Fluorescent light won't turn off


  #1  
Old 01-09-01, 12:13 PM
Guest
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Fluorescant light over sink would not turn off with wall switch. I replaced wall switch. Now I can turn light off but in a minute or so it comes back on by itself. Is the problem in the wiring or in the fluorescent light fixture. Thanks in advance for any advice. Dave

 
  #2  
Old 01-09-01, 12:23 PM
Guest
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Cool

Shouldn't this question belong in the ghostbusters forum?
Has this house ever been haunted?

just kidding

Signed

anonymous
 
  #3  
Old 01-09-01, 09:22 PM
Wgoodrich
Visiting Guest
Posts: n/a
Boy you come up with a good one.

Try and remove the switch and leave the two wires connected to the switch hanging loose in the air not touching. Re-energize. If light comes on still you have the wiring configured wrong somewhere or you have two wires shorting in one of the boxes.

Wg
 
  #4  
Old 01-10-01, 10:23 AM
J
Member
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Fayetteville, NY, USA
Posts: 969
Upvotes: 0
Received 2 Upvotes on 2 Posts
Curious to know if this fixture/switch worked normally once upon a time. If so, was any work done on this circuit just prior to the problem occuring? Another question is do you have a 3 way switch controlling this fixture, and coincedentally someone is switching the second one on without your knowing after you have switched the first one off? What you described sounds like a motion-detector switch, which will come on by itself, but only when switched to the "auto" position and not when switched to the true "off" position.

To answer one of your questions, the problem of the light coming on after you turn the switch off, the answer is no, it's not a problem with the fixture. The switch interrupts the power from getting to the fixture when the wiring is done correctly, so the fixture has nothing to say about whether it comes on or not.

Correctly done, on a single pole switch, the power comes from the breaker panel to the switch, and a second conductor goes from the switch to the fixture. The second conductor is only live when the switch is in the on position. Pull out & disconnect the switch. Read the voltage on each of the 2 conductors, with the red probe on the conductor and the black probe to a known ground. One should be live and one should definitely be dead. The live one should come from the breaker panel (or somewhere upstream of this switch) and dead one should go directly to the fixture. Sometimes it's wired so that the power goes to the fixture outlet box first, a white wire is connected to the hot from the breaker and goes to the switch, then the black in the cable between the switch and the fixture outlet box goes from the switch back to the black wire on the fixture itself. Maybe this description will help you trace out the problem. Please write back to fill us in on what you find. Good luck.

Juice
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: