Domestic Wiring Issue/ Lights

[nottm9550]

Hi All,

I Have a keen interest in Electrics and wish to pursue a career in this field. I have completed my part p, 17th Edition and also my 2391. I am no electrician I know that however oneday i hope I will be.
My self and girlfried are decorating and i have replace the exsisting dimmer with a switch. I have also replaced 3 wall lights.
Since completing this work a fault has presented its self in the form of: not all the lights work together. They all have power flowing to the however the readings are 230V and the other 2 show between 50-120V and not enough to illuminate all 3 together.
Obviously with the lack of experience i have i am unsure what the issue could be. My thoughts are as follows. The dimmer was masking the fault as i know the dimmer starts/stops the flow allowing it to dim and not giving it the full current. would there be a chance that the line and neutral have been incorrectly wired up thus sending the feed back down the neutral and receiving a feedback current?

Any thoughts and advice would be welcomed. Id like to sort this issue myself as a learning curve, thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Steve

 

[Clive P]

Hi,

Part P, 2391, and 17th !. I believe if you read your own post you will be able to identify the problem; it's staring you in the face,

Regards.

 

[AP Electrical]

Why do the 2391 without a basic knowledge of circuits and the like?.

 

[nottm9550]

Just interested and wanted to learn

 

[Richard Burns]

Assuming you have no loose connections, try and think what would cause the voltage at a measured point in a circuit to be lower than the supply voltage. Think what is required to drop the voltage and then think what you have in the circuit that could act in this way.

 

[nottm9550]

Cable being undersized, causing more resistance thus inturn giving a voltage drop. also I would think that lights in series would then be sharing the same current halving the voltage between the lights = voltage drop. Is there such a thing as feed back as i indicated above. Thanks for replying and your advice

 

[nottm9550]

Also why would it have worked prior to me changing the dimmer to a switch.

kind Regards

 

[Richard Burns]

also I would think that lights in series would then be sharing the same current halving the voltage between the lights = voltage drop.

Is there such a thing as feed back as i indicated above.

I think the lights in series is the most likely.
The feedback would not happen; cross connect line and neutral and you get a large bang, use the wrong coloured wire and the circuit will work but be dangerous for future work and not meet the regulations.

Overall it sounds like you still need to understand more about electricity before starting work.
From what you describe you either have a series light or a loose connection; how did you wire the wall lights, is there an error there?
Check all your connections again to see if they are correct.
if you are unsure draw a diagram of the circuit and see where the wiring should go.
Do not take risks.