Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another fitting, works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting when switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near bulb though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.

"johno" wrote in message
...
Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another fitting,
works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting when
switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near bulb
though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.

Simple logic would force one to conclude that the bulb is not making contact
with the bulb holder properly.
--
Dave Baker

johno wrote:
Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another fitting, works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting when switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near bulb though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.

Bad neutral connection?

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

In article ,
johno writes:
Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another fitting, works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting when switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near bulb though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.

Possibly a disconnected neutral.
Possibly spring contacts in lampholder not making contact.

Does the voltage tester (whatever that is) also give a positive
result when the light is switched off? These devices may not
indicate what you think they do.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

John Williamson wrote:
johno wrote:
Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new
house. New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another
fitting, works fine. Checked with contactless voltage tester, power
getting to fitting
when switched on. Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up
when placed
near bulb though. Not experienced anything like this before! Any
suggestions as to the possible problem.

Bad neutral connection?


My first thought.

--
Adam

On 4 Nov, 18:25, johno wrote:
Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another fitting, works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting when switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near bulb though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.

Contactless volsticks have their uses, but this kind of faultfinding
isn't one of them.
You need a proper contact type, of preferably a meter, together with
the neccessary knowledge to know how to interpret the results they
give..

Is there a dimmer on this circuit that doesn't support the kind of
bulb you are trying to use?

On 04/11/2012 18:25, johno wrote:
Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another fitting, works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting when switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near bulb though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.


I have a very similar problem with a flush ceiling fitting at daughter's
new (70's) house. My *initial* diagnosis was a faulty light fitting,
with the push-in connectors not connecting to the socket. Got them to
buy a replacement. Only to find on next visit that this doesn't work
either. So *either* the wiring in the ceiling doesn't have a connected
neutral, or the "volts" indicated by neon screwdriver, light stick, and
DVM are derived from induction, and don't have any "amps" behind them.

Ran out of time on last visit to investigate further. S-I-L doesn't have
any proper spares or tools, so will be taking along a test bulb on a
lead with croc clips next time, plus reel of T&E in case I have to
rewire. Also circ saw and jigsaw to let me get in from above (it's under
a boarded in loft).

newshound wrote in
eb.com:

On 04/11/2012 18:25, johno wrote:
Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new
house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another
fitting, works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting
when switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near
bulb though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.


I have a very similar problem with a flush ceiling fitting at
daughter's new (70's) house. My *initial* diagnosis was a faulty light
fitting, with the push-in connectors not connecting to the socket. Got
them to buy a replacement. Only to find on next visit that this
doesn't work either. So *either* the wiring in the ceiling doesn't
have a connected neutral, or the "volts" indicated by neon
screwdriver, light stick, and DVM are derived from induction, and
don't have any "amps" behind them.

Ran out of time on last visit to investigate further. S-I-L doesn't
have any proper spares or tools, so will be taking along a test bulb
on a lead with croc clips next time, plus reel of T&E in case I have
to rewire. Also circ saw and jigsaw to let me get in from above (it's
under a boarded in loft).



Before doing a drastic rewire - have you checked the switch? I have had
them sieze up inside (cord switch). Could the neutral have been
disturbed at a loop in point in an adjacent room?

johno wrote:
Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another fitting, works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting when switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near bulb though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.

Strangely enough, yesterday when I was fitting a string of lamps to
illuminate an outdoor party I had one bulb refuse to light. It turned
out that one of the spring loaded contacts in the lamp holder wasn't
springing up far enough.

Bill

On 04/11/2012 20:23, DerbyBorn wrote:
newshound wrote in
eb.com:

On 04/11/2012 18:25, johno wrote:
Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new
house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another
fitting, works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting
when switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near
bulb though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.


I have a very similar problem with a flush ceiling fitting at
daughter's new (70's) house. My *initial* diagnosis was a faulty light
fitting, with the push-in connectors not connecting to the socket. Got
them to buy a replacement. Only to find on next visit that this
doesn't work either. So *either* the wiring in the ceiling doesn't
have a connected neutral, or the "volts" indicated by neon
screwdriver, light stick, and DVM are derived from induction, and
don't have any "amps" behind them.

Ran out of time on last visit to investigate further. S-I-L doesn't
have any proper spares or tools, so will be taking along a test bulb
on a lead with croc clips next time, plus reel of T&E in case I have
to rewire. Also circ saw and jigsaw to let me get in from above (it's
under a boarded in loft).



Before doing a drastic rewire - have you checked the switch? I have had
them sieze up inside (cord switch). Could the neutral have been
disturbed at a loop in point in an adjacent room?


Yes I have checked the switch. I agree about the loop-in; but the house
has a very funny geometry and it isn't at all obvious where that might
be. There's a loo and a utility room which stick into the attached
garage. They are "protected" by a cement/asbestos fire barrier above
which has been modified and then had a secondary "floor" above it for
storage, accessibility also being severely restricted by the garage roof
trusses. Because the consumer unit is in the garage and fairly close,
running a new neutral (or indeed a new supply) may well be the simplest
way. But thanks for the suggestions.

--
For every complex problem, there is a solution which is simple, neat,
and wrong.
H L Menken

What sort of light is it? Normal bayonet type or what?

I've had these lose connection when you put the bulb in due to very poor
construction internally. these tend to be the ones where the screws for the
wires are not par of the plunger but attached by an internal spring. the
cheap and cheerful ones that move up and down as one lump are actually
better, though the wires can break off, and of course if its dangling on a
wire, the weight has to be taken by something like a strain relief or the
pins lost contact.
If its another form of lightin, then I dunno.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"johno" wrote in message
...
Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another fitting,
works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting when
switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near bulb
though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.

On Sun, 04 Nov 2012 10:25:38 -0800, johno wrote:

Asked by nephew to look at a 'faulty' bathroom light in his new house.

New bulb put in, switched on, nothing. Checked bulb in another fitting,
works fine.

Checked with contactless voltage tester, power getting to fitting when
switched on.

Put bulb back in, nothing. Voltage tester lights up when placed near
bulb though. Not experienced anything like this before!

Any suggestions as to the possible problem.

Is it a screw bulb, and are sure 100% the new bulb is *exactly* the same
fitting as the old ?

When I fitted our bathroom mirror, it came with two spotlights which took
a screw bulb. It took a bit of time before I realised the screw bulbs I
had bought (mirrored reflector bulbs) weren't screwing in far enough -
there are different types of base.

When did we vote to get rid of bayonet fittings, by the way ? I must have
been on holiday. I always thought bayonet was slightly safer than screw
fittings (which can work loose and arc).

Thanks for all the suggestions, as usual on here, I have been given the answer.

Poor neutral connection. I went in daylight and could turn off power to look at fitting, all looked OK on a visual inspection, however neutral wire was not in fitting far enough when I did a check of all connections

Thanks again