Kitchen spots stopped working....

[lockwof]

Wondering if anyone could offer any advice please:

Kitchen lights suddenly stopped working tonight - I have 2 light fittings with 3 spot bulbs on each (GU10 35W each bulb). No other lights in house have gone out, all lights on same socket are fine. Tried a couple of things:

• Fuse box fine - turned off for 10 secs and back on again
• Took all 6 bulbs out, tried 2 different bulbs in 3 different places

Short of taking down the whole units (which I will probably have to do), could it be a different problem? Normally, if one bulb goes, the others will still work, so all of them going out suggests a bigger problem. I read a similar thread which suggests it could be the light switch.

Any advice on what to try in what order please?
Thank you in advance

 

[flameport]

Switch is broken, or a cable somewhere between what's still working on that circuit and the lights/switch is damaged or disconnected.

 

[Luckyphil]

Check behind the Switch , I’m betting a loose wire there

turn off the power 1st in case there is a loose wire

cheers

Phil

 

[lockwof]

Thank you both - I will start with the switch tomorrow, hoping it is as simple as that! Owned my own home for 20 years and never had this problem before

 

[Taylortwocities]

Is the switch a dimmer? These sometimes die if a lamp fails. Even standard switches don’t last forever.

It’s an easy job to bypass/link out the switch to eliminate this from your investigations. Do this first, before you start taking down fittings.

 

[lockwof]

Thanks. No, it's not a dimmer switch, just simple bog standard switch! Am hoping I will be able to take off switch today and see if there's anything obvious gone wrong there!

 

[Taylortwocities]

Ok. As I say. Link out the switch, just to eliminate it from the puzzle.
post photo of wiring if u not sure.

 

[lockwof]

Have now taken the switch off and there doesn't appear to be any sign of anything obvious that is loose, annoyingly. Picture attached, took out both live wires from switch, checked them and put them back in. Strangely though, when I touched the neutral wires in the junction box, I got a small electric shock, even though I had disconnected the power. Power back on, no lights. I guess the next thing to do is take the light sockets off and see if there's anything loose there!

 

[terryplumb]

Do you have any testing equipment ,such as a multimeter, or a two probe voltage tester ?
What did you use to isolate the circuit ,what did you use to test the circuit was dead before opening the switch ?

 

[SFK]

Suggestion.
If light switch has failed then you need to test without switch.
WITH ALL MAINS OFF
take out both live wires from switch, and put them back in together into one often two holes you took them from.
Then Switch on mains.

This has joined wires in same way as switch joins them.
If light comes on with mains then switch is at fault (change switch).
If lights do not come on then switch is likely okay and there is another issue (put it back the way it was).

SFK

 

[lockwof]

I now have lights! Took both light fittings down and checked the wiring, there was one slightly loose wire, which I didn't think would cause the problem, but it must have been that, as now all sorted
Thank you for all suggestions and help!

 

[Taylortwocities]