Our pool light was on during a rainstorm a few weeks back, and tripped the GFCI. Troubleshooting time! (I have a bit of electrical background so know what to touch and when).
When I initially reset it, it came back on for a minute then tripped again, it did this a few more times, then started tripping immediately.
I took apart all of the junction boxes, the panel, and the switch today and could not find any water ingress, so I figured it was a coincidence that the rain was coming down at the time, and investigated the light.
The light was about half full of water, and clearly had been for a long time due to the "high tide' mark inside of it once disassembled. I dried it out and removed the bulbs. It still tripped.
I disconnected the pool light ground wires from junction box grounding pin and reset the GFCI. It no longer tripped, the light did not come on, but the whole lighting assembly triggered my no contact voltage detector from about a foot back. This indicated (I think) that the ground fault was coming from the light, or the supply line to the light. At no time did the main breaker on the panel trip during this process.
I'm thinking that at this point, that the whole light assembly needs replacing. That said, it seems like a fairly simple unit electrically so its frustrating that it may need replacement. It has two bulbs and a color wheel that rotates to change the color. I cant find any information about it online.
If anybody has some handy tips to salvage the unit, they would be appreciated.
When I initially reset it, it came back on for a minute then tripped again, it did this a few more times, then started tripping immediately.
I took apart all of the junction boxes, the panel, and the switch today and could not find any water ingress, so I figured it was a coincidence that the rain was coming down at the time, and investigated the light.
The light was about half full of water, and clearly had been for a long time due to the "high tide' mark inside of it once disassembled. I dried it out and removed the bulbs. It still tripped.
I disconnected the pool light ground wires from junction box grounding pin and reset the GFCI. It no longer tripped, the light did not come on, but the whole lighting assembly triggered my no contact voltage detector from about a foot back. This indicated (I think) that the ground fault was coming from the light, or the supply line to the light. At no time did the main breaker on the panel trip during this process.
I'm thinking that at this point, that the whole light assembly needs replacing. That said, it seems like a fairly simple unit electrically so its frustrating that it may need replacement. It has two bulbs and a color wheel that rotates to change the color. I cant find any information about it online.
If anybody has some handy tips to salvage the unit, they would be appreciated.