Calling all Electricians

[SheikYerbuti]

Simple question before I shell out for an electrician to come over and call me a moran:

 

I switched on the garage light and nothing happened. Tried changing the bulb. Still nothing. All the other lights on the same circuit seem to be working fine.

 

Am I missing something simple like a reset switch or do I need to have a professional look at the wiring?

[TRU SOLDJA 22]

Simple question before I shell out for an electrician to come over and call me a moran:

 

I switched on the garage light and nothing happened. Tried changing the bulb. Still nothing. All the other lights on the same circuit seem to be working fine.

 

Am I missing something simple like a reset switch or do I need to have a professional look at the wiring?

 

 

Is there just 1 switch to the garage light? Or could the other switch be in the middle postion and therefore grounding the circuit?

 

[Riffraff]

Second bad bulb?

Another light switch for the same light?

Rock the circuit breaker/fuse off/on for the circuit anyways.

Check for rodents eating the wiring in the attic above the garage.

[Skippy]

Sounds very much like a switch has gone bad. It happens and the cheaper the switch they used when they built can make it more common. Turn the switch to the on position and wiggle it around. See if that sort of triggers the light. I have \had many switches go bad when I was young and would buy the .79 cent switch.

 

That is all assuming that it is not a switch with a second switch hooked up to it like the post above suggests.

 

edit to add:

It is just a bulb fixture right? Doesn't the fixtrue take two bulbs?

Edited March 20, 2010 by Skippy

[Footballjoe]

I would reset the circuit breaker anyways. Try a bulb you know that works. Also check for a GFI that may have tripped. Shouldn't be hooked up to the light but I have seen crazier stuff before.

 

Borrow a tester and check the switch and then pull the fixture and test the wiring.

[SheikYerbuti]

Rock the circuit breaker/fuse off/on for the circuit anyways.

 

Not sure how, but this worked. All good.

[Riffraff]

Not sure how, but this worked. All good.

Good to hear.

 

The probable reason:

In electronics, it's call a "crowbar."

A crowbar circuit is an electrical circuit used to prevent an overvoltage condition of a power supply unit from damaging the circuits attached to the power supply. It operates by putting a short circuit or low resistance path across the voltage source, much as if one dropped a tool of the same name across the output terminals of the power supply. Crowbar circuits are frequently implemented using a thyristor (also called an SCR) or a trisil or thyratron as the shorting device. Once triggered, they depend on the