Several Lights In House No Longer Working


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Old 04-20-13, 12:05 PM
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Several Lights In House No Longer Working

As the title states, there are a group of lights in the house, on one side of the house, which no longer work. Everything was fine until a week ago when I noticed that whenever I turned one particular light on, all the lights in that group would go out. In order to get the lights to go back on, I'd have to go down to the circuit breaker which controlled those patch of lights and flip it off and then on again. But the circuit breaker never flipped off on its own at anytime.

Today though, nothing works in those group of lights. I flip the circuit breaker off and on and it doesn't even get one light to work. I know the easy thing to do would be to call an electrician, but money is tight right now and I'm hoping this is something that someone would recognize and be able to point me in the right direction.

So with that said, any suggestions?
 
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Old 04-20-13, 12:20 PM
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Welcome to the forums!

The fact that you turned off the breaker, and then turned it back, makes me think it was indeed tripped. Sometimes it is hard to tell a tripped breaker as the handle sits in the middle between on and off.

If your comfortable working in a electrical panel, and have a meter, we can do some testing and see if we can get this figured out. IF you don't have a meter, you can get one for about $10.
 
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Old 04-20-13, 12:24 PM
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Hi, thanks.

What kind of meter would I get?
 
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Old 04-20-13, 12:57 PM
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Any analog multi-meter would be just fine. Any home or hardware store will carry them.

If you can't find one, then a digital one will work, but could be susceptible to phantom voltage. Not a big deal, but you just have to know it when you get some strange readings.
 
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Old 04-20-13, 02:54 PM
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I'd like a more technically-accurate description of your problem and a bit of background on this situation:

Are we talking about only one circuit, or one particular light in one circuit affecting lights in another circuit?

What, if anything, has changed electrically since before this problem started?

How old is the house/wiring?

Since the problem is "evolving", I would be most inclined to think that this is older wiring and something is "out of order" in the walls.
 
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Old 04-20-13, 04:44 PM
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Are we talking about only one circuit, or one particular light in one circuit affecting lights in another circuit?
Originally Posted by mason413
I'd have to go down to the circuit breaker which controlled those patch of lights and flip it off and then on again. But the circuit breaker never flipped off on its own at anytime.
One circuit breaker, one circuit.

Mason, you could have a breaker that's failing. Or a loose connection at the breaker or the neutral bus. Are you willing to work with the wiring inside your panel to check that out?
 
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Old 04-21-13, 06:43 AM
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Originally Posted by Nashkat1
One circuit breaker, one circuit.
Yes, it is clear that he is actuating only one circuit, but it isn't as clear that all the lights in concern are on that same circuit. Sounds nutty, but I am shooting for a weird problem in the walls rather than something wrong with just the breaker. Since there's nothing on the business end of the circuit that seems to be out of order and the breaker went from normal to iffy to not working in a short span of time.... that's what I'm guessing for now.
 
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Old 04-21-13, 07:34 AM
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Very rarely have I seen problems occur in a wall with does not have a hidden splice, remodeling, or issues with animals. Failures do not just happen in the middle of the run for no reason. Most cases it happens at an accessible point. (Panel, device box)

I'll wait until the OP gets a meter and we can then start to troubleshoot.
 
 

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