Pool Light Tripping Breaker

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smartin187

Member
May 30, 2019
18
Destin,FL
I have this odd situation where the pool light breaker trips if I turn on the pool pump on. I can have the pump on and then turn on the lights and it immediately trips. I first thought it was a water leak issue in the lights but they and the connections are dry. I have no issue with the breaker tripping as long an I dont try to turn on the pump. Anyone have clue where I need to look? My system is a pentair easy touch.

Thanks,
 
Martin,

You have the same GFCI for the pump and the light? Or does the pump have its own GFCI and the light is using the GFCI outlet in the bottom right of the EasyTouch?

What kind of pump do you have?

If it has been working well for a while and just now went bad, I would replace the GFCI outlet.. (Obviously, because you already checked the light)..

If this is new and never worked, then I would suspect it is somehow mis-wired.

Thanks,

Jim R.
 
Jimrahbe said:
Martin,

You have the same GFCI for the pump and the light? Or does the pump have its own GFCI and the light is using the GFCI outlet in the bottom right of the EasyTouch?

What kind of pump do you have?

If it has been working well for a while and just now went bad, I would replace the GFCI outlet.. (Obviously, because you already checked the light)..

If this is new and never worked, then I would suspect it is somehow mis-wired.

Thanks,

Jim R.
Click to expand...

I will have to take a picture of it and let you see. The light is on its breaker on the top left of the panel, the very first breaker. Only the light trips the pump never trips. Pump is a variable speed intelliflo.

Thanks
 
Thank you for the picture. Separate from your pool GFCI discussion, the tan wire harness on the right side of the load center, the one that has a black zip around it at the base of the load center appears to be a low voltage sensor wire and it has no reason to be in the high voltage section of the load center. I'm guessing it might be a a solar temp sensor. I think this wire should get re-routed.and enter the load center from the bottom left along with the rest of the valve actuator, sensor and control wires. I don't think it has anything to do with your GFCI tripping, but I think it is safer. I'm not going to debate it, and don't want to derail your GFCI discussion. I would simply relocate that wire. It should be easy to unplug, reroute up the left side and plug in and completely avoid the lower section with high voltage wiring.
 
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Martin,

Your GFCI breaker for your lights has the white pigtail connected to the ground bus when it should be connected to the Neutral bus. That would be the first thing that I would try..

I will send you a PM..

Thanks,

Jim R.
 

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I'm a little confused by the high voltage wiring in your load center. Not saying it is wrong, but I don't understand it.


The vertical bar next to the breakers is the neutral bus, and it looks like there is a heavy gauge black wire connected to it. I've always seen white used for neutral. Is this really a neutral ?

Can you confirm this panel is this only setup for 120V?

If the neutral bar is really neutral ( and not the other half of a 220V feed ) then the GFCI breaker doesn't look to be wired correctly. I believe the white wire from the breaker should connect to neutral, not the ground bus bar.
 
Other wierd things on that panel ...

- There are no connections to the neutral bar. So where are the neutrals for the 120v circuits connected?

- looks like neutral and grounds are connected together which is not allowed.

- We should see 3 neutral connections.
 
Last edited:
https://www.platinumpoolservice.com...ouch_Load-Power_Center_Installation_Guide.pdf

the installation guide covers several models, but I think it should include yours. Perhaps it will help.

I would start by tracking down every wire in the high voltage panel and labeling each one.

The in-panel salt chlorine generator looks like it is disconnected. I'm wondering if it failed, or if the easy touch was installed after the SWCG panel to the right

Is there another panel for pool wiring not in the picture ?
 
smartin187 said:
This is all new to me. Not sure who the previous owners used to wire the panel. I am here to fix whatever y’all tell me to.
Click to expand...


Studying this more ...

You have only one 120V circuit for your pool light. The top breaker. And we don’t see where the neutral connection is for that. You would need to trace the wiring from a junction box to figure that out.

The two lower circuit breakers that look like 120V circuits power the system transformer for 240V. Those two CBs should be physically connected so both sides disconnect at the same time. You should be able to buy a bar that ties the CB handles together.

Let’s say that panel was very sloppily done.

Put some white tape around the black wire connected to the neutral bus to indicate it is a neutral line.

Reroute that tan low voltage cable to the left hand low voltage raceway.
 
Pentair sent someone out to fix my new intellichlor because it was not reading the salt ppm and they just installed that exterior power panel for it. I assume they disconnected the pool pane power center that it used to be connected to.
 

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