ARCING!!

[vikingbobw]

Hi all, new to the site and a relative (safety concious) novice at electrics hoping I can pick someones brain. I have two lights upstairs that began to flicker last night then went out. I checked the fuses this morning and found the previous owners had put normal 5 amp fuses that do not fit properly into the double bladed fuse holders (5 amp fuse, not wire in this case). There was evidence of arcing so I replaced them with the correct size fuse but the lights still do not work even though there are others on the same circuit that do and always have. My first question is would the arcing have damaged just those lights on that circuit or would the damage have occoured at source? I think unlikely at source as other lights still work. My second is if not then what is the likely problem bearing in mind they all worked fine until late last night and nothing, apart from the correcting the fuses, has been touched since. Help and thanks.

Bob

 

[TicklyT]

It is unlikely, but not impossible, that both lamps have failed, one as a consequence of a surge affecting it when the other lamp failed.

It could be a loose wire somewhere. The usual suspects are either the first faulty fitting, or the last working fitting on the cable run.

It could be the live or neutral connections in a fitting. IMO there is a greater risk to anyone poking around in the fittings if it is a loose neutral, as it can render ALL the wires in a fitting live, and, bereft of a sound neutral connection, you may not have a valid reference to test for the presence of power. To avoid shaking hands with the national grid you should do all your testing / inspecting with the power turned OFF.