Electric supply is causing lights to flicker...

[joeb99]

hi

When my dimmer is fully dimmed, the filiment can be seen to be flickering. When the light is half way, the light pulses up and down, only a small amount, but enough to make my eyes adjust to the new ligh level over and over... hard to describe.

I thought the dimmer was faulty, so bought another, and moved the suspected device to an upstairs room (different lighting circuit) and now both dimmers flicker.

I have always thought that the problem was the dimmers or the lighting circuits, but tonight i opened the microwave and the bulb in there was also flickering - the kitchen is on a different ring to the lights as it should be, so it cant be the wiring, can it?

The meter tails from the meter to the fuse box are quite long, about 2m in length from floor to ceiling, could it be this?

The lower the light level from the bulb, the move odvious the flicker. As the microwave is a low watt bulb i can see the flicker.

What do i need to do the get this fixed? I cant see how i can fix it?!

 

[FDJ]

hi


I have always thought that the problem was the dimmers or the lighting circuits, but tonight i opened the microwave and the bulb in there was also flickering - the kitchen is on a different ring to the lights as it should be, so it cant be the wiring, can it?

The meter tails from the meter to the fuse box are quite long, about 2m in length from floor to ceiling, could it be this?

No

The lower the light level from the bulb, the move odvious the flicker. As the microwave is a low watt bulb i can see the flicker.

What do i need to do the get this fixed? I cant see how i can fix it?!

It sounds to me that there maybe a problem with your supply. Dimmers can accentuate any incoming voltage fluctuations.
Firstly, carefully feel around your consumer unit without opening it to see if anything is getting warm due to a bad connection. If not, then I would get your electricity supplier to check their supply.
Faults like this are often caused by a bad connection somewhere in the supply and could indicate an impending major fault for the supply company.

If possible, check with several of your neighbours, preferably not next door either side as these will be on a different supply phase to you.

Frank

 

[ericmark]

There are many reasons why you can get this flicker the wave form chopping of one item can affect the operation of another and any spikes on the supply can also adversely effect these devices. Different makes have slightly different chartists and changing to another make may help. Unlikely there is a fault with supply as such. Bulbs are coiled coils and have some inductance and even changing the bulb to another make may help.
Eric

 

[joeb99]

Hi.

Its not just the bulbs in one room, its in all rooms, and in the micrwave, cooker hood etc... so i suspect it must be the supply as it cant be the tails.

Who do i call to speak to about this? The electric company is not actually the company that services the supply, they just sell the electric.

 

[sm1thson]

so i suspect it must be the supply as it cant be the tails.

it isnt the length of the tails as stated earlier, but it could be the connections on the tails, most likely the connection where it enters or leaves the main switch on the consumer unit. if these are tight (and dont go poking them with an incorrectly sized none fully insulated screwdriver only go near if you are confident or get someone in who is) then its time to look at the supply (which is the responsibility of the DNO).

edit, is there a separate isolator switch between the meter and the consumer unit, this would be another place where it could be going wrong.

 

[joeb99]

I called them this morning (western power distrobution) and they are coming out wednesday to test the supply with a quality meter thingy.

The voltage doesnt appear to completly drop to zero, id say the supply is varing by about 10-20% up and down at about 5Hz, then it stops for 10mins or so, then starts varing again.

It could be the incoming tails, they replaced them last year because the old ones were cloth - will have to wait and see what they say.