Lights flickering in dwelling unit

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zcanyonboltz

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So I went on a service call today one light in the kitchen one light in the bedroom flicker and go dim after they've been on for a few minutes. I open them up it's copper wire it has been taped they're all in one LED light fixtures I put on two new switches both lights are on the same circuit there's a bathroom light not dimming on the same circuit with screw in LED bulbs. My thoughts are to change out the fixtures and go from there anyone have any advice on this. Thank you. Also the homeowner mentioned water damage in the Attic the roof was leaking a few years ago
 
Check the voltages on all the circuits in the main panel, as well as at the main breaker terminals. That will quickly identify a loose neutral.
 
I would temporarily wire an incandescent bulb in parallel with a flickering light.

I'm betting that it will not flicker with the LED light, meaning it's the light itself.
 
Thanks for the replies. I was thinking something along those lines I was going to put up a keyless with an incandescent and see what happened. If I do this and the flickering stops then I guess I will just put up a new light with incandescent bulbs but I'm pretty sure incandescent bulbs are being phased out maybe I'll just try another style fixture with screw in LED bulbs?
The current lights are all in one fixture and bulb combined.
Yeah my next thought was to open up the panel put meter on Breaker and neutral bar and see what voltage I'm getting at panel. I had 120 volts to ground at one box did not check the other one. Thanks for the replies.
 
Likely the LED internal in combination with the dimmers.

An electrician at church replace all the choir loft track lights with high end LED bulbs about 2 years ago.

6 months age a few started to flicker. All are on central HP Lutron dimmers. A $20,000 multiple panel HP-6 lighting system install 25 years ago, a mistake and waste of $$ in hindsight.

Put a scope on the lamps, and the Lutron dimmers do not fully turn on, does not conduct until about 15 deg into the sine wave. The choppe edge causes the LEd inverter supply to flicker.

Replaced the LEDs with halogen and all is well. Leds on straight 60 Hz OK in other circuits without the dimmers.
 
zcanyonboltz said:
So I went on a service call today one light in the kitchen one light in the bedroom flicker and go dim after they've been on for a few minutes. I open them up it's copper wire it has been taped they're all in one LED light fixtures I put on two new switches both lights are on the same circuit .
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junkhound said:
Likely the LED internal in with the dimmers.

An electrician at church replace all the choir loft track lights with high end LED bulbs about 2 years ago.

6 months age a few started to flicker. All are on central HP Lutron dimmers. A $20,000 multiple panel HP-6 lighting system install 25 years ago, a mistake and waste of $$ in hindsight.

Put a scope on the lamps, and the Lutron dimmers do not fully turn on, does not conduct until about 15 deg into the sine wave. The chopped edge causes the LEd inverter supply to flicker.

Replaced the LEDs with halogen and all is well. Leds on straight 60 Hz OK in other circuits without the dimmers.
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He say that he replaced with new switches. He also say these are all in one fixtures.

My guess would be that the fixtures are bad because that's what I have seen before.
 
zcanyonboltz said:
I was going to put up a keyless with an incandescent and see what happened. If I do this and the flickering stops then I guess I will just put up a new light with incandescent bulbs
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I prefer these for troubleshooting:

61wzYhPLgjL._SY550_.jpg

I believe you'll find that the LED continues to flicker while the incandescent does not.

but I'm pretty sure incandescent bulbs are being phased out maybe I'll just try another style fixture with screw in LED bulbs?
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Don't waste time and money. I believe the issue is electronic compatibility, not physical design.

Most LED makers have compiled a list of known-compatible dimmers you can check.
 
LarryFine said:
I prefer these for troubleshooting:

View attachment 23064

I believe you'll find that the LED continues to flicker while the incandescent does not.

Thats pretty cool and much quicker. I replaced with new single pole toggle switches but there are no dimmers I've seen this problem a lot with dimmers but not with regular toggle switches. Also I touched a contactor or something on the all-in-one fixture and it shocked me next to the the lamp then I checked voltage to light housing and ground and got nothing so there must be an open contact next to the lamp?
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That bulb holder is also handy for using a high-wattage bulb as a current limiter/indicator light when troubleshooting a short that otherwise instantly trips a breaker. Just wire it in series between the breaker and the load wire at the panel.


To help more, we need to know more detail about the lights.
 
zcanyonboltz said:
LarryFine said:
..... Also I touched a contactor or something on the all-in-one fixture and it shocked me next to the the lamp then I checked voltage to light housing and ground and got nothing so there must be an open contact next to the lamp?
Click to expand...

Can you try explaining this again? Auto correct is a PIA, but adding some punctuation can help. That and I’m slow.
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