Lights flickering

[Chaz]

Another thread about lights flickering... I’ve read all of the others, but none of the answers solved my problem.

When we bought the house the lights were flickering on one circuit. The inspector thought it might just be the bulbs. Since then I have replaced everything except the wires. Replaced lights with all new hardware and lights (LED), all new outlets, all new switches, new circuit breaker. Tightened everything twice. The only thing I didn’t do was rip out the wires and replace them.

With nothing else plugged in on the circuit and only two of the LED lights on the lights will flicker, usually just a tiny amount with an occasional boost or dip. If I plug in a fan they will dim a small amount when it’s on the lowest setting and more as I speed it up. A hair dryer will cut their brightness in half instantly. It doesn’t happen on any other circuit. The lights work fine on other circuits.

Is my only option replacing the wiring? I assume between the panel and the first outlet?

Thanks!

 

[WorthFlorida]

There may be another junction box somewhere hidden. At the breaker panel the wire for this circuit swap it with another wire on another circuit. Just swap wires, not the breaker. If it continues you know it is wiring. Check the neutral wire at the ground bar inside the breaker panel.

A recent post someone upgraded the breaker panel and added arc fault/ ground fault breakers. One circuit was tripping an arc fault. After several weeks he found a wire, it was chewed up by a varmint (inside the home). https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/afci-gfci-tripped-with-led-light.84530/#post-608250

I just noticed you did change the breaker.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Fitter30]

Have you gone through the receptacles sometimes they are powering the lights. Turn breaker off see if any receptacles power off.

 

[Jadnashua]

A loose or corroded connection is the most likely culprit. As was mentioned, shut the breaker off and find everything that no longer works and look at the items carefully. Keep in mind that both the hot and neutral wires are current carrying, and BOTH of them need to be in good shape, including any junctions or splice points. A wire nut somewhere that wasn't done well that may look fine could be an issue. A hair dryer is a fairly high current device, and the more current you draw though a resistance, the more of a voltage drop there will be across it, and that will show up by the lights dimming.

If a screwed connection is not torqued down properly or the wire is not wrapped around the screw right, especially if a high current device is used on the circuit, the heating/cooling of the wires will tend to loosen any screw terminal connection.

Replacing the circuit breaker does not mean that you checked the neutral wire in that circuit (unless it's an AFCI or GFI circuit)...so make sure that connection is tight. If there are any wire nuts, pull on each wire individually to see if they'll pull out of the wire nut and redo if you find any loose ones.

 

[roundcubeone]

If the flickering is only in one light, first check to make sure the bulb is screwed in tightly. This may seem obvious, but bulbs can come loose over time and lose their connection with the socket. Try tightening the bulb. If that doesn’t work, you may try replacing it.

 

[WorthFlorida]

@Chaz,
Did you ever get this resolved? I recall a post on this forum in the last two years with the same issue and after calling the power company was called To check things out, it was a bad neutral connect at the mask, before the meter.