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Subscribe to Allumiax Blog for updates on power system studies, tips, guides and insights on electrical engineering from industry leaders. From a simple blown globe to various wiring and light fitting faults to rodent damage and weather conditions, some faults are minor, some can be quite serious. If your lights are flickering, dimming, sparking or turning on and off by themselves, you should call an electrician as these can be signs of potentially serious electrical problems. Here are a few tips and ideas to help you identify the problem you may be experiencing and what you can do about it. Don’t forget to check your power points as well. This article describes lighting faults only. If you have no power at all click here to see our information on power faults Which Lights Are Out First you should identify the extent of the problem. How many lights are out? Is it just one fitting, is it just part of the house, or are there no lights working anywhere at all? Most homes have only one lighting circuit. This means all the lights in the house are protected by one fuse or circuit breaker. A problem with just one light fitting can blow the fuse or trip the circuit breaker and put all the lights out. Lamps If only one light is out, the first thing to check is the lamps. Even for a seemingly simple job like changing a lamp, it’s a good idea to turn off the power to the lighting circuit by switching off the circuit breaker. These days many lighting problems can be traced back to poor quality lamps. If you put a new lamp in your light fitting and it blows immediately when you turn the light on it could be a problem with the wiring or the light fitting. If you put a new lamp in and it only lasts a couple of days or a couple of weeks, then it’s more likely a problem with the poor quality of the lamps. Even brand new lamps can be faulty. See our article “Why do my light globes blow all the time” for more information. You can always test a light fitting by removing a lamp from a fitting you know is working and installing it in the non working light. If the light still doesn’t work it must be a problem with the light fitting itself. In this case you will need to call an electrician. A seemingly simple job like changing a light bulb can actually be quite dangerous under certain circumstances. Most lights are high off the ground so you could be setting yourself up for a fall if you don’t have the correct equipment to access them. In older houses a lot of lights are not earthed and so could be an electric shock hazard to anyone who touches them, when a fault occurs. Reset The Circuit Breaker If all your lights are out and you can’t identify an obviously faulty fitting, turn off all lights in the house and then try resetting the circuit breaker or reloading the fuse. (Under these circumstances, circuit breakers are a great advantage over fuses because they are so easy to reset while carrying out the testing, compared to reloading a blown fuse each time.) If the circuit breaker stays on after you reset it, go around the house turning on all the lights one by one. If there is a faulty light fitting the circuit breaker will probably trip when you switch the faulty light on. If this happens then you will need to call an electrician. Make a note of which light is causing the problem and put a piece of tape over the switch to prevent it being turned on again. Lighting problems can be time consuming to locate because all the lights are usually on one circuit. Passing on useful and accurate information to your electrician will make their job quicker and easier and therefore cheaper for you. Water Damage Water in an outside light fitting is a common source of problems, especially if you have an earth-leakage circuit breaker (safety switch) protecting the circuit. In this case turning the light off may not solve the problem as the safety switch can still detect a fault and turn itself off. Heat Damage Lamps with a screw-in type base can sometimes get stuck in the threaded lamp holder and when trying to screw them out you can actually be spinning the whole lamp holder and twisting the wires around behind it. This is a dangerous situation as the wires can break or have the insulation damaged which could result in a short circuit, or even an electric shock for the person trying to change the lamp. The fittings that are more susceptible to this problem are surface mounted spot lights which take an incandescent reflector lamp. The lamps produce a lot of heat and can weld themselves into the lamp holder over time. Sensor Lights Sensor lights can fail due to moisture problems or be affected by a power spike. This may cause them to not work at all or to stay on all the time. A damaged sensor light cannot be repaired. It will have to be replaced. Rodent Damage Rodent damaged wiring can be a serious problem in your roof space and may cause noticeable problems with your lights. Click here for more information. Old Wiring Old rubber cable with crumbling insulation could also cause similar