Questions & Problem

Bought the GFCI about 1 month ago. Here is a pic of it:

The whole tank is hooked up:

1. Lights
2. Skimmer
3. 2 x Hydor Koralia #1
4. Filter

 

Increasing to 20 Amps is probably not necessary. If you were at the upper end of amperage draw approaching 15, that would not be a variable which would cause a GFI to trip. It would cause your circuit breaker to trip first. GFCIs don't trip because of too high a demand. When functioning properly, they trip when there's an imbalance between the hot and the neutral that exceeds 4-6 milliamps. If the GFCI didn't trip before the light, and now trips repeatedly with the light, try a simple test:

Plug only the light into the GFI and see what happens. Chances are there's something amiss with the fixture. If the GFI trips with or without the lighting fixture, it might be time to change out the GFI. You could also try by trial and error plugging only one component into the GFCI to see which device is the culprit.

GFIs are generally not a safety device prone to nuisance tripping. They're known to work remarkably well.

Good luck!

 

Thank you Sparky, I will try that right now.

 

Ok, Did the test, the daylights are the ones that trip it. What next?

 

Id get a real GFI receptacle and wire it direct. I am required by law to use those types of GFCIs like you have for my job.. they trip all the time when they get some load on them.

 

Sounds like I am going to Home Depot tomorrow. Thank you!

 

Try plugging that lighting fixture into a GFI in your kitchen or bathroom and see if it causes the receptacle to trip. If so, you probably have a bad ballast in the fixture. If not, perhaps the corded GFCI is faulty.