If the breaker is a Sq "D" there will be a red flag in the clear window on the face of the breaker. For all breakers including Sq "D", when in the trip fault position the handle will be between the full on and full off position. To reset the breaker move the handle over to the full off position. You should feel and hear a click. This is the breaker being reset. Then move the breaker handle over to the full on position. If the breaker trips instantaneously when moved to the on position do not reset it. Time to do some trouble shooting. Find out what is on that circuit and if any devices are plugged into it. Remove any plugged in devices from the circuit and try to reset again. If it still trips, leave the circuit off, it is time to call in an electrician. Wires that are short circuiting in the wall or in receptacle boxes can become dangerous very quickly if left energized.
Check the wire that goes to your break light. Somewhere along the circuit it is grounded before the lamp and after the switch. Look on the circuit from the switch to the lamp. What is happening is, the circuit is good up to the time that you apply the break. This closes that brake light switch, When the switch closes it sees the dead short and not the lamp. The breaker popping is protecting the circuit wiring from burning up.
In the USA electrical circuit breaker panels are NOT allowed inside clothes closets. If the panel is in an open area or hallway and is a dead-front design (no exposed live parts with all the covers in place) then there is no rule that prevents a coat hook or hooks from being mounted above the panel
If everything on the circuit is dead, I would start at the breaker box.Start with the simple stuff -trip and reset every breaker individually, not just the suspicious circuit or just the main. Sometimes, a breaker trips -but not to the extent that the tab flips to "off".If that doesn't work, leave the breaker on and, with a multimeter set to ACV, put one lead on the ground bar and the other on the screw head on the breaker. You should get a reading of 110V -if not 110V, then remove and replace that breaker.If you do get a 110V reading, the problem is an "open" in the circuit. Think of a circuit as a chain and the outlets/switches are the links. If a link is not connected, the remainder of the circuit (everything after the open) will not work. Start at the breaker box and trace the circuit to each of its connections at the switches and outlets. Remove the outlet/switch covers and peek inside the box to make sure the connections are secure. You can inspect the circuit with the power on or off. If you do leave the power on, use extreme caution while you're probing around -you might just find the open circuit the hard way!If you still don't find the open circuit, test each link (outlet/switch) separately, again starting closest to the breaker box.
I know what would happen. The three amp fuse would blow. Any device that is plugged into a receptacle with out having sufficient resistance to limit the current flow will dead short the circuit and cause the breaker that feeds the circuit to trip. In this case the fuse being of a lower rating that the feed breaker the fuse will blow without tripping the receptacle's feed breaker.
First unplug the TV. Some TVs may still draw current when off, but not enough to cause a breaker to trip. However you still want to make sure you don't fry your TV as you troubleshoot. If there is nothing plugged in to any outlet on the branch circuit and there are no light fixtures the problem is a bad breaker or in the wiring. The ideal is to have an electrician troubleshoot since you can kill yourself while messing with the breaker panel if you don't know what you are doing. Turn breaker off, make sure with a meter that the breaker is no longer hot and remove the wire by unscrewing the lug screw. Do the same for another breaker of the same rating. Hook the first wire removed to the second breaker. Turn on the second breaker. If it doesn't trip the problem is first breaker, and you need to replace it. If the second breaker trips it is the wiring. With the second wire and breaker restored to original connection, leave the first wire disconnected. Measure the resistance with a meter of the disconnected first wire to neutral which are where white wires are connected in panel. If you have everything unplugged there should be an open circuit. If not you need to start disconnecting wires in outlets and fixtures on the branch circuit and determine where the short is. Since breaker stays on for 30 seconds it is likely the breaker since a dead short would trip breaker immediately. The exception would be a short that is causing a current to flow that is very close to the rating of the breaker. If the breaker is good then I suspect you have something plugged in you don't know about.
No. A circuit breaker is like a fuse, it protects a circuit from a catastrophe if a dead short should occur.
You have a dead short in that circuit.
Yes, the code requires a complete dead front so that no access can be made to the bare distribution bus behind the panel face.
Headlights? Sounds like a dead short to ground in circuit, -circuit breaker tripping and resetting? Investigate circuit to find frayed or loose wire contacting ground
Check the wire that goes to your break light. Somewhere along the circuit it is grounded before the lamp and after the switch. Look on the circuit from the switch to the lamp. What is happening is, the circuit is good up to the time that you apply the break. This closes that brake light switch, When the switch closes it sees the dead short and not the lamp. The breaker popping is protecting the circuit wiring from burning up.
When a motor starts the circuit breaker sees an almost dead short. Until the motor starts generating a back EMF , which opposes the current flow when rotation starts, the current is high. If the breaker is sized to the motors full load amperage, each time the motor is started, the breaker will trip.
The most likely problem is that the breaker has tripped. On some breakers there is a indication window that shows a red flag if the breaker needs resetting. On other breakers there is no indication but a slight misalignment of the breaker handle as compared to the other ones. On the distribution panel find the breaker number of the circuit that is off from the panel index. Push the breaker handle to the furthest off position that you can. As the handle is moved to the off position you will feel a bit of resistance. Push past it as that is the breaker resetting. Return the breaker to the on position to see if the circuit has re-energized. The only other reason is that a wire has become disconnected in the circuit. If you have been doing any electrical work on the circuit start looking in that area. To troubleshoot these types of problems it will require the use of a volt meter to check to see if the circuit is "hot" from the breaker out. Then it is just a matter of finding where the voltage stops and locate the problem.
In the USA electrical circuit breaker panels are NOT allowed inside clothes closets. If the panel is in an open area or hallway and is a dead-front design (no exposed live parts with all the covers in place) then there is no rule that prevents a coat hook or hooks from being mounted above the panel
If everything on the circuit is dead, I would start at the breaker box.Start with the simple stuff -trip and reset every breaker individually, not just the suspicious circuit or just the main. Sometimes, a breaker trips -but not to the extent that the tab flips to "off".If that doesn't work, leave the breaker on and, with a multimeter set to ACV, put one lead on the ground bar and the other on the screw head on the breaker. You should get a reading of 110V -if not 110V, then remove and replace that breaker.If you do get a 110V reading, the problem is an "open" in the circuit. Think of a circuit as a chain and the outlets/switches are the links. If a link is not connected, the remainder of the circuit (everything after the open) will not work. Start at the breaker box and trace the circuit to each of its connections at the switches and outlets. Remove the outlet/switch covers and peek inside the box to make sure the connections are secure. You can inspect the circuit with the power on or off. If you do leave the power on, use extreme caution while you're probing around -you might just find the open circuit the hard way!If you still don't find the open circuit, test each link (outlet/switch) separately, again starting closest to the breaker box.
I know what would happen. The three amp fuse would blow. Any device that is plugged into a receptacle with out having sufficient resistance to limit the current flow will dead short the circuit and cause the breaker that feeds the circuit to trip. In this case the fuse being of a lower rating that the feed breaker the fuse will blow without tripping the receptacle's feed breaker.
Proably due to a GFCI breaker located in an outlet either in the bathroom or on the same circuit, possibly in another room like the kitchen or other bathroom. You will see the button on the outlet....
Assuming a circuit breaker is also installed, then you will have a phase-to-ground fault, or a dead short. This will cause the current draw to spike and extreme heat to be created, which will hopefully trip the breaker, which will stop the current flow. If no breaker or fuse is used, then the wires will eventually catch fire from the extreme heat.