problems. Click here for more information. Other electrical items that may be connected to the lighting circuit include exhaust fans and sweep fans, bathroom Tastics and air-transfer fans. If you can’t find a fault with your lights it may be a fan causing the problem. Smoke detectors are also connected to your lighting circuit but do not generally cause a problem with lights tripping. If you can’t locate and remedy the problem yourself, call an electrician as soon as possible. Don’t attempt any electrical repairs yourself. You don’t need to go to the expense of an after hours callout if your power points are still working. You can get light from any lamp that can plug into a power point and that may be enough to get you by until an electrician can attend. Be very careful with candles as they do present a higher risk of fire. LED torches and lamps are reasonably cheap to buy and don’t use a lot of battery power so you should have a couple handy in case of power faults anyway. Whatever you lighting fault, Mance Electrical can provide free advice and prompt service in Launceston and surrounding areas. Call us today on 6331 4711.
InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website. A diagnostic catalog of the causes & cures of of dimming light fixtures or flickering lights & power losses. How to diagnose the causes of flickering or dimming lights at or in buildings. This article gives simple diagnostic steps that a homeowner can do to determine the type of electrical system problem that is causing flickering or dimming lights or intermittent loss of electrical power. We list the common causes of these problems and suggest what to do about them. Watch out: flickering or dimming lights often indicates a dangerous condition. Switch off the bad acting appliance or circuit and ask for help from a licensed electrician. We also provide an ARTICLE INDEX for this topic, or you can try the page top or bottom SEARCH BOX as a quick way to find information you need. Dimming or Flickering Lights Indicate Electrical Hazards in Buildings: What to DoWatch out: flickering or dimming lights at a building may be more than an inconvenience. While some causes of flickering lights may be normal and harmless, such as flickering in certain types of light bulbs, many others indicate a dangerous condition, risking fire, shock, injury or worse. The safest approach is to turn off electrical circuits or components that are causing flickering or dimming or acting strangely in any way. If you cannot safely access your electrical panel to turn off dangerous circuits or components, leave the building and call your local emergency services. At FLOOD & DISASTER BUILDING DAMAGE REPAIR PROCEDURES we list emergency numbers for various countries from Australia (000) to the U.K. (112). In Canada or the U.S. call 911. In Mexico call 066. [Click to enlarge any image] Photo: a fluorescent light fixture may be the only electrical device that is flickering, for any of several reasons we will explain below. Other causes of flickering lights are very dangerous. How to Diagnose Dimming or Flickering Lights at BuildingsIn diagnosing the cause of flickering or dimming lights at a building the following diagnostic questions can help narrow down the cause of the trouble.
In the photo above I am showing the original data tag for this Fox Co. fluorescent fixture installed in the bathroom of a Minnesota home built in 1961. To stop the flickering light in this luminaire fixture I needed to replace the ballast. Details of repairing dead, humming, dim, or flickering fluorescent lights are at FLUORESCENT LIGHT REPAIRS. Watch out: for flickering light safety hazards and take the immediate safety measures listed here. 18 Causes of Dimming or Flickering Lights or Electrical Power Loss at BuildingsStart by turning off any electrical appliance or circuit that is misbehaving. If you are not trained and familiar with safe electrical practices and repairs, keep your fingers off of the wiring - you could be shocked or killed or could cause a fire. Call for help from a licensed electrician. Check your local telephone listings for licensed electricians or see DIRECTORY OF ELECTRICIANS
Watch out: flickering or dimming lights may, depending on the cause, indicate a dangerous condition. Arcing or overheating at electrical circuits can ultimately lead not only to power loss but to a building fire. That's why we recommend turning off misbehaving electrical equipment while you wait for the electrician. What Level of Flickering Light Can People See?Canada's CCOHS has written some of the most easily understood description of who sees flickering lights, what people can see or sense, and what health effects may occur when exposed to flickering light. Excerpts are below: People can see lights flashing on and off up to about 50 flashes per second (50 Hz) - they are most sensitive to time-varying illumination in the 10-25 Hz range. The actual critical flicker frequency increases as the light intensity increases up to a maximum value, after which it starts to decrease. When