# Forcing a breaker to trip



## jproffer (Feb 19, 2005)

It's not as bad as it sounds...read on 

I'm looking into teaching a merit badge class, and one of the requirements is to identify (actually, technically, it says explain how to ID) a tripped breaker. 

I thought it would be nice if they could see a series of breakers with one tripped and then reset it...trouble is, even if I trip it at home on 120 power, which I'd rather not anyway, I'm not sure how to trip it after the first student resets it....or IF that's even possible with low voltage (I assume it is, since the breaker don't care about voltage only amperage).

And if it is (possible with LV), how many batteries would it take....or what is the amperage of, say a D-Cell battery? And even with that info, I haven't thought of how exactly that would work...I guess a bank of batteries and a load over the breaker amperage??

Or if there's another way, I'm all ears....err, uhhh eyes


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## fourcornerhome (Feb 19, 2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN2meBcviDY


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

jproffer said:


> Or if there's another way, I'm all ears....err, uhhh eyes



OK, feast your eyes on this:


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## Bearded Wonder (Jan 21, 2011)

I'm sure this against all manner of scruples/safety regs/good sense/or whatever else, but I showed my six year old how that works by putting a wire in each side of a plug and touching them together. Voila! One tripped breaker, with a bonus of fireworks.


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## Timo (Nov 22, 2006)

I just use a pair of lineman pliers. Works every time.


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## woodchuck2 (Feb 27, 2008)

I was curious to see where this was going. Definitely not a good thing to do shorting it with 120v power although i have seen it done and of course done it myself by accident when working on a live circuit. My old boss was frustrated one day when his detector would not pick up the particular circuit he wanted off in this old home we were working on. So, he said to hell with it and jumped the line to ground. Well sir, the sparks commenced and what scared me was i could hear the old BX casing crackling through the walls and ceiling for several seconds until the breaker tripped. That was on top of the list of some of the dumber things i saw him do. I was a nervous wreck thinking he may have just started a fire somewhere in this old house. After working on the circuit i powered it back up and we waited an hour or so before we left to be sure there were no problems. He never did that move of idiocy again.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

ClaytonR said:


> I'm sure this against all manner of scruples/safety regs/good sense/or whatever else, but I showed my six year old how that works by putting a wire in each side of a plug and touching them together. Voila! One tripped breaker, with a bonus of fireworks.



"Daddy, what's it like when an air bag goes off?"

"Gee, I dunno. Let's get in the truck and drive into a brick wall."


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## Bearded Wonder (Jan 21, 2011)

480sparky said:


> "Daddy, what's it like when an air bag goes off?"
> 
> "Gee, I dunno. Let's get in the truck and drive into a brick wall."


HA! I submit that those two things are vastly different, but that's funny....


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## jproffer (Feb 19, 2005)

Yea, I've done it too...but I'm not the least bit interested in teaching boy scouts how to jump hot to ground. Not to mention, this demo box will not be powered up.

480: I guess I should have told the whole story...these breakers will be in a demo model of a panel/meter. Hitting it on the side would be tough once everything is installed. But thanks for the thought just the same, and if you know of another (safe) way, I'd love to hear it.

I'd even settle for an unsafe way, but that the boys would never see :whistling .

Sparks inside the panel I can live with...sparks and light show for them, not so much.

EDIT: I just contradicted myself, lol...this panel will have no power so nevermind the sparks inside/outside thing.


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

jproffer said:


> ...........480: I guess I should have told the whole story...these breakers will be in a demo model of a panel/meter. Hitting it on the side would be tough once everything is installed. But thanks for the thought just the same, and if you know of another (safe) way, I'd love to hear it.
> .......


You mean it's too much trouble to spend 30 seconds to pull a breaker out, 'trip' it, and reinstall it? :blink:


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## jproffer (Feb 19, 2005)

LOL 

No I suppose not if that's the only way. The cover will be on, but I can pull that too.

Thanks


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## Tom Struble (Mar 2, 2007)

why not show them how a gfci works instead :thumbup:


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

jproffer said:


> LOL
> 
> No I suppose not if that's the only way. The cover will be on, but I can pull that too.
> 
> Thanks


An easy way to 'temp' a panel cover is to use some small bolts, nuts and wingnuts. 










Put a bolt & nut in 'backwards', so you can install the cover over the ends of the bolts, 










then use a wingnut to secure the cover.


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## jproffer (Feb 19, 2005)

I like that :thumbsup:

Tom: I'd still have to have power to cause the imbalance and trip the GFI.

I'll probably go with the cover on the reversed bolts idea and just "bump trip" it in between each person.

Thanks to all for the input. I'm not opposed to other ideas, even now, but barring some miracle way of doing it while it's installed, I'll probably go with 480's suggestions.


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## tenon0774 (Feb 7, 2013)

Timo said:


> I just use a pair of lineman pliers. Works every time.


They have to be "brand new", though... :whistling

I have a pair of side cutters with an arc hole, that I just can't seem to part with.

Damn knob and tube.


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## jproffer (Feb 19, 2005)

tenon0774 said:


> They have to be "brand new", though... :whistling
> 
> I have a pair of side cutters with an arc hole, that I just can't seem to part with.
> 
> Damn knob and tube.


That's just a start of a good pair of strippers. Now all ya gotta do is arc out some other sizes....people pay good money for that stuff...good for you for making your own :thumbsup:


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## essrmo (May 2, 2007)

jproffer said:


> Yea, I've done it too...but I'm not the least bit interested in teaching boy scouts how to jump hot to ground. Not to mention, this demo box will not be powered up.
> 
> 480: I guess I should have told the whole story...these breakers will be in a demo model of a panel/meter. Hitting it on the side would be tough once everything is installed. But thanks for the thought just the same, and if you know of another (safe) way, I'd love to hear it.
> 
> ...


don't quit your day job. :laughing:


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## 480sparky (Feb 1, 2009)

ClaytonR said:


> HA! I submit that those two things are vastly different, but that's funny....



"Hey, Dad... I just heard of a new game called Russian Roulette. Do you know how to play it?"

"Why, sure, son. Go upstairs and get me the 1911."


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

480sparky said:


> "Hey, Dad... I just heard of a new game called Russian Roulette. Do you know how to play it?"
> 
> "Why, sure, son. Go upstairs and get me the 1911."


Aw come on now, who plays Russian Roulette with a 1911 Colt...:whistling

A three shot Saturday Night Special.......maybe....:laughing:


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## tedanderson (May 19, 2010)

You guys are going about it the wrong way. :no:

If you want to intentionally trip a breaker and do it "safely" all you have to do is put a load on the circuit that exceeds the amperage of the breaker.

So what I would do is get a couple of electric irons, a coffee urn, and a space heater and plug everything into outlets on the same circuit. You might have to convert down to a 15 amp breaker if all of your receptacle wiring is 20 amps. 

Also you could use a couple of 15 amp breakers to replace the double breaker on your electric range. The electric range will run on 15 amps provided that you use only one burner. But as soon as you turn on multiple burners, eventually the breaker will trip. 

Either arrangement would make a for a great functional example of why a breaker would trip in most real-world situations. Breakers sometimes trip as a result of a short circuit on a bad lamp cord, however, most times a circuit will trip from an everyday household overload.


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