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spencerin
Member
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# Posted: 24 May 2025 10:20am - Edited by: spencerin
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I can't figure out why this light won't work. The bulb is good. A tester shows the switch is operating correctly, and current is being delivered to the bulb sockets. Neither the breaker nor the GFCI are tripping. Yet no light works in any of the sockets. I'm no electrician, but here are 3 pictures of the wiring, and as far as I know, it's wired correctly.
Any idea what's going on?
Light wiring
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Switch wiring
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GFCI placement
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 24 May 2025 04:22pm
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post a pic of the light. if it's a florescent it could be the ballast. do you have a voltmeter?
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 24 May 2025 05:11pm
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Is there power on the load terminals of the GFCI as well as the line in terminals?
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spencerin
Member
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# Posted: 24 May 2025 06:15pm
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It's not fluorescent. And I accidentally mis-wired it first to where the light turned on when the switch was on, but tripped the breaker and GFCI when I flipped the switch to off. I know the mistake I made/why that happened. Again, not a pro, but I thought I re-wired it correctly. I will try a voltmeter shortly. But the tester shows power to the GFCI, and from the GFCI to the switch, and from the switch to the light fixture, and when I turn the GFCI on/off, or the switch on/off, the tester confirms power/no power in those segments.
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spencerin
Member
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# Posted: 24 May 2025 07:52pm
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Tested at 120V at the bulb sockets.....
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 24 May 2025 08:14pm - Edited by: gcrank1
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Wellll
Im no electrician but Ive chased gremlins in a bunch of elec stuff.....
Bypass the easiest to get at stuff, ie, the switches.
You could jumper the switch leads and the bulb should work. If not it is in the wiring to the fixture or the fixture.
Fwiw, I had a fixture that would not let the led bulbs I was using let the center bulb contact seat to the fixture contact.
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 24 May 2025 08:19pm - Edited by: MtnDon
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Let's take a step back.
Is this a new circuit that has never worked or an older one that stopped working. It looks like it is new and has never worked.
The images don't really help as we can't see what is connected to what.
Can you make a drawing showing color coded individual hot and neutral conductors? The positions of wire nut connections.. That might help.
gcrank1 suggested simplifying... How about dropping the switch and GFCI out completely with a jumper set? Can you do that safely to see if the fixture actually is functioning?
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 25 May 2025 09:31am
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FYI, inside an electrical box the NEC calls for 6 inches of pigtail length for each conductor. Minimum. A bit more is okay. The images seem to have shorter leads.
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 26 May 2025 07:30pm
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Quoting: spencerin Tested at 120V at the bulb sockets
If you have 120v at the socket your bulb is bad, or dosnt match up with the socket...its not a wireing problem.
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Fanman
Member
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# Posted: 27 May 2025 02:20pm
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Sometimes in older bulb sockets (and sometimes even on brand new cheap ones), the center contact gets bent down so it doesn't make contact with the bulb contact. If you're getting power to the socket and you're sure the bulb is good, you can try gently bending the contact up to make better contact.
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spencerin
Member
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# Posted: 29 May 2025 09:34pm - Edited by: spencerin
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I had another person look at it. Turns out the light fixture itself was bad. Don't know where, when, or how it went bad exactly, but that was the final verdict.....
Thanks for all your tips/assistance!
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 29 May 2025 10:23pm
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Maddening when stuff like that happens!
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