a light is flickering at a frequency greater than 50 or so Hertz, most people can no longer distinguish between the individual flickers. At this frequency - the critical flicker frequency or flicker fusion threshold - the flashes appear to fuse into a steady, continuous source of light. This happens because the response to the light stimulus lasts longer than the flash itself. Most people cannot notice the flicker in fluorescent lights that have a flicker rate of 120 cycles per second (or 120 Hz). The light flicker may be detected by its stroboscopic effect. When objects move or rotate rapidly, they may be lit at or about the same position during each cycle or rotation. This makes objects look as if they are moving more slowly than their actual speeds - they may even appear stationary if the object is moving at the same rate as the flicker frequency (or a multiple of it). This fact is the principle behind a strobe light but it is not the desired effect in general lighting. In fact, it could be a safety hazard if someone mistakenly thought that some equipment was stationary or was moving slowly. - CCOHS, "Lighting Ergonomics - Light Flicker", Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, CCOHS, retrieved 2015/11/09, original source: http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/ergonomics/lighting_flicker.html Also, from a different source, we see that flickering light can be a source of eye strain and headaches even if it is not related to electrical malfunctions that we listed earlier in this article: ... the use of high frequency electronic ballasts (20,000 Hz or higher) in fluorescent lights resulted in more than a 50% drop in complaints of eye strain and headaches. There tended to be fewer complaints of headaches among workers on higher floors compared to those closer to ground level; that is, workers exposed to more natural light experienced fewer health effects. - Wilkins, A. J., I. Nimmo-Smith, A. I. Slater, and L. Bedocs. "Fluorescent lighting, headaches and eyestrain." Lighting Research and Technology 21, no. 1 (1989): 11-18. Flickering lights traced to bad utility company neutral wireThis topic has moved to FLICKERING LIGHTS, LOST NEUTRAL Reader Q&A - also see the FAQs series linked-to below@Jay, Thanks so much for that update that's interesting and helpful. I didn't think to suggest that to you but in fact I have, earlier in the life of LEDs run into cases in which some of the early models were not dimmable. (As was the case, of course, with fluorescent lights.) Certainly the least expensive would be to try and existing incandescent bulb in those fixtures to see what happens with your dimmer switch. Halogens are a bit more efficient but I would prefer to end with a dimmable LED both for Energy savings and in another sense simply because the bulbs run cooler which tends to make less trouble for the fixture in which the bulb is mounted. A clue is that you will see some LED products mentioned on the packaging that they went can work with dimmers. That's an indirect warning that there are some others that don't work with dimmers and of course there's some variation and how the dimmer switches work themselves. @InspectApedia-911, I opened the box with the dimmer in it and checked every single connection, I wiggled and pushed and twisted - not a single blink. Then I saw a little switch or adjustment level on the dimmer I didn't remember having seen when I installed it. So, off to the Internet to find the installation guide. It was a little tiny adjustment lever to set the low-brightness adjustment. But while I was looking at the installation instructions I saw mention of a "list of compatible LEDs for this dimmer." Back to the Internet where I found the list, which had a handy search tool into which I entered the model of the lamps I have had installed for a couple years - the dimmer manufacturer rates them as only 3 stars out of 4 on the blinking scale. Whoa, I'd never heard of needing to match LEDs to the dimmer. I did some more research, found a 4-star non-blinker and am awaiting delivery. Maybe, maybe it has always been a mismatch. TBD. Jay @Anonymous, And no fluorescents, no ballasts, no timers, etc, right? Does the flicker occur when there is a load surge such as a refrigerator or freezer or A/C unit turning on? @InspectApedia-911, Those are excellent suggestions if the problem occurs often enough. Mine is an "every few days for a few seconds that may repeat momentarily or not for days" situation. That's the devil's own problem to troubleshoot. Thus my hope for long-term monitoring. BTW, I agree it might be a loose connection and once thought I'd found it so I tightened everything - twice to be sure. Nope, came back a few days later. Thanks again, Jay @jay, You may have already tried this but a simple diagnostic that is usually where I started to turn off individual devices or lights or circuits one by one to see if that lets us quickly hone it on the cause of the odd electrical behavior. I'm surprised that voltage drop might be the problem here I and suspect