Christmas conundrum

Grandad99

No, same one -the onlyone long enough togo from the wall socket to the muti socket by the garage door

Heedtheadvice

Grandad99 said:

Agreed, the problem is what

Well from my first post ( that situation would cause the problem ) but it requires a double fault. Quite possible that one fault was there prior to this year and the other fault has become evident for this year

 For example an existing wiring fault that has become obvious with a new switching fault.

It really needs inspection, mesurement diagnosis etc to ensure the fix, once determined, is complete with no remaining fault

.

However as a prelim...

What happens if you take the timer out of circuit and switch the supply on and off from the supply switch?

facade

I know it easy to spend someone else's money, but get yourself a socket tester plug- these have 3 lights that tell you if the socket is wired correctly. (apart from neutral & earth swapped over

£10 in Wickes, or B&Q £8 in Screwfix or Toolstation

e.g. https://www.toolstation.com/socket-tester/p82826

I bought one and merrily plugged it into all my sockets (and extension leads when plugged into the mains)  and found a socket in the porch (that I used for the Christmas Lights) that had no Earth!

LEDs often stay on at a low brightness if the live & neutral are reversed at the plug or socket and the switch is only a single pole in what should be the live, but is now the neutral if you get what I mean.

PHK

Yes, Live and neutral swapped was one of my thoughts. Many of these lights have a simple capacitive dropper circuit. Factors like aging, stray capacitance and tolerances mean there could be enough current leakage for the LEDs to illuminate. You only need tens of micro-amps for them to noticeably illuminate. Especially in the dark.