W
wolseley
The setup is a detached garage with mains incoming though the wall, goes into main switch and fuse unit. Out comes a wall socket line, and a lighting line.
The lights stopped working. On fiddling with the switch, it would buzz a bit and you could hold it in a position where the fluorescent tubes would glow at the ends, but not light. I had a small fluorescent table lamp plugged into a socket and when the light switch was turned on, this would go out.
I replaced the light switch and bypassed one of the strip light units which wasn't in very good condition. This hasn't fixed the problem, but has made it a bit different - now when you switch the lights on, the strip lights try to light (i.e. they flick on an off), but fail to stay lit. The table lamp still turns off, but not immediately.
I stuck a meter into one of the sockets. Under no load it reads a stable 240V, but when the light switch is turned on, it bounces around going as low as 90V. Without the starters in the lamps, it sits about 167V. Also, when I leave the lights off and just turn the table lamp on, it drops to 220V.
So, under no load it holds a steady 240V, but under any load at all it rapidly drops off.
I'm scratching my head as to where the fault is. Is it possibly anything in the garage, or is most likely the supply to the garage which is the problem? Any help appreciated.
The lights stopped working. On fiddling with the switch, it would buzz a bit and you could hold it in a position where the fluorescent tubes would glow at the ends, but not light. I had a small fluorescent table lamp plugged into a socket and when the light switch was turned on, this would go out.
I replaced the light switch and bypassed one of the strip light units which wasn't in very good condition. This hasn't fixed the problem, but has made it a bit different - now when you switch the lights on, the strip lights try to light (i.e. they flick on an off), but fail to stay lit. The table lamp still turns off, but not immediately.
I stuck a meter into one of the sockets. Under no load it reads a stable 240V, but when the light switch is turned on, it bounces around going as low as 90V. Without the starters in the lamps, it sits about 167V. Also, when I leave the lights off and just turn the table lamp on, it drops to 220V.
So, under no load it holds a steady 240V, but under any load at all it rapidly drops off.
I'm scratching my head as to where the fault is. Is it possibly anything in the garage, or is most likely the supply to the garage which is the problem? Any help appreciated.
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