Help.. no lights downstairs in my home

[jrt]

Hope someone can please help with strange (to me) issue

I turned lights in last night in my home & they came on & then went off. But all apart from 1 light downstairs in my house doesn't work. At first I thought fuse, but it's ok. The 1 light that stays on is on same fuse as the ones that won't. None are linked with same switch so none of the lounge, kitchen, dining room, hall or lower toilet are working. Any ideas on where to start to remedy ?

Thanks

 

[Pete999]

Might seem a daft question, but how do you know all the lighting in your house is on the same circuit, the fuse you talk of, is it a fuse or a circuit breaker?

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

Is the light that is working the closest or nearly the closest to the fuse board?

 

[Wilko]

Hi JRT, and Welcome to the Forum !
Sorry to hear about your lights. You've mentioned fuses, in the 'fuse board' do you actually have fuses or are they the resettable circuit breakers?

 

[Pete999]

Hi JRT, and Welcome to the Forum !
Sorry to hear about your lights. You've mentioned fuses, in the 'fuse board' do you actually have fuses or are they the resettable circuit breakers?

Post 2

 

[Rpa07]

Hey Jrt, welcome to the forum.
Apart from the checking of the lamps in the light fittings to see if they have all given up the ghost at the same time due to a surge or something else causing the issue, it sounds like it is down to good old fault finding with test equipment. You may need to set up some table lamps and call out an electrician with fault finding equipment and the knowledge to use it.
Where in the country are you, there may be someone on the forum close to you that will have the heads up on your problem.
Hope that helps

 

[Pete999]

Is the light that is working the closest or nearly the closest to the fuse board?

Chris, I'm intrigued to know what you are getting at.

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

Chris, I'm intrigued to know what you are getting at.

Well I'm going off the assumption that's all the light are all off one circuit, maybe a feeds come loose if the light may have been knocked due to a loose connection? Seen it a few times in factory's where someone has banged something and dislodged a cable due to poor connections.

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

Chris, I'm intrigued to know what you are getting at.

Well I'm going off the assumption that's all the light are all off one circuit, maybe a feeds come loose if the light may have been knocked due to a loose connection? Seen it a few times in factory's where someone has banged something and dislodged a cable due to poor connections.

 

[Specialist]

Chris, I'm intrigued to know what you are getting at.

Bad connections from the first fitting to the rest of the loop.

 

[Specialist]

Duplicate removed.

 

[Pete999]

Well I'm going off the assumption that's all the light are all off one circuit, maybe a feeds come loose if the light may have been knocked due to a loose connection? Seen it a few times in factory's where someone has banged something and dislodged a cable due to poor connections.

Oh I see thanks

 

[westward10]

If some are on it seems the most obvious thing.

 

[Pete999]

If some are on it seems the most obvious thing.

IF there is only 1 circuit probably true, but the OP hasn't come back with an answer to the question I asked, you know how lay people can sometimes get confused with things they don't understand that well.

 

[jrt]

Morning, thanks for all the comments. I have a switchbox (not breaker) that has fuses in it that has 5 fuses in it, 2 for lights (up/down) 2 for sockets (U/D) & 1 for the cooker. If I swap the fuses for lights, all still work upstairs so thats how I know fuses ok. The light that works is not closest to fuse box. FB is in a converted garage & the light in that room does not work, in fact, I would say only light that does work is furthest from the FB. Nearly all my lights downstairs are spotlights, I think maybe a loop issue somewhere ? PS: I am in the UK

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

Do that one light downstairs go off when you pul the upstairs fuse?

 

[Octopus]

If you are tempted to have a go yourself be VERY aware that the problem could be with the live OR The neutral ...... So what appears to be dead, could very well be live!

 

[Octopus]

If you are tempted to have a go yourself be VERY aware that the problem could be with the live OR The neutral ...... So what appears to be dead, could very well be live!

 

[jrt]

If I pull upstairs fuse, downstairs light stays on, only upstairs goes out, def on seperate fuse line

 

[jrt]

Could the issue come from a wall switch ? On the wall connecting my hall to my kitchen, I have wired switches both sides, so you can turn lights in kitchen on or off from either side of the wall. It was this switch I pressed when all apart from the 1 light went ou

 

[Octopus]

When did you change the switch?

 

[jrt]

About 6 months ago, I rewired my kitchen when putting in spolights, all working fine until last night

 

[Octopus]

Got any test kit?

 

[ChrisElectrical88]

 

[jrt]

sadly not, think Im going to have to do trial & error, just removed swithces, they seem fine & not made any difference

 

[westward10]

Nothing wrong with having a look but ensure the power is off.

 

[telectrix]

the furthest light (physically) from the fuse board may well be the first one on the circuit. also,are you sure that the light that works is not on the upstairs circuit? it has been know, especially with lights that have 2 way switching, might even have L from circuit#1 and N from circuit#2.

 

[Toneyz]

1 Loose connection in light that works or
2 Loose connection in next light rose or
3 break in cable between .

 

[westward10]

the furthest light (physically) from the fuse board may well be the first one on the circuit.

Agree, the last lighting point on my downstairs circuit is the fluorescent in the garage about a meter from the CU.

 

[jrt]

Up & down light definitely not linked, definitely separate fuses & only linked by the switch having two separate switches, u can't turn downstairs light on/off from upstairs, only upstairs light from down lol. Just pulled the switch off from kitchen, wires were solidly fixed, yet with it totally removed, still no other lights, so guessing its not the switch here.

 

[westward10]

If your single switches only have two wires present, ignoring the earth the problem is not likely to be at the switches but at the light fittings themselves where the lives and neutrals loop through.

