OP
Discuss lighting fault in the UK Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net
My first instinct would be that the fittings are wired up incorrectly, so the switched lives are connected to what should be the permanent live to the next fitting, which in turn is connected to the switched live at the next fitting instead of the live loop.
Maybe best to pull everything apart at the fitting and bell it out.
Just a thought.
Is it possible that the other 2 light fittings are faulty and back feeding down the neutral?
I would of thought any faults to cause this at these 2 fittings would be enough to trip the mcb or rcd.
I've been thinking again and still puzzled to how all the fittings come on when they have independent switches and the switch lives work as they should with the circuit off!
Don't make it complicated! IR tests as suggested, plus take down the fittings and inspect/test the terminals, whilst the fittings are down put 2 normal pendant lights up to see if it still trips or if it now works. Plus draw out a diagram of the switches and lights to make sure all conductors are where they should be.
Don't make it complicated! IR tests as suggested, plus take down the fittings and inspect/test the terminals, whilst the fittings are down put 2 normal pendant lights up to see if it still trips or if it now works. Plus draw out a diagram of the switches and lights to make sure all conductors are where they should be.
ither switch seemed to give a supply all 4 lights even though the switch wires cannot be connected as they are on separate twin and earth's from switch
Do lamps actually light amongst both groups or do you simply mean you read a voltage? If the lamps light, but a continuity test between the two switched lives gives no reading, either the fittings have somehow got wired in some bizarre series arrangement and could never have worked properly, or a fault between the two SL's (e.g. screw through cables) is breaking down at mains voltage but tested clear to your multimeter. (I expect your original IR tests didn't include between the SLs). In any case if it was that marginal, I'd expect it to flicker and the fault to burn itself out eventually,still puzzled to how all the fittings come on
One thing I noticed when mcb off, I had 0.8v DC between the 2 switch lives at switch??
Do lamps actually light amongst both groups or do you simply mean you read a voltage? If the lamps light, but a continuity test between the two switched lives gives no reading, either the fittings have somehow got wired in some bizarre series arrangement and could never have worked properly, or a fault between the two SL's (e.g. screw through cables) is breaking down at mains voltage but tested clear to your multimeter. (I expect your original IR tests didn't include between the SLs). In any case if it was that marginal, I'd expect it to flicker and the fault to burn itself out eventually,
If you just meant there was a voltage measured at the 'switched-off' group, then capacitive coupling between the cables where they run together down the switch drop is the likely (harmless) cause. If the IR between them tests OK (SL of group 1 to SL of group 2) it wouldn't surprise or concern me. An approved voltage indicator would not have given the misleading reading.
Perfectly normal, there are capacitors inside the LED lights can store some residual DC charge which can leak back to the terminals while off.
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