All circuit breakers turned off at once?

This just happened yesterday - I had added a new 20A circuit to my panel and was putting the cover back on. I had not turned off the main to replace the cover (I know I should have). I had the top right screw in when all the lights in the basement went out. I felt along the breaker switches to see which one had tripped, but none of them were out of place with the ones near it. I removed the screw I had put in and got my flashlight to inspect the panel. Every circuit breaker including the Main were in the off position (not tripped, but off). I put the cover back on by flashlight, then turned the main breaker back on followed by all the rest. Everything came back on, no problems.

Any idea what would cause all the circuit breakers to be turned off at the same time?

 

You probably pushed the edges on the panel cover against the breaker handles thereby moving the handles to the "Off" position. Panel covers are not the best made pieces of metal where a neat precise fit is necessary; the four holes in the panel cover for the cover screws hardy ever align with the taps that the screws thread into .

 

I'm happy to accept that as the answer - it didn't seem like I was moving the cover around before it happened though. It has circuits running down both sides with on to the left and off to the right, so I might have bumped against them. I'm glad to hear (so far) that it wasn't some kind of panel overload I might have caused. Just seemed really odd to me.

 

Who is manufacturer of the panel. Federal Pacific panels are slightly different than most others as the breaker "On" positions are toward the lugs on the breakers. You must be a lot more careful with a FPE panel to keep the cover from turning off the breakers.

 

I have a Siemens panel. I probably hit the breakers with it.
Thanks all!