Hi,
The center tab(the contact) has collapsed maybe? Not making contact to
the bulb. Pry them up after turning off breaker feeding the fixture.
Tony

Sarah wrote:

I have a light fixture in a closet that just stopped working.
Replaced all 3 bulbs (have also tested the 'old' ones, and they all
still worked anyway). Have tested each of the bulb 'sockets' with one
of those power testers, and all 3 'sockets' show that the light
fixture is getting electricity, but when I put bulbs in, they don't
light. I know the bulbs work, I tried them in a lamp. If you turn
the light switch on and off, nothing happens, but the power tester
thing will light up/make noise when the switch is in the on position
when each of the sockets are being tested. Make sense to anyone?!?!?!
Help I can't see anything in my daughters closet! Thanks!! Sarah

Sometimes (after turning OFF the circuit breaker to the light in
question), I have to take a small knife or other sharp object, and "scratch
clean" the center tab contact, so that it is shiny metal again, and makes
good contact. After that, my bulbs always work !!

Good Luck !!

--James--

Sarah wrote:

I have a light fixture in a closet that just stopped working.
Replaced all 3 bulbs (have also tested the 'old' ones, and they all
still worked anyway). Have tested each of the bulb 'sockets' with one
of those power testers, and all 3 'sockets' show that the light
fixture is getting electricity, but when I put bulbs in, they don't
light. I know the bulbs work, I tried them in a lamp. If you turn
the light switch on and off, nothing happens, but the power tester
thing will light up/make noise when the switch is in the on position
when each of the sockets are being tested. Make sense to anyone?!?!?!
Help I can't see anything in my daughters closet! Thanks!! Sarah

It is extremely unlikely that all three sockets suddenly deformed enough
so that light bulbs won't connect to their contacts properly.

Most likely your "tester" is responding to a miniscule amount of current
coupled to it via interwire capacitance. But, that path will not support
enough current to light any kind of incandescent bulb.

You have an open circuit somewhere between your breaker panel (or fusebox)
and the light fixture.

Since the switch is probably near the fixture, and you tell us that it has
to be turned on to make the "tester" lightup/make noise, this tells me
that the open circuit is most likely in the neutral lead, and probably a
fair distance from the fixture.

I'm afraid you're goiung to have to get a professional, or at least
someone quite familiar with these sorts of problems in building wiring, to
find and fix the problem for you.

Good luck, and let us know what it turns out to be,

Jeff


--
Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"If you can keep smiling when things go wrong, you've thought of someone
to place the blame on."

Sarah wrote:
Help I can't see anything in my daughters closet! Thanks!! Sarah

Some would term this a "feature" rather than a "bug".

It is extremely unlikely that all three sockets suddenly deformed
enough
so that light bulbs won't connect to their contacts properly.

Most likely your "tester" is responding to a miniscule amount of current
coupled to it via interwire capacitance. But, that path will not support
enough current to light any kind of incandescent bulb.

You have an open circuit somewhere between your breaker panel (or fusebox)
and the light fixture.

Since the switch is probably near the fixture, and you tell us that it has
to be turned on to make the "tester" lightup/make noise, this tells me
that the open circuit is most likely in the neutral lead, and probably a
fair distance from the fixture.

I'm afraid you're goiung to have to get a professional, or at least
someone quite familiar with these sorts of problems in building wiring, to
find and fix the problem for you.

Good luck, and let us know what it turns out to be,

Jeff

This is weird...have exactly the same problem and discussed it with an
electrician friend of mine earlier tonight. He gave me the exact same
answer you did. I had to check to make sure I hadn't written the original
post.
Tom.

Try getting a new fixture and see if it works. If it does, it's not the
house wiring. If it doesn't you can always return it.

Bonnie in NJ

"Sarah" wrote in message
m...
I have a light fixture in a closet that just stopped working.
Replaced all 3 bulbs (have also tested the 'old' ones, and they all
still worked anyway). Have tested each of the bulb 'sockets' with one
of those power testers, and all 3 'sockets' show that the light
fixture is getting electricity, but when I put bulbs in, they don't
light. I know the bulbs work, I tried them in a lamp. If you turn
the light switch on and off, nothing happens, but the power tester
thing will light up/make noise when the switch is in the on position
when each of the sockets are being tested. Make sense to anyone?!?!?!
Help I can't see anything in my daughters closet! Thanks!! Sarah

As a professional electrician my first step would be to open up the switch
to check for a loose connection, broken wire, loose splice, or worn out
switch.

My next step would be to remove the light fixture and put a rubber pigtail
socket with a bulb in its place.

If the pigtail light works, the fixture would be examined for broken or
burnt off wires.

If the pigtail light doesn't work, my next step would be to open up the main
electrical panel and check for loose connections on the circuit breakers and
the neutral bar.

If I don't find anything there, I would start to play detective and look for
suspect junction boxes that may contain the feed for the light.

If I still didn't find the problem, we would have a discussion about what to
do next. I could start cutting holes in walls or try to refeed the closet
light from another source.

I would be interested in how the light was behaving prior to the failure.
Did it ever flicker or go on or off intermittently on its own? Did anyone
do any construction or hang a painting or anything else in the area of the
closet that may have triggered the failure?

Those induction power testers only sense the hot conductor. If your neutral
conductor is loose or not connected the fixture will not light, but the
induction tester will say that there is juice there. Based on your
preliminary findings it's possible that your neutral conductor is the
problem.


Good luck,

John Grabowski
http://www.mrelectrician.tv




"Sarah" wrote in message
m...
I have a light fixture in a closet that just stopped working.
Replaced all 3 bulbs (have also tested the 'old' ones, and they all
still worked anyway). Have tested each of the bulb 'sockets' with one
of those power testers, and all 3 'sockets' show that the light
fixture is getting electricity, but when I put bulbs in, they don't
light. I know the bulbs work, I tried them in a lamp. If you turn
the light switch on and off, nothing happens, but the power tester
thing will light up/make noise when the switch is in the on position
when each of the sockets are being tested. Make sense to anyone?!?!?!
Help I can't see anything in my daughters closet! Thanks!! Sarah

Tom wrote:



snipped

Since the switch is probably near the fixture, and you tell us that it has
to be turned on to make the "tester" lightup/make noise, this tells me
that the open circuit is most likely in the neutral lead, and probably a
fair distance from the fixture.

I'm afraid you're goiung to have to get a professional, or at least
someone quite familiar with these sorts of problems in building wiring, to
find and fix the problem for you.

Good luck, and let us know what it turns out to be,

Jeff

This is weird...have exactly the same problem and discussed it with an
electrician friend of mine earlier tonight. He gave me the exact same
answer you did. I had to check to make sure I hadn't written the original
post.
Tom.





As they used to say about Laurel and Hardy.....

"Two minds without a single thought"

Jeff


--
Jeff Wisnia (W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"If you can keep smiling when things go wrong, you've thought of someone to
place the blame on."

That would prove it, but hell stay at home and temp. wire a table lamp to
it.
Or one of those pig tail sockets for a 110 volt bulb.
Tony D.
"BonnieJean" wrote in message
...

Try getting a new fixture and see if it works. If it does, it's not the
house wiring. If it doesn't you can always return it.
snip