Need Ideas

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john_axelson

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I have a customer that has an issue with the majority of his lights "flickering" in his house. Now granted, I don't do a ton of residential work, but here is what we have checked out so far:

Made sure the lamping of the fixtures didn't exceed the fixture wattage rating of the fixture.
Made sure the fixtures were lamped with the recommended type of lamp.
Changed out the 1000W dimmers that were feeding the lights.
Tried feeding the loads without dimmers and just a single pole switch.
Checked the neutral connections at both load centers.
Had the Utility Company check their connections.

Lights are still "flickering". Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thinking of putting a recording meter on the service and asking the home owner to track the "flickering".
 
ceknight said:
Did you check the meter socket terminations?
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Yes, we did check the meter connections as well. Actually here we had to have the Utility Company check them when they did their inspection.
 
I hate to admit it, but had a large custom one time and the owner complained of the same thing. My boss and I went out there several times at different times and could never see it. We went through all of the same things you did.

I can't even remember if we ever did solve it.

Have you witnessed it yourself?
 
Need Ideas

What size is the service? I've seen this happen on service less than 200 amps.

Your 220 volt loads (i.e. A/C Furnace) can cause the lights to temporarily dim. I have seen this happen. And have usually found that it occurs when those lighting loads are directly across from the 220 volt breakers.
 
We have not witnessed it ourselves, that is why I am hoping if I put a meter on it and have the home owner documnet the approximate time it happens I can go back and look at the log.

It is a 200A Service.
 
Check for "back stabbed recipticals". Check for "ITE" "GE" "SQD Homeline" style breakers with slide on buss connections. I have reduced 90% of my flickering problem by replacing all the backstabbed outlets I could easyly get to.
 
Check some of the "larger" 120V loads.

Check some of the "larger" 120V loads.

We had a customer once whose lights pulsed. After many trips and a lot of hair pulling I was sent over to watch the lights until they acted up. I got to the house early and asked the home owner to go through his usual routine. He did. He got to his home office and started everything up. All was fine until he turned on his plasma printer. For some reason, the engineers could probably explain, that printer would make all the lights on L2 pulse. You may be running into something like that.
 
Rewire said:
Probably the problem is with the POCO which they will never admit.
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We have had to ask the POCO out more than once on a couple of these. but it is usually when the flickering is constant not intermittant. I would suspect a loose connection at a 240V appliance receptacle as a possible cause.
 
john_axelson said:
I have a customer that has an issue with the majority of his lights "flickering" in his house. Now granted, I don't do a ton of residential work, but here is what we have checked out so far:

Made sure the lamping of the fixtures didn't exceed the fixture wattage rating of the fixture.
Made sure the fixtures were lamped with the recommended type of lamp.
Changed out the 1000W dimmers that were feeding the lights.
Tried feeding the loads without dimmers and just a single pole switch.
Checked the neutral connections at both load centers.
Had the Utility Company check their connections.

Lights are still "flickering". Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thinking of putting a recording meter on the service and asking the home owner to track the "flickering".
Click to expand...
Did you check that the feed wire is tight on the breaker?
 
i have had the same problem, it ended up being a loose connection at the pole.. it happen more often in the rain and wind.. i also think there was something going on with the transformer
 
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Have you looked around in the closets for a 8' Tesla coil?!?!?

Well barring that - you'll have to get a better defifinition of "Flickering" out of them - and more about the circumstances.

Sure motor in-rush could cause some dimming - and a loose neutral make them brighter - but to find it you'll have to train them to notice what is happening and when it is happening. Could even be a neighbors tesla coil.....
 
If it's multiple-circuit I'd lean toward a utility or neighbor issue. Sometimes the problem is with the utility, but it doesn't happen while they're checking it. I've had the utility find problems on a second or third call.

Dave
 
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