off that power up the sub and still had the issue. Interesting enough, no flickering of lights last night. If I had hair I would pull it out. The one set of twin 15’s that the affected circuit is on is only reading 115 volts at the breaker with or without a load. The other twin 15 is 122 volts at the breaker. Thinking it was a bad twin, I swapped wires to other twin breaker but still had issue. Seems like a bad wiring issue, but only started having problem when I wired the new sub and had to change out breakers in main to make room. Thx for trying to help!
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Is the voltage ok on all other breakers? In other words, are both phases ok or is 1 lower than the other? Try moving the new breaker to another location in the panel.
Yes the voltage on the other breakers in the panel seem to be 121-122 volts. Checked the twin 15 in question today and it registers 121 volts on both poles. Did place the breaker in different location in the panel and lights still flickered. Haven’t had the issues now for day and a half. Confused.
If this was a service call for an electrician, what steps would they take to trouble shoot? Especially if the issue was so intermittent? Thx again for trying to help.
If this was a service call for an electrician, what steps would they take to trouble shoot? Especially if the issue was so intermittent? Thx again for trying to help.
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