as more likely a bad connection or a failing individual electrical device on the circuit. It's really easy to monitor the voltage level with a DMM or VOM. We do see much greater service voltage variation in some locations, such as Central mexico, then others such as Canada or much of the US. @InspectApedia-911, I have considered the "single mis-behaving device" possibility. I was hoping I could monitor the voltage in enough places to a) confirm that the voltage is actually dropping and b) perhaps localize it physically or to a specific circuit. I am pretty sure the effect is primarily in the kitchen. The lighting fixture over the kitchen table is where we see this the most often and the most dramatically. This fixture has 5 dimmable LEDs and is controlled by an LED compatible dimmer. This is actually the second LED compatible dimmer, I was suspicious of the first one. One time the effect was so severe the LEDs in the fixture were strobing. OK for a disco, very wrong for our kitchen. My next step is to replace the LEDs with incandescents or halogens in an effort to determine if the LEDs/dimmer combination is the cause. Thanks for your assistance. I'll keep digging through and will try to remember to report back. Thank you again, Jay @jstevans, Short answer: no, not that I've seen for casual purchase, installation and use. Yes, there are industrial process systems and devices that can monitor multiple data points. Our mentor/associate Dr. Jess Aronstein has demonstrated methods of monitoring multiple points on an electrical circuit, though in that case it was for investigating overheating at connections. It was a labor-intensive and sensor-intensive approach that involved an electrical engineering's expert selection of sensors, installing them, and connecting them to a computer that in turn had supporting software. There are of course current monitoring and measuring devices on the market, even simple DMMs and VOMs, but not intended for monitoring multiple points. ** What do you think of starting at the electrical panel: monitor individual circuits starting with the one you suspect. ** Take a look at Eaton's "Power Xpert Multi-Point Meter" and let me know if you think that might be useful. ** What do you think also, about the probability that as little as a single mis-behaving device can create a load that shows up back in the panel to cause flickering lights on one or more circuits? I just went through your page on Flickering Lights & Electrical Power Loss, an excellent doc, very nice. I have been having an intermittent, very intermittent, blinking lights problem for a long time, a couple years as memory serves. Diagnosing it is difficult because it is so intermittent. I have tried to find a pattern, anything I can track down and troubleshoot - no luck. As background, I am an electrical engineer with 40 years of troubleshooting experience in broadcast radio and tv stations including control room design and construction right down to the very last wire. Even mobile trucks. All that to say, I have a lot of diagnostic and troubleshooting experience. I am pretty sure, though none of us in the house are really certain, it mostly happens in the kitchen. And most evident in the 5-lamp chandelier in the kitchen/dining area. It may be happening in other rooms though it is far less common there. Then again, we spend so much less time in those rooms so maybe we're missing it. Anyways, and to the point of my question, I would like to be able to monitor the voltage in a few places as a diagnostic step. Are you aware of a monitoring device that I could connect to various outlets (and use an adapter to clip onto lines where there are no outlets) and whose data I could easily see or even download? My goal is to determine if these dimming glitches are local to one I'd be grateful for the assistance. Jay @Texas Homeowner, Watch out: I'm concerned as well about the possibility of an electrical fire. I don't know whether the problem is in the connectors that you installed or whether the problem is that you've done an incomplete repair on aluminum wiring circuit. Every single connector in the whole installation needs to be addressed. You will see it on the page above a very thorough list of causes of flickering lights on circuits. And while you might want to look through that I think we first need to address the question of whether you're aluminum wiring has been properly repaired. I commend you for using a torque measuring screwdriver I thought I was the only person who owned one. Most electricians have never even seen one much less carried one in their toolbox. But still I don't think that that connector was intended to be used by a homeowner. The first place to start is to examine the connectors that have been installed because of the possibility that a space limitation or jamming them back into electrical box may have actually caused a connection to be less tight than you thought. Second just to review your entire electrical wiring system to make sure that the repair is complete and correct by ( as I am obligated