Electrical Project
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Nothing is sadder than electrician’s house with an electrical problem. Especially the house of a retired electrician who has no excuse not to fix it. That would be “my” house.
Flickering lights. All LEDS, all on one circuit. I got this, right?
House built 2017. Lots of fancy new electronic GFI/AFCI circuit breakers. I was still working when they first came out and they were nothing but trouble. Swapped out the AFCI feeding that circuit for a standard breaker and tightened up every connection in the panel while I was in there. Didn’t find anything obviously wrong and the lights still flickered.
Next step is the one no one wants to take, especially the customer who watches in horror as the hours add up. Map out each of the receptacles, switches, and fixtures on the circuit, open them up one by one, then re-make every connection. This includes the ones behind furniture and under beds.
It did indeed take hours and I didn’t find anything wrong.But the lights did stop flickering - for about an hour. Then they started up again, worse than ever. What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is going on?
I’m certainly not going to call someone - back in the day “I” was the one other Sparkeys called when they couldn’t figure something out. Have I lost my mojo in my dotage? I know the definition of insanity but I couldn’t think of anything else so I did every connection again. Another day, no love. Consulted AI, consulted Reddit, phoned a friend.
Phoned another friend who is not an electrician but is instead a retired electronics guy. He was of little help but he did tell me that his garage door opener will not work if you install an LED lamp in it. They emit all sorts of electrical noise. Maybe thats a clue? When one talks they all listen? UGH. LEDs were just becoming popular when I retired and I don’t know much about them but this made sense. Resolved to take each fixture out of the circuit one by one and see what happens. Would have to wait until I got back from vacation.
Before I left the problem went away for a while. Then it came back. Then it went away again. Then it came back after I went to the garage for something, thereby triggering the motion sensing light switch. Garage lights on = flicker. Garage lights off = no flicker. AHA!
Got back last night and I changed one of the lights in the garage this morning. Success!
Maybe too much inside baseball, but if it starts happening at yiur house try unscrewing all of the LED bulbs one by one and see if the problem goes away. Could save you $hundreds.
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Nothing is sadder than electrician’s house with an electrical problem. Especially the house of a retired electrician who has no excuse not to fix it. That would be “my” house.
Flickering lights. All LEDS, all on one circuit. I got this, right?
House built 2017. Lots of fancy new electronic GFI/AFCI circuit breakers. I was still working when they first came out and they were nothing but trouble. Swapped out the AFCI feeding that circuit for a standard breaker and tightened up every connection in the panel while I was in there. Didn’t find anything obviously wrong and the lights still flickered.
Next step is the one no one wants to take, especially the customer who watches in horror as the hours add up. Map out each of the receptacles, switches, and fixtures on the circuit, open them up one by one, then re-make every connection. This includes the ones behind furniture and under beds.
It did indeed take hours and I didn’t find anything wrong.But the lights did stop flickering - for about an hour. Then they started up again, worse than ever. What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is going on?
I’m certainly not going to call someone - back in the day “I” was the one other Sparkeys called when they couldn’t figure something out. Have I lost my mojo in my dotage? I know the definition of insanity but I couldn’t think of anything else so I did every connection again. Another day, no love. Consulted AI, consulted Reddit, phoned a friend.
Phoned another friend who is not an electrician but is instead a retired electronics guy. He was of little help but he did tell me that his garage door opener will not work if you install an LED lamp in it. They emit all sorts of electrical noise. Maybe thats a clue? When one talks they all listen? UGH. LEDs were just becoming popular when I retired and I don’t know much about them but this made sense. Resolved to take each fixture out of the circuit one by one and see what happens. Would have to wait until I got back from vacation.
Before I left the problem went away for a while. Then it came back. Then it went away again. Then it came back after I went to the garage for something, thereby triggering the motion sensing light switch. Garage lights on = flicker. Garage lights off = no flicker. AHA!
Got back last night and I changed one of the lights in the garage this morning. Success!
Maybe too much inside baseball, but if it starts happening at yiur house try unscrewing all of the LED bulbs one by one and see if the problem goes away. Could save you $hundreds.
@Steve-Miller oh wow!! What a saga!!! So glad you got it fixed! Esp because flickering lights are the worst!!!
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I had that very problem with my basement lights. Dumb luck solved it without all that because I did not know that’s what an electrician would do.
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