Upstairs Lights

Gavin_2

first of all...i know nothing about electrics.

turned on the bedroom light tonight and it began flickering. now, both bedroom ceiling lights do this. it is as though there is a loose wire or something. you would think that if it had anything to do with the fuses, they would just blow...wouldnt you? all the plug points are ok, it is only both the bedroom ceiling lights. bulbs are relatively new so cant be them.

the fuseboard looks fairly old as it only has 3 fuses (old type) on it.

any ideas...pls help????

squeaky

It certainly sounds from your description like a dodgy connection. The easiest one to check is the wall switch. (It's not a dimmer switch is it?)

In broad daylight so you can see what you're doing...

First switch off the breaker or pull the fuse for your upstairs lighting. They should all be marked. If you're not sure - call an electrician.

Unscrew the two screws that hold the switch-plate to the wall and check and tighten the little screws that hold the wires in place.

If nothing changes after you've put it back, turn off the power again and check the connections in the ceiling roses.

After that - maybe it's time for an electrician.

robowen

I have a similar problem to this, and have just found out it's the switch itself thats doing it.
It began flickering when pressed on, so I held down the swich hard and it stopped. Let go and it beagan flickering again.
I think it must be cheap crappy light switches from b&q that's causing my problem.

Other common cause is as above...loose wiring, so..check both wiring and the switch itself !

squeaky

I asked about dimmers because they so often do this. Not so common on ordinary rocker switches.

Paul_the_Painter

If its not the switch, its straightforward to check the cieling rose, after isolating power unscrew rose and the connections will be visible. If you're talking about two lights in the same room, the loose connection will be ont the one that has more wires going into to it (one should have 6 ish the other 2 or 3 , hopefully 3 or they've not put the Earth lead on)

alanobrien

Gavin wrote:

first of all...i know nothing about electrics.

turned on the bedroom light tonight and it began flickering. now, both bedroom ceiling lights do this. it is as though there is a loose wire or something. you would think that if it had anything to do with the fuses, they would just blow...wouldnt you? all the plug points are ok, it is only both the bedroom ceiling lights. bulbs are relatively new so cant be them.

the fuseboard looks fairly old as it only has 3 fuses (old type) on it. any ideas...pls help????

Sounds like either loose wiring so its shorting or the switch itself is carbonised, either way its not good.

If you dont know to much about electrics get a sparks to look at it. Take a look in your local paper for one that is NICEIC registered.

They will almost certainly recommend a rewire but that may not be necesssary as long as the main wiring itself is tested and safe.

Make sure they concentrate on the flashing lighting circuit only! Doesn't sound to big a job to me.