please help lighting problem

[demkap]

Hi there,

im wondering if anyone can help me. im a qualified electrican but have never come across this problem. basically in a church there 6 flood lights inside on each wall left and right side. the whole right side is not working as it should. one light comes but then the next light seems to come on but not at full brightness, like theres a voltage problem. then when i flick the switch one light goes off and the other comes on but they should be on together. theres 3 switches 2 lights per switch, but its like the whole configuration doesnt work and they dont all come on or stay on....

please help???

 

[Adam W]

And some live test's to see what voltage at each fitting.

There was no need for that.

 

[7029 dave]

There was no need for that.

Sorry Adam. lol

 

[Toneyz]

It reminds me of lighting faults we had years ago when we had 3 plated connections at ceiling rose if you got the switch wire incorrect it would either blow the switch up and trip mcb (live/neutral across switch or put the rest of the lighting circuit in series rest of lights dim

 

[PEG]

And some live test's to see what voltage at each fitting.

...At last,the suggestion that needed to be made...:icon12:

 

[SimpleSimon]

Have you checked the back of the grid switches?

Take me them out and into chock blocks to test the voltage at each point. If the correct voltage is seen at all points, grab the grid switch you know that works and the light will be full brightness, isolate the other circuits and at each point connect the switch and check the brightness on each light. This could try and eliminate if you have a sticky rocker switch.

 

[ljsparky]

Dimming bank anywhere?

 

[richy3333]

God works in mysterious ways!

 

[lightjoe]

It sounds like either a loose neutral (which can be a pain to find and fix), a miswired neutral (also can be hard to find), or a switching issue causing lights to go series instead of parallel. Basically, you have to start at the source, verify continuity and voltage. You could also check for shorts as well. Everywhere you check the above, make sure the physical wires are tightly twisted together under the wire nuts. Some "electricians" used to think it was acceptable to simply put the wires under a wire nut and twist the wire nut. I believe at least one wire nut manufacturer suggest this as well. I suggest this because visually, it will look fine, and electrically it may test fine. However, under load, the wires could separate.

 

[Engineer54]

I don't know why an electrician comes here asking for help, that hasn't even conducted basic tests, that would i suspect show him where the problem lies. I'm thinking that these fittings are quite high up on these walls and he doesn't fancy having to get up to them.

The bottom line is that the OP should get his test equipment out and start conducting some meaningful testing to find the problem. All we are able to do, is make the proverbial stabs in the dark without test values being forthcoming....