to say ) a trained installer.Hi all, thanks for the informative website. I have pigtailed two circuits in my 70s-era home with Alumiconn connectors, however both of the circuits have an issue with light flicker when using another device on the circuit. For example, the floor lamp exhibits a solid on/off when turning on a fan on the same circuit. This issue presents itself on the closest outlet to the breaker. Any idea on troubleshooting? I had an electrician look and he said it could either be a loose neutral connection, possibly in a j-box between the outlet receptacle and breaker. I'm a bit concerned that this problem is caused by the Alumiconn installation as only these two circuits are showing this issue. I used the proper stripping length and torque screwdriver. @Carrie white, Try the Add Image button - and please let's just post a question on one page; we have thousands of readers; if everyone posts multiple times it makes it hard for us to respond. I was vacuuming n my daughter was in the bathroom straightening her hair the breaker kept flipping off.i turned everything off fans n air-conditioners eventually all the power stayed off in our bathroom and bedroom n part of our laundry room changed the outlet in the bathroom since it's the ones with the buttons and seems to control other power in other rooms didn't help tested the breaker by switching to another part of the house (dishwasher) it still powered it on any idea what it could be @Thom, Yep. We had that problem with lights over a kitchen counter in a 1960s home in Two Harbors MN. Looked through your resources. Very helpful and explanatory. My pair of fluorescent bulbs won't light reliably when powered on (maybe 10% of the time) unless I take off the cover and tap on one specific spot on only one of the bulbs – nowhere else. That will make it turn on nearly every time and both bulbs will ignite. If I turn off the power and then it back on, the bulbs will not turn on unless I tap that one spot on one bulb again. Inconvenient to say the least when it's the only light source in our laundry room... Help? @matt, Provided that you've first checked out the obvious and dangerous causes of flickering lights given above on this page, and we're really talking about an actual loss of electrical power, then You could have a bad crossover connector between home sections. See MANUFACTURED HOME CROSSOVER CONNECTORS https://inspectapedia.com/Manufactured_Homes/Mobile-Home-Electrical-Crossover-Connectors.php hello i have a 2001 fleetwood double wide that i have lost power to the back 1/4 of my home i checked all the breakers & changed the recepticales on the back half of my house i'm thinking it's a junction box but not sure where to look . @Robert, Your electrician may find some things to check besides the rather lengthy list of causes of flickering lights that we give above on this page, but I hope you will review that list, as it's more complete than I can make up de novo here. Remember to check carefully the connections on any aluminum wire circuit connections such as may be powering an electric water heater. My lights flicker when my 80amp tankless water heater is running. It is hooked up to my main 200amp service box and the lights are on connected to my inside 100amp box inside. @Mahmoud Salem, It could be a bad circuit breaker but more likely is a loose electrical connection, or one of the other causes listed in the article above. Please look through that information and keep me posted. Hi, The lighting in the top floor flickers and the circuit breaker turns to off. No signs of burns or cut wires. Is the circuit breaker faulty? Took it to shop and was checked and I was told it was ok! Thanks @Robert Gillitzer, For sure a loose or overheating connection anywhere on the circuit, from the electrical panel to the light fixtures and receptacles involved could cause flickering lights. By the way, usually we don't put both receptacles and fixed lighting on the same circuit. I have one circuit that has several outlets & 3 lights on it. When I switch on any of the lights, or plug into one of the outlets, that one or all, depending if I have more than one light one, all will flicker.The light switches have been replaced, but the lights still flicker. Is it possible for one of the switches or outlets to affect any or all the connections on that line? Or should I be looking at the main box for a loose connection of that line. All the other lines in the house are ok. @Warren, Most likely the cause of your flickering lights is one of those described above on this page. Watch out: there are some brands of electrical panel (e.g. FPE Stab-Lok, Zinsco, and others) and some electrical wiring (solid aluminum branch conductors) for which flickering lights are a big red flag of imminent danger of a building fire. i have a separate part of the house that has a sub panel with 4 breakers and from time to time different lights within those 4 circuits goes out randomly and then randomly come back on without tripping any breakers what could be causing this type of problem ? On 2021-10-29 by inspectapedia.com.moderator - problem circuits need diagnosis@James D, That sounds like a wiring error or possibly, if we're lucky, simply a loose electrical connection somewhere on that circuit. But Watch out: such connections can be dangerous, causing arcing and overheating.
