Electricians - Lights Flickering

[markmullen]

Are there any electricians in the house this afternoon? I am at work and some of our lights keep flickering, not fully off, just very dim and then back up. It only seems to be a certain section of lights so I assume one circuit, is there anything I can check?

[Raverbaby]

what kind of lamps are flickering? Its not a 2-way switching arrangement with energy saving lamps?
You can get your multimeter and make sure your getting 230volts across live/neautral. ( only do this if you feel confident working with electricity)

Has this just happened out of the blue, have you been installing any new fittings or anything?

[markmullen]

Raverbaby said:

what kind of lamps are flickering? Its not a 2-way switching arrangement with energy saving lamps?
You can get your multimeter and make sure your getting 230volts across live/neautral. ( only do this if you feel confident working with electricity)

Has this just happened out of the blue, have you been installing any new fittings or anything?

Thanks for your help. Flourescent office strip lights in a suspended ceiling.

I'm just sitting in the office, nothing different, it has stopped now but did it about 4 or 5 times in a 10 minute period.

[Raverbaby]

strange one if its just standard flourescant fittings.
I have seen fittings with sensors built in that dim automatically to save energy - i.e fittings near windows will dim or go off completely as there is sufficient light in that area.
Possibly just a volt drop but if that was the case sockets would have been affected too. Could be a loose connection somewhere too, its hard to tell when not actually there.
Sorry not much help im afraid

[xllifts]

Mark sounds like you have a dodgy starter on the fitting this will cause the problem you are describing.

Be aware though when you buy new ones their are two types be sure to get correct ones.thesse are only about 90p each from wholesaler

The starter is about 1" in diameter and aprox1.5" in length with two prongs on the end, they are normally mounted on the side of the fitting and simply untwist like a light bulb(bayonet type)

HTH
Dave

[markmullen]

xllifts said:

Mark sounds like you have a dodgy starter on the fitting this will cause the problem you are describing.

Normally I would agree but it was several banks of lights that dimmed.

Thanks though, and to you raverbaby, for your help.