No Upstairs Lighting

[Grzyb]

Hi All,

Was called by a neighbour this evening, after she switched on some spotlights Upstairs in the en-suite, the lights spotlights flickered & she lost all the lights upstairs, the Breaker didn't trip, so she called me over to take a look...

There is a 240v feed for the Upstairs light from the consumer Unit, but no upstairs lights at all,

I went into the loft & found a 240v/12v Transformer for the Spotlights, could the fault be a U/S Transformer which is causing the Upstairs Circuit to be "dragged" down or maybe a Neutral Fault, Suspect possibly the first light in the loop as no other Upstairs lights are illuminated, all the other Circuits, lighting & Sockets are OK....

Do you need some special Testing/Inspection equipment to be able to diagnose the Route Cause of the problem, I only have a bog standard multimeter...

Any Help,suggestions would be greatfully appreciated, I'm working for the next 9 days, so wanted to give her a quick heads-up on what the route cause might be....

Thanks in Advance

 

[Lounge About]

dry disconnecting the transformer and then check if the other lights come on when you turn the power back on

 

[sparkwright]

Have you checked the light switch she turned on for loose connections?

Someone (not necessarily you) needs to check which lights have 230 volts at them and which don't. The fault would be somewhere between here.

A loose connection is quite likely.

If in doubt or there's even a chance you don't know what you're doing it's definitely a job for an electrician.

Light switches often don't have a neutral present.

Best thing you can do is contact a decent electrician for her because it's not really your problem.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

If all your upstairs lights are off and they were all working fine before this event.
Either the Live or Neutral supply has been disconnected in some way.
If it's a loop in system the fault could well be a loose cable at the first light on circuit, also check that these connecting are terminated at the consumer unit.
If any work has been carried out in the house, a cable could have been damaged/pulled out of it's terminal or you may have a rodent problem and they have chewed through the cable.
You really need some test equipment to help you with this, such as a multi-meter. Which will allow you to test for voltage and continuity of conductors.
Remember to isolate the circuit prior to removing any enclosure fronts.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

Grzyb - I have to say that this:

could the fault be a U/S Transformer which is causing the Upstairs Circuit to be "dragged" down

indicates that you don't have much of an understanding of electricity, circuits etc, and shouldn't really be fiddling with things.

Ditto this:

Do you need some special Testing/Inspection equipment to be able to diagnose the Route Cause of the problem, I only have a bog standard multimeter...

because if you knew and really understood how lighting circuits work, and how to use a multimeter on them, you wouldn't have asked it.

Please suggest that she gets an electrician.

 

[martinxxxxxx]

You might want to read another thread on here called

How many of you have had 240V shocks before? where you can see us all fessing up to shocks that we have had and how lucky we feel to have survived them.

Please for your own safety, get someone competent to sort out this problem.

Stay safe