[jfguerrero1]

I am doing some remodeling and I wanted to replace a 25 year old light with a recessed light and add a second (actually wanted to do 3 lights in one string - sorry not an electrician so not sure the name for this, but it is a daisy chain of 3 lights on the existing wire/switch) recessed light. I removed the old light fixture (picture below) and added a new 6" inch led recessed light. All went well - the light turned on. I then added a second light by adding additional wire (Type NM-B 12/2), everything is on 12 guage as I have 20 amp breakers, the length of the new wire is about 8 feet. I used the quick connects that came with the new light fixtures - easy to connect; black to black, white to white, green to ground. The second light is a 4" led recessed light. I turned the light switch on to check the second connection and the breaker was tripped.

The old light has a 60 watt max lamp warning. The 2 new light fixtures, as they are LED use 14 watts (6" light) and 9 watts (4" light) I figured the combined watts, as they do not exceed 60 watts would not be a problem. Adding the 3rd 4" recessed light, an additional 9 watts, for a total of 32 watts would still not be a problem.

But I don't know why adding the second light caused the breaker to trip.

Any ideas?, Your help is greatly appreciated. Photos attached.

 

[HandyAndyInNC]

The breaker tripped because you have a dead short.



Make certain that you are creating a parallel circuit. A daisy chain is more of a series circuit. Use an electrical meter to measure the voltage on the line side. Draw out your parallel circuit on paper and follow that.

 

[miamicuse]

Could be many things. Need to examine your connections closely.

Years ago I was replacing all the receptacles and switches at an old house and once I made all the changes and flipped the breaker on it trips.

I was surprised because I double & triple checked all my connections and I knew nothing was loose. After some trouble shooting I narrowed it down to one box being the culprit, and the breaker would trip only when the receptacle was securely mounted on the metal box. If I loosen the receptacle from the box everything works.

Turned out it was the mounting screws. I had an EMT conduit coming in from the top center hole of the box, the conduit had multiple solid #12 conductors, and the conductors are interwined at the entrance of the conduit when the longer than normal (because that box was recessed a bit more) mounting screw hit the conductors, my continuing tightening caused it to pierce the insulation and made contact with the bare copper. Once I loosened that screw, everything worked again. What's the chance of that?

 

[MTN REMODEL LLC]

Did you add new boxes and overcrank /tighten a cable clamp pinching off insulation....I've seen that happen.

 

[jfguerrero1]

Thank to all for replying. I had a similar issue with an exhaust fan tripping the breaker - it was due to the clamp being on too tight. I am going to check the clamps on this problem to see if it is the same problem. I'll update later today. Everyone stay safe out there!

 

[jfguerrero1]

Just to complete the thread on this issue. And thank those that replied. The issue was caused by over tightening the clamp on the cable entry to the box. The lights are working.

 

[MTN REMODEL LLC]

Just to complete the thread on this issue. And thank those that replied. The issue was caused by over tightening the clamp on the cable entry to the box. The lights are working.

Sometimes more power (on the screwdriver) is not good....l:wink2::smile: