Showerthought: I spent a whole afternoon trying to fix a flickering light in my shop.

The light over my main chair started blinking last Tuesday. I checked the bulb, the fixture, and even the wall switch, but it kept happening. Turns out, the problem was a loose connection in the ceiling junction box I installed years ago. It took me about four hours of tracing and testing to finally find it. Anyone have a better method for tracking down a bad wire connection?

3 comments

3 Comments

robinwhite2mo ago

A voltage detector pen saved me hours last time I had that problem, what tools did you try?

cameron_owens491mo ago

Man, you guys are missing the hidden issue with these problems. In my experience, a bad neutral wire in the main panel can cause all sorts of weird flickering and false readings on a voltage pen. Your mileage may vary, but I've seen it show voltage on a dead circuit just from induction.

brown.simon2mo ago

Grab a cheap outlet tester with a GFCI button first. It can find some bad connections by checking for open grounds or reversed wires. For flickering lights, I start by wiggling the wire at each connection point with the power off, looking for anything loose. If that doesn't work, a multimeter checking for voltage drop under load is the real answer, it shows exactly where the power is getting weak.