I'm hoping someone can help me with this electrical problem that I am having... I'll start from the beginning.
Today, I replaced a light fixture in my bathroom. The install was smooth and easy, and the light worked fine. I turned the lights off and closed the bathroom door.
About 30 minutes later, while eating dinner, I noticed out of the corner of my eye the hallway light shut off. I went to the breaker box, and sure enough, the breaker had tripped.
I switched the breaker back on, turned the light on, and it tripped again. I switched it back on again and tried turning the same light on from its other switch, and the same thing happened again. I then switched the bulb out, performed the same steps, and all of the same things happened again.
And, yes, the hallway light is on the same breaker as the recently-changed light fixture in the bathroom. That being said, while I was resetting the breaker, I checked on the bathroom lights. I turned it on and everything was fine. The light turned on, stayed on, and did not trip the breaker.

I am the first owner of this 2 year old house and have never had any electrical problems prior to this. Common sense tells me that the installation of the new light fixture and the other fixture on the same breaker setting it off are 100% related, but being the notice DIY electrician, I would like confirmation from someone with some more experience.

Assuming that your answer is the obvious, expected, and well-deserved "yes, they are related and you are an idiot," what steps should I take to fix this? The breaker is currently OFF and will not be turned back ON until this is resolved, either by my friends on this forum or by a licensed elecrician.

Yes they are related but you are taking the right steps to fix it so the idiot thing is up for review.

You mentioned "it's other switch" - are there two switches that operate this same fixture? If so, then that is likely your problem as wiring three-way switches can be tricky. Without electrical experience it will be a bit of trial and error to rearrange the wires the three-way switches but the best way to find the problem yourself would be to retrace whatever you have already done. Look at any connections you touched and see if you can figure out if you rewired something different.

Beyond that, could be time to call in a pro.

could be a wire going around an unprotected sharp edge has taken a cut. with breaker off, skate your fingernails along the wire where it was near edges of stuff. if you find an area catching, fix the sharp edge or avoid it, and put at least two wraps of good electrical tape like 33+ over the wire area. then retry things.

if there was no safety bushing entering the new or old fixture, that's a Bingo! point to check for damage.

quote:

Originally posted by swschrad:
could be a wire going around an unprotected sharp edge has taken a cut. with breaker off, skate your fingernails along the wire where it was near edges of stuff. if you find an area catching, fix the sharp edge or avoid it, and put at least two wraps of good electrical tape like 33+ over the wire area. then retry things.

if there was no safety bushing entering the new or old fixture, that's a Bingo! point to check for damage.

Safety bushing. Can I assume you are speaking of "red hats", required for armored cable by the NEC ?

If there were no problems prior to your change-out, then the install is the prime culprit. Here are some questions:

What is the wiring configuration where you installed the new light fixture? how many wires, what colors and how are they connected to the fixture?

You have a 2-way switch in the hallway, correct, but a one-way in your bathroom, correct? You only touched the wiring in the bathroom, correct? If so, then either you wired something wrong or something is grounding causing your breaker to keep tripping. Here is what you can do to isolate the problem:

De-install the new fixture and cap your wires, then turn the breaker back on and see if the hallway lights trip the breaker. If not, then either your wiring job was incorrect or either the wiring or light fixture is faulty. If you reinstall the old fixture the exact same way: blk hot, white neutral, green/bare to grd, and the lights work, breaker does not trip, something is wrong with the fixture.wiring.

Finally, a remote chance, but sometimes flipping a potentially defective breaker, when turned back on, could keep tripping...again, remote chance, but it is one last option if everything else eventually checks out.

Post back and let us know,
tstex

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