Question for the electricions out there, coop electrical problem.

[70monte]

Quote:
That is correct. The outside receptacle is on the same circuit as the GFCI receptacle that is right inside the house by the back door. When I plug in the extension cord that is connected to the coop, the GFCI receptacle inside the back door trips. I can plug in my skil saw or drill using the same extension cord and run either of these tools and the GFCI will not trip. This is why I kind of suspect something inside the coop is not right, specifically the receptacle since its the only thing that has power when the light switch inside the coop is off. Thanks.

Wayne

 

[70monte]

Quote:
Thanks, I would appreciate that and thanks for all of the other responses. I'm going to go back out to the coop and look at the wiring hooked to the inside receptacle and see if anything is switched. When I looked at it the other day, the black wires were attached on one side of the receptacle and the white wire to the other side and the ground to the ground. Whether or not the white and black wires are on the correct side of the receptacle, I don't know.

Wayne

 

[woodguy]

It's possible that there could be something wrong with the GFCI outlet as well.

 

[70monte]

The GFCI outlet is new but the outside outlets that are on the same circuirt are old. I just looked at all of the wires in the coop again and opened up the outlet and light switch box as well as took apart both lights and nothing is crossed and hot, nuetral and ground wires appear to be going to the correct side of the receptacle. The light switch only has the black wires going to the two side terminals and the ground going to the ground terminal. I assume this is correct for the switch.

Wayne

 

[pokeytolman]

Ok first I am an Electrician 20yrs Both residential and commercial. Azelgin has the right of it look for the Neutral ( white wire ) to be touching the ground usually in the box where you have exposed side terminals. first pull off the coop recepticle, leave it wired then plugg it in if it trips then the problem is not there. at this point undo your make up at the plug so you now have 2 halves of the circuit,safe off your hot wires then plug it in. does it hold? if yes then it is downstream of the plug if not it is between the plug and the gfci. continue this process until you narrow it down. Now one more, thing water in any plug downstream of the gfci will make them trip so that is another thing to look for. if any of this scares you hire an electrician, if any of this doesnt scare you hire an electrician ( you must respect it or it will get you).
good luck

 

[woodguy]

It can brand new and still be faulty.

 

[patvetzal]

Retired electrician of 25yrs: You seem have proven that the GFI is OK. You have isolated the problem to the coop.
There is a chance that you have the white and black wires on the wrong side of a plug somewhere in the coop, or the cord.
There is also a chance that your equipment has a build-up of dust/crud inside which is SLIGHTLY conductive, especially during high humidity. This will trip a GFI. Can you plug anything in your coop into the GFI without it tripping? If you can, then add equipment (lights, heater, whatever) to the cord until it trips.
You are tripping because of a fault somewhere, as opposed to too high current. Its just a case of finding which piece of equipment has the fault, and I'll bet that its in the coop or cord, not the GFI or the outside outlet.
It doesn't take much to trip a GFI, one meter that I use trips a GFI before the meter can show that the circuit is live.

 

[70monte]

The only place where there is a ground wire touching a nuetral wire is in the inside coop light. There are the three wires coming out of the line and only two posts on the light so the guy who built the coop had the ground and nuetral wire on the same post. I don't know if this is supposed to be hooked up this way but the GFCI trips when the light switch is turned off so supposedly there is not power going to the light at that point. If this is not right, do I leave the nuetral or the ground hooked up to the silver post on the light?

I replaced the coop receptacle with a new one and the GFCI still trips so it wasn't the receptacle itself. I also had to replace the inside light base since the screw broke off in it when I was taking it apart so the part the light bulb screws in to is also new.

There are no ground wires touching nuetral wires in the receptacle box or the light switch box. The white and black wires are all on the correct sides of the light switch, receptacle, and both lights. All of the electrical stuff in the coop is new and does not have any dust build up in it. The coop was finished this last Sat. and is when I picked it up.

I doubt the problem is between the end of the extension cord to the GFCI since I can run my skil saw and drill and nothing trips. I have also used different extension cords to power the coop and the power tools with the same results.

I will try some of your other suggestions tomorrow unless you tell me the way the inside light is hooked up is wrong and I will fix that. Thanks again for all of your help.

Wayne

 

[pokeytolman]

Quote:
Ding ding ding
the ground needs to be taken off the neutral terminal and that should fix it for you

 

[70monte]

Thanks guys. After my last post I went out to the coop and took the ground wire off of the nuetral post and everything worked as it should. I then came in to check this post and found that pokeytolman had verified what the problem was. I want to thank everyone who contributed to this post. I was getting frustrated. Now I have lights that can be plugged into the outside house receptacle.

Wayne