Depending on what she finds, that in turn may be suggestive of inexpert workmanship; if so then further inspection of the home's wiring and electrical panel and devices would certainly be justified. I have a small LED night-light that is plugged into a wall socket in my bedroom. My question is when I use the TV remote (Fire TV) it makes the night light flicker. Also, when we turn off or on the ceiling fan/light switch, a small table side lamp (that can turn on and off when you touch the base) will turn on if the table lamp is off, and off if the table lamp is on. I am worried about how our home was wired since the contractor was "El Cheap-o" on materials and labor. Any thoughts or suggestions? @dave, Of course there could be another problem but the common explanation for the flickering lights that you described would be a loose electrical connection at the switch or a feeling switch. I would have the switch replaced. we turn om lights to the house and lights flicker after a period of time when dimmer switch is on why? On 2021-07-24 by mak.church (mod) - too much current draw for a 15A but not 20A circuit@Sully, In the above article, there are a number of diagnostic steps that are worth looking at. Because of your reference to both 15A and 20A circuits however, pay specific attention to the section: 18 Causes of Dimming or Flickering Lights or Electrical Power Loss at Buildings and the #2 item there: Appliance or motor drawing high current Perhaps the high current draw in this case is just enough to blink or dim lights on a 15A but not on a 20A circuit. A guess is that the two devices you cite are drawing a moment of high current at start-up (not un-common). On a 20A circuit the current drawn is tolerated because the circuit permits a bit more current than the 15A wires; A corroded or loose connection in a circuit or in a panel might cause that trouble too, but as you're seeing it on both sides of the panel I suspect our first guess is the right one. Let us know if you have additional questions. The lights on all 15a circuits in entire home blink momentarily when HVAC compressor or vacuum cleaner plugged into 15a outlet starts? 20a circuits don't seem to be issue. Blink happens for both L1 & L2 circuits. Certainly some of my warnings will err on the side of safety. See USING an ELECTRICAL RECEPTACLE TESTER to CHECK VOLTAGE & WIRING Watch out: an electrical receptacle with reversed polarity can be unsafe and in some cases can damage electrical equipment. It may not be obvious, after all it's "alternating current" running in "two directions" on the circuit, between hot and neutral. But keeping the neutral side "live" as what happens in reversed-polarity circuits can actually damage some printed circuits and control boards by delivering power where it is not expected to be fed. @inspectapedia.com.moderator, thank you. I will definitely not be attempting to investigate or fix beyond what you suggested. I have a great deal of respect for this things and experienced electrical shock as a child! I just recalled that when we bought the home we did have an electrician over as part of renovating two rooms. He replaced some switches and install a number of new outlets. He did find two switches quite old that needed replacing. My hope is that he would have noticed the aluminum but I’ll have someone check regardless. However I believe he did not investigate or check the other rooms in the home as I just checked a number of outlets in these rooms and they have reverse polarization which I know is not usually a big deal but thought to ask if it could have any relation to the issue with my computer. The outlet the computer and monitor are plugged into has reverse polarization. @John, Your electrician will be able to tell immediately if there is aluminum wiring in the electrical panel when she opens the panel cover to inspect the circuits inside. That's not something you should do as you could be shocked or killed. However if you look at any electrical wiring that is visually accessible you may occasionally see printed on the plastic covering of plastic wire the word "aluminum" which would be significant. You can also use the on-page search box to search this website for ALUMINUM WIRING HAZARDS & REPAIRS - overheating or corroded connections can cause flickering lights For an article describing other wiring text or imprint or size that identifies it as an aluminum product. From the age of your house, the original wiring would not be aluminum. @mak.church, Thank you. I think the work done in the 1970s was to increase the amps in the home. I confirmed it was not done by a electrician - instead it was done by a family member who is very handy with homes. (Make me nervous). The home was built in the late 1940s and is a two