 

[jrt]

OK thanks, I will run through them all, damn, a lot of them

 

[Pete999]

Morning, thanks for all the comments. I have a switchbox (not breaker) that has fuses in it that has 5 fuses in it, 2 for lights (up/down) 2 for sockets (U/D) & 1 for the cooker. If I swap the fuses for lights, all still work upstairs so thats how I know fuses ok. The light that works is not closest to fuse box. FB is in a converted garage & the light in that room does not work, in fact, I would say only light that does work is furthest from the FB. Nearly all my lights downstairs are spotlights, I think maybe a loop issue somewhere ? PS: I am in the UK

"If I swap the fuses for lights all still work" are you just swapping the upstairs and downstairs over, have you actually checked to see if the fuse on the circuit that isn't working is OK? Your original post seems to intimate that all the lights are on 1 fuse, in your last post you say you have 2 fuses 1 for up and 1 for down 99% sure 1 of the fuses has blown, time to get your tools out and check the fuses out.

 

[Pete999]

Morning, thanks for all the comments. I have a switchbox (not breaker) that has fuses in it that has 5 fuses in it, 2 for lights (up/down) 2 for sockets (U/D) & 1 for the cooker. If I swap the fuses for lights, all still work upstairs so thats how I know fuses ok. The light that works is not closest to fuse box. FB is in a converted garage & the light in that room does not work, in fact, I would say only light that does work is furthest from the FB. Nearly all my lights downstairs are spotlights, I think maybe a loop issue somewhere ? PS: I am in the UK

"If I swap the fuses for lights all still work" are you just swapping the upstairs and downstairs over, have you actually checked to see if the fuse on the circuit that isn't working is OK? Your original post seems to intimate that all the lights are on 1 fuse, in your last post you say you have 2 fuses 1 for up and 1 for down 99% sure 1 of the fuses has blown, time to get your tools out and check the fuses out.

 

[jrt]

2 fuses, A - Downstairs, B Upstairs. 1 light from A working, all from B working. If I remove fuse B & put in Fuse A slot & A into B, then same result, all up ok, only 1 from down working.
I have now dropped down 20 spotlights & checked all wiring, all ok & tight. I have checked 4 ceiling lights, all ok & tight. I have removed 4 light bulbs, all ok & work in lamps. Nothing on the face of it is wrong, everything "should" work. I have a friend who is going to lend me a multi-meter in a couple of hours, that I suppose is best way to check if I am getting feed ?

 

[jrt]

If fuse had blown, I would be able to swap them over. I have tried with just 1 fuse in, swapping them over, same result whatever I do

 

[telectrix]

you need to do dead test continuity on L, N ( and E ). this would entail using a wander lead.

 

[Pete999]

2 fuses, A - Downstairs, B Upstairs. 1 light from A working, all from B working. If I remove fuse B & put in Fuse A slot & A into B, then same result, all up ok, only 1 from down working.
I have now dropped down 20 spotlights & checked all wiring, all ok & tight. I have checked 4 ceiling lights, all ok & tight. I have removed 4 light bulbs, all ok & work in lamps. Nothing on the face of it is wrong, everything "should" work. I have a friend who is going to lend me a multi-meter in a couple of hours, that I suppose is best way to check if I am getting feed ?

You must take care when working /testing on live circuits, especially with a borrowed DIY meter, which I presume what your Friend is, a DIYer.
Test leads need to be up to an industry standard, which your borrowed meter may not conform to, this in its self could be dangerous, I would seriously think again before attempting this, do yourself a big favour and get some professional help, call an Electrician.

 

[Specialist]

you need to do dead test continuity on L, N ( and E ). this would entail using a wander lead.

And test equipment

OP, you may well have an under floor junction box or boxes that have gone faulty, think it's time to bite the bullet and call an Electrician. Hit & miss fault finding rarely works and can introduce more faults.

 

[Specialist]

2 fuses, A - Downstairs, B Upstairs. 1 light from A working, all from B working. If I remove fuse B & put in Fuse A slot & A into B, then same result, all up ok, only 1 from down working.
I have now dropped down 20 spotlights & checked all wiring, all ok & tight. I have checked 4 ceiling lights, all ok & tight. I have removed 4 light bulbs, all ok & work in lamps. Nothing on the face of it is wrong, everything "should" work. I have a friend who is going to lend me a multi-meter in a couple of hours, that I suppose is best way to check if I am getting feed ?

No: The best & safest way now is to call a sparky, if you find no feed at some point would you know how to actually locate the fault ?. I'm all for DIY but also for people knowing their limits.

 

[mydigitalhome]

Hi could be first light is to a wc/bathroom with a fused spur for fan overrun and wired on wrong side. Worth checking all the 3a fuses. Had similar problem stumped me for a couple of min's MCB tripped but nothing came on afterwards.

 

[jrt]

No fan, so not that but thanks anyway. I cant fathom it out, will try & get a sparky tomorrow

 

[Pete999]

Crikey are we still faffing about with this could have driven down to the OPs gaff sorted the fault and eating a Big Mac on the Motorway by now, on me way home.

 

[jrt]

Dark hear

 

[telectrix]

be good for when them Luftwaffe come back over to the Spitfire factory though.

 

[jrt]

Who said that, someone turn the lights on !!

 

[Pete999]

Who said that, someone turn the lights on !!

Can't fuse has blown

 

[telectrix]

 

[freddo]

That would never work now as it would be impossible to get people walking down the street to switch their phone screens off.

 

[Specialist]

Mobile phones ?, Your behind the times matey. Half the buggers walk round nowadays glued to their tablet, nearly knocked one of the idiots over earlier.
Bloody idiot was walking down the pavement, tablet in hand & suddenly decides to cross the road without bothering to look. Would have been bad enough if it was a teenager, but this idiot was in his 40's at least.