Could this cause my overload light to turn on?

[Anonymous user]

I have the p11vnt3 surgearrest. My overload light comes on ONLY when my ceiling fan light turns on. I can have nothing else turned on in the circuit, and it will still light up overload when the ceiling fan light turns on. Also, with ceiling fan light OFF, I can have everything turned on and the overload light stays off.

I'm wondering what the causes of this can be? I suspect the ceiling fan may have reversed polarity, the hot and neutral wires were swapped. However, this is not the only surgearrest I own. The living room also has a surgearrest, and it also has reversed polarity, yet the overload light does not turn on that surgearrest. Also, our building does have proper grounding also, so I don't think it's due to a lack of ground.

Eventually, I will correct the reversed wiring that someone down the road installed incorrectly, but typically, most electronics run fine with hot and neutral wires swapped as long as the voltage is still correct, which it is.

What are your thoughts as to the causes of the overload light?

[BillP · Accepted solution]

Hi James,

After reading your post, a few things popped into mind:

• Since ceiling fans are motors, there are times when motor loads can cause a larger inrush current initially when turned on which may lead the overload light to come on.
• To clarify, it's the overload light and the building wiring fault lit (presumably for hot/neutral wires mixed up) at the same time? Other causes for building wiring fault other than reversed polarity would be missing ground like you mentioned or overloaded neutral (over 5V on the neutral wire with respect to ground).
• Is the overload light staying on constantly with the fan running or does it turn off after a while?
• Is the circuit breaker (on/off) button tripping at any time? Per the manual, the overload light comes on at 12A so it's possible the light is on without tripping the breaker (NEC dictates you shouldn't put over 80% on a circuit continuously - in this case a 15A circuit)
• What's the model number of the other surge arrest you have in your living room (or is it the same type)?
• Has this surge arrest had any problems before?

In any case, getting your house wired properly is important so we don't start troubleshooting other issues before tackling the known issues. 

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Tommy