family. It now has 100 amps per apartment. Is there anything I can do that would help you identify whether I have aluminum wiring such as taking a photo? I will have an electrician come to check regardless but appreciate an unbiased opinion @John, Except where your electrical wiring was improperly sized in the first place or where it has been damaged by a building event such as a fire, it is quite rare that it is ever necessary or even appropriate to replace the wiring itself. Copper doesn't wear out. Copper thousands of years old has been found intact in the Egyptian tombs. It could be a problem with connectors, or an overloaded circuit. Simply turning on the bathroom light should be such a trivial load on the circuit but I suspect there is an unsafe connection or switch for which you need an electrician who will locate and fix the connector, switch, or device. Because it's expensive to bring an electrician to a property for a single small problem, that would be a great time to have the electrician add a dedicated electrical circuit to the room where you use your computer. Watch out: 1970s electrical wiring could include aluminum solid conductor branch circuit wires. If your home has aluminum wiring and the wiring has not been properly repaired by installing the special connector at each and every connection then that circuit is unsafe and is a fire hazard. So be sure to have your electrician check promptly for the presence of aluminum wiring. Let us know what you're told.Hello, i bought a house that had its electrical wiring updated in the 70s. When they did it, they did not dedicate a circuit for each room so some rooms share circuits. In my small office I had my computer with monitor and when someone turns on the bathroom ceiling light my computer monitor power turns off - it does this consistently. I am worried because the computer monitor is LED, uses low power and the light bulb in the bathroom also is LED. I do not have any high intensity applicances on in my room, just laptop, LED monitor and sometimes a fan and light. Does this indicate bad or wiring that should be replaced? My concern is that the previous owners were very frugal and likely has the wiring done by unlicensed electricians. @Cori, Before the electrician leaves ask him to observe whether there are any flickering lights and ask him if there's something else that he recommends I have flickering and dimming lights thought out the whole house. Electrician is here now. He is replacing my outside main wire and will replace 3 or 4 breakers on panel but says it' NOT GUARANTEED the flickering and dimming lights will stop. R u kidding me?? I'm paying him $1850.00!!! How old is the building? Whenever I turn my kitchen light on my dining room fan/light combo dims. It stays dim until I turn kitchen light off. At first I thought it was possibly in the switch as it's a double switch with power hooked to the top that controls both the top and bottom switch. There is also a 3way switch in the same location ran on a separate breaker. I turned off both breakers took both the dining room light and kitchen light off the switch and hooked each one directly to the power feed with wire nuts. One connected to one circuit and the other connected to the circuit that the 3way had been on. I flipped on one breaker and dining light came on. I flipped on the other breaker and kitchen light came on. Again dining room light dimmed as before. I've checked and tightened all wiring going to both fixtures. Help! If that were my home I'd have a licensed electrician trace the circuits involved, both to find the arcing or loose connectors, other unsafe connections and devices, and/or to get clear on what's wired on what circuit: we may need to add circuits to correct an overloading problem as well as fixing the wiring problems. Recently I had a circuit that controlled 3 outside motion lights fail. I checked for proper voltage at the switch and got "0" voltage reading. Then I checked for voltage at the circuit breaker and it measure 117v. Then two days later I'm assuming the same or neighboring circuit failed which controls 5 outlets which have a washer, small firdge, garage door opener, and some small devices.(6outlets) I noticed that all of these circuits arent even isolated to certain areas of the house , they seemed to be mixed up. this house was built in the 60's with what appears to me as some renovation along the way with poorly added circutry. 3 years prior to all these issues dimming of lights when washer and or dryer is in use, as well as bzzing in swiches was present. Any comments as to what the next step or solution to this problem would be is greatly apreaciated. This diagnostic discussion has moved to its own page at FALSE GROUND, BOOTLEG & FLICKERING LIGHTS ... Continue reading at FLICKERING LIGHTS, LOST NEUTRAL, or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX. Or see FLICKERING LIGHT DIAGNOSTIC FAQs - questions and answers posted originally at this article Or see these Recommended Articles
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