I want to know what do you think?

What was probable cause?

Before that, for last 2-ish years I must replaced 5 LED bulbs.
No other symptoms.

Right before failure, one or two LED bulbs started blinking. I heard “scorching” sound.
And smell of burned electric/electronic (isolation).

Then I disconnected all circuits and opened all surrounding boxes…
Over-current breakers or RCD/GFCI didn’t tripped.

Extra photos:

(ignore temporary jumper - fixed now)

  • @clockwork_octopus
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    57 days ago

    Loose screw on the neutral bar. Maybe it loosened over time, maybe it was never tightened correctly to begin with. Probably both. Regardless, when the gap got big enough and the excess current on that circuit went back through the neutral, it overheated to the point of melting. Good thing you shut that circuit down, you very likely prevented a fire!

    Now the big question is, why didn’t the breaker trip on its own?

    • @[email protected]
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      47 days ago

      A loose connection creates heat, but doesn’t draw additional current. Assuming nothing changed on the load, the breaker wouldn’t see excess current and would have no reason to trip. 16A is plenty enough current to get a bad junction toasty hot without tripping the breaker. Breakers protect from shorts, but can’t protect all faults.

    • lnxtx (xe/xem/xyr)OP
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      6 days ago

      Now the big question is, why didn’t the breaker trip on its own?

      Not enough angry pixies to trip a breaker I think.
      16 A, so at least 3.5 kW power needed → block with loose connection will burn, not melt.

      Summary

      Avoid Legrand brand at all cost:

      • block bus screws are shit, soft metal
      • 3 separated block bus, metal link(s) are not provided

      .

      About consumer unit:

      • “hot” phases: link cables used instead of bus bars
      • maybe second neutral cable should be used instead of wire link
      • no one checks wiring inside unit; only RCD/GFCI is checked

      .

      I had a small UPS on top of the unit - shit…