spotlight woes..

[nat110732]

Hi,

Eight years ago we had a full rewire as part of our extension and in the kitchen we opted for six, two rows of three, recessed 240v gu10 spotlights. from the offset we seemed to get through a lot of halogen lamps and a couple of years back i decided to replace the lights with some better quality ones as the sparky had used the cheapest ones (under our instruction). I also opted for led bulbs and these have worked flawlessly until the other night when one bulb started to flicker and then tripped the mcb. When it was switched back on, only two of the remaining five lights came on. Thinking this was just a case of replacing the led bulbs, thats what i did but still nothing, so today i picked up a pack of three replacement lights and swapped three out of the four duff ones. Still no joy! Any clues would be greatly appreciated as there still two working, I think they have been wired in series and its the first two that still work, if that makes sense.

Thanks for looking and cheers

Nat

 

[bubachuba]

hi. so only 2 out of the 6 lamps are working? Can you put one of the working LEDS in a non working fitting to confirm? If not, its going to be a matter of disconnecting them and some trouble shooting with a tester. Is it wired conventionally, i.e one or two switches for all the lamps, or are they split so some lamps are controlled by one switch and the rest by another giving the option to part/fully light the room?

 

[nat110732]

Hi thanks bubachuba for the quick reply.
I have used the leds from the 'broken?' fittings in some other fittings in the house and tried new led in the broken ones but nothing!
it is wired conventionally with two switches at each entrance to the kitchen. Ive just stripped back to fresh copper but this hasnt helped either.
cheers nat

 

[bubachuba]

hi nat. has anything been done recently which may have disturbed the wiring to the lamps? You are going to need test gear to get to the bottom of this. Is this something you are planning to do?

 

[nat110732]

no, nothing has been done or touched for about two years, it just went all wrong when the led( 3rd in the series) started to flicker and then the mcb tripped, once switched back on, the fitting that was flickering was out and also the last three in the link, if that makes any sense.

cheers nat

 

[EFLImpudence]

Loose wire?

Bulb blew, caused short circuit, tripped MCB and burnt-out last of weak contact the wire was making.

 

[nat110732]

Loose wire?

Bulb blew, caused short circuit, tripped MCB and burnt-out last of weak contact the wire was making.

thanks EFLImpudence, so i'll check the connections on the last 'working fittting', strip the wires back to fresh copper and cross my fingers

cheers nat

 

[nat110732]

Loose wire?

Bulb blew, caused short circuit, tripped MCB and burnt-out last of weak contact the wire was making.

thanks EFLImpudence, so i'll check the connections on the last 'working fittting', strip the wires back to fresh copper and cross my fingers

cheers nat

Thank you so much EFLImpudence and babachuba for taking the time to respond to me... we have lights again

Such a great forum with great members, thank you!!

chers nat

 

[EFLImpudence]

 

[bubachuba]

glad you got it sorted!