Advice ref blinking lights all circuits

[Lukeowl]

Hi there,


I should start by saying I am not an electrician, but am after some advice as we have a problem that we aren’t getting any answers on.

In January, we had a new fuse board installed to replace an old edition one. This is a recent Wylex model with circuit breakers. The electricians who installed it also added some outdoor lights, a couple of sockets in the kitchen and updated a few sockets around the house for us.

Approx 10 days after the work completed we began to notice intermittent blinking on lights across both upstairs and downstairs lights and on lamps plugged into sockets. There is no rhyme nor reason to the blink – it doesn’t matter if any appliances are running or none, so we’ve ruled out a surge due to boiler, fridge, etc.

We spoke with the electrician who did the work, they inspected the connections at the board and said everything looked fine and they suggested it was likely to be a supply issue. Powergrid came out, inspected and setup voltage recording device and left that running for about 8 days. They say that there is no fluctuations from their side that would cause “flicker” so have said it’s not an issue from their end.

I’ve spoken with the electricians who did the install again, but they seem void of any idea on what to look for or what could be causing this problem.

Does anyone on this forum have experience of similar issues being related to anything non-supply related – so from the board onward internally? Is it possible a fault could be present on the board itself?

From searching google, there’s lots of suggestions that flicker on all circuits including sockets is likely to be a supply issue, but this isn’t really what I’d call a flicker. It’s a very short blink. More noticeable on filament bulbs than the LED types. Not ever so frequent enough to cause headaches or anything, but frustrating, annoying and worrying as I have 2 young kids and I am really paranoid about electrical safety (which is kind of the reason we had the old fuseboard replaced in the first place!).

Thanks in advance for any advice or ideas offered.

 

[jwg]

I've skim-read the thread so sorry if this has been asked - did the flickering happen at any point while the data logger was connected?

 

[DPG]

I'd have a bit more of an in depth read if I were you

 

[jwg]

I'd have a bit more of an in depth read if I were you

Would you now? I can't see that my question has been answered. "They say that there is no fluctuations from their side that would cause “flicker” so have said it’s not an issue from their end." certainly doesn't answer it if that's what you were thinking.

 

[DPG]

Mmm. The point I was making is that as far as I know, nobody has connected a data logger yet.

 

[BOYD BARKLEY]

Mmm. The point I was making is that as far as I know, nobody has connected a data logger yet.

Do we know if anyone has connected a simple solitary circuit to the out put side of the c.u. with nothing else connected

 

[Kjr79]

If it’s not on their side and it’s affecting everything on the load side then it’s inbetween lol

Check the tails, I’m still getting the tails are reversed polarity

 

[telectrix]

can't see reversed polarity causing it. a loose connection maybe.

 

[jwg]

Mmm. The point I was making is that as far as I know, nobody has connected a data logger yet.

Powergrid came out, inspected and setup voltage recording device and left that running for about 8 days.

I must admit I had to double check after your post! I'm interested if the problem actually occurred when the recording device was installed, as that would be different to "the recording device was installed but the problem didn't occur and they couldn't see anything wrong when they looked at the results".

I've also been wondering what the resolution of such a device would be, and would it be sufficient enough to detect a momentary glitch.

 

[DPG]

Doh. Sorry, I missed the bit about the supplier using a recording device sorry.

I'm with you on maybe it missing the briefest of glitches when they occur though. Would be good to see how well it picks up dips in the order of milliseconds.

 

[Lukeowl]

Hi,

Yes, the problem occured while the recording device was installed. It was left on for 8 days. It was a Fluke device of some description, though couldn't tell you what. They said it would record voltage fluctuations.

I will try to take some photos over the weekend.

I'm thinking of getting a second opinion if the guys who carried out the work can't find anything when they come back on Thursday and if they insist it's a supply issue. I guess it could be purely coincidental that this only started happening within a week of the work taking place, but, because of that, I think it unlikely that it will prove to be a supply fault.

 

[telectrix]

Doh. Sorry, I missed the bit about the supplier using a recording device sorry.

I'm with you on maybe it missing the briefest of glitches when they occur though. Would be good to see how well it picks up dips in the order of milliseconds.

i regulary pick up dips. mmmmm.

 

[stevels4]

How did the electrician isolate the supply to enable the new CU to be fitted safely?
If there is no double pole isolator fitted between the meter and CU I assume the main cut out fuse was removed after breaking the seals?
Before refitting the cut out fuse were the terminals checked and the fuse retaining screws checked for tightness?
Were all the cut out terminal screws checked for tightness?
If the cables from the meter to the CU were replaced were all the meter terminal screws checked for tightness?

 

[Mike Johnson]

Sorry to drag this old thread up, came across it when searching for GU10 polarity checking.

Was this ever resolved?

Is the circuit effected a two or more way switched one, if so perhaps the potential current in the permanent live charging the capacitor in the GU10 and discharging causing a flash.

 

[Timbo]

As the OP was last on here 20 March 2018, there is not much chance of an answer.

 

[Mike Johnson]

I realise that, but thought as no conclusion was reached it may be helpful to resurrect the thread to see if knowledge of this type of problem had improved over the last eighteen months or so.