Hi
I have rewired my whole house (lights and power) and it all seems to works fine
and has been for a few months now. I would say I was competant at this job but
I am not an electrician.
Last night I noticed that my Philips energy saving light bulb on the stairwell light
( on the upstairs lighting circuit ) was trying to light up very dimly even though the light
switch on the wall was turned off. Every 3 seconds it would dimly flicker on and then
go off straight away again, over and over again. I've never noticed it before.
This light is on a 2-way switch, 2 switches operate it. (Finally, if I turned the RCBO off
for this circuit at the consumer unit then the bulb would not come on, of course.)
So, I tried the light bulb on another bayonet fitting in another room and it did not flicker
on when the switch was off. I tried a normal tungsten light bulb on the stair light and
that did not come on when the switch was off. Good. On inspection all my wiring
looks fine.
So, I got out my meter and measure the voltage on the stair light when the switch was
OFF and it was 91V. Is this normal?
No wonder the bulb tried to light up. I measured another 2-way swtich light fitting and
that gave 61V. Three other 1-way switched light fittings read about 30V. So 2-way seems to leak more voltage, presumably across the wall switches??? Is this correct?
(I have not yet tried the (bayonet fitting) bulb inserted the other way round (terminals reversed) as I only just thought of it.) but do these enegy saving light bulbs try to
light up on only 91V? Is a leakage of 91V OK or do I need to buy better swtiches
perhaps? Or, is my problem something else do you think?
Any advice?
Thanks in advance,
Tricia
--
I have rewired my whole house (lights and power) and it all seems to works fine
and has been for a few months now. I would say I was competant at this job but
I am not an electrician.
Last night I noticed that my Philips energy saving light bulb on the stairwell light
( on the upstairs lighting circuit ) was trying to light up very dimly even though the light
switch on the wall was turned off. Every 3 seconds it would dimly flicker on and then
go off straight away again, over and over again. I've never noticed it before.
This light is on a 2-way switch, 2 switches operate it. (Finally, if I turned the RCBO off
for this circuit at the consumer unit then the bulb would not come on, of course.)
So, I tried the light bulb on another bayonet fitting in another room and it did not flicker
on when the switch was off. I tried a normal tungsten light bulb on the stair light and
that did not come on when the switch was off. Good. On inspection all my wiring
looks fine.
So, I got out my meter and measure the voltage on the stair light when the switch was
OFF and it was 91V. Is this normal?
No wonder the bulb tried to light up. I measured another 2-way swtich light fitting and
that gave 61V. Three other 1-way switched light fittings read about 30V. So 2-way seems to leak more voltage, presumably across the wall switches??? Is this correct?
(I have not yet tried the (bayonet fitting) bulb inserted the other way round (terminals reversed) as I only just thought of it.) but do these enegy saving light bulbs try to
light up on only 91V? Is a leakage of 91V OK or do I need to buy better swtiches
perhaps? Or, is my problem something else do you think?
Any advice?
Thanks in advance,
Tricia
--