"albee" wrote in message
...
What's happening inside a socket (presumably) when turning on a light
causes the circuit to shut off? Not plugging/unplugging it, but rather
activating it? Here's the situation:

The room has a clock radio and a lamp with a CF bulb in it, and was
plugged into outlet #2 in the series. Sometimes when the light is
turned on, it then shuts off the power to it, and being a series
circuit, to the overhead light that comes after it in the circuit
(connection #4). I plugged the light/radio into the outlet that comes
before it in the series (outlet #1), and it worked, and also allowed
the overhead light to work again.
I had problems with this outlet (#2) a couple months ago. It had been
backstabbed when installed, so I re-wired it to the side posts, but
used the same outlet. I'm assuming my first move is to assume that
something's wrong with the outlet and to replace it, but I'm curious
as to what's happening in there to cause the problem, that's being
triggered by the light pulling current? Or could it be the lamp is
causing the problem, and just doing so sporadically, and will likewise
cause a problem in outlet #1?

Sorry, but this happened at my son's bedtime, so I wasn't able to
troubleshoot it with a multimeter at the time. Will do so tomorrow,
but wanted to get a post up here to get any feedback as soon as
possible. Thanks!


Since you already had a problem with one outlet and the back stabbed
connections it is quite possible that other outlets on the same circuit have
the same problem. I would also double check the connections on the one
outlet that you already replaced. Don't reuse the existing outlets. Start
fresh with new ones and get a better grade than what you have now.