I had a search but couldn't find anything that answered my question, sorry in advance for the long post but I thought some background and what I have tested might help.
My kitchen strip light, fluorescent with a starter, was flickering and then went dim. I was working and didn't have a spare bulb or starter, and before I had time to get either, the light got steadily worse. All the other downstairs lights were working. The light was coming on immediately but was dim and after a while would start flickering.
I found an old bulb in my shed so thought I would see if it was working, but soon found out that bulb wasn't working and put the existing bulb back in.
When turning the light back on it took almost a minute before it lit, no flickering or the ends lighting up like I have seen before, just nothing until it lit, but it was still dim, then started flickering worse than before.
I then found out the light in my dining room and the light(s) in my hallway downstairs have stopped working but the living room is working, I checked they were on the same circuit by switching off the breaker when the living room light was on and it went off then back on when I switched the breaker back to on.
I used a multimeter to check the feed in the fluorescent light. Neutral to switched live is reading zero with the switch off, which I expected, and with the switch on it iss reading 02. Live to earth is reading 142.
I disconnected the wires to the light itself and the readings are still the same.
I haven't checked power to the lights that aren't working, but I am assuming they will read either zero or lower than 240.
After more research, and having a basic understanding of how the circuit is wired, it would seem the living room light is the first light in the loop, the kitchen is the second and dining room and hallway are third or fourth and there might be a loose/burnt out wire somewhere that is stopping power to the hallways and dining room lights.
If you imagine looking down at my house from above and each room is a quadrant in a square, the hallway is bottom left, the kitchen is top left, the hallway is top right and the living room is bottom right, the consumer unit is in the kitchen.
Does it make sense that the living room light would be first in the loop and the kitchen light second given the consumer unit is in the kitchen?
My kitchen strip light, fluorescent with a starter, was flickering and then went dim. I was working and didn't have a spare bulb or starter, and before I had time to get either, the light got steadily worse. All the other downstairs lights were working. The light was coming on immediately but was dim and after a while would start flickering.
I found an old bulb in my shed so thought I would see if it was working, but soon found out that bulb wasn't working and put the existing bulb back in.
When turning the light back on it took almost a minute before it lit, no flickering or the ends lighting up like I have seen before, just nothing until it lit, but it was still dim, then started flickering worse than before.
I then found out the light in my dining room and the light(s) in my hallway downstairs have stopped working but the living room is working, I checked they were on the same circuit by switching off the breaker when the living room light was on and it went off then back on when I switched the breaker back to on.
I used a multimeter to check the feed in the fluorescent light. Neutral to switched live is reading zero with the switch off, which I expected, and with the switch on it iss reading 02. Live to earth is reading 142.
I disconnected the wires to the light itself and the readings are still the same.
I haven't checked power to the lights that aren't working, but I am assuming they will read either zero or lower than 240.
After more research, and having a basic understanding of how the circuit is wired, it would seem the living room light is the first light in the loop, the kitchen is the second and dining room and hallway are third or fourth and there might be a loose/burnt out wire somewhere that is stopping power to the hallways and dining room lights.
If you imagine looking down at my house from above and each room is a quadrant in a square, the hallway is bottom left, the kitchen is top left, the hallway is top right and the living room is bottom right, the consumer unit is in the kitchen.
Does it make sense that the living room light would be first in the loop and the kitchen light second given the consumer unit is in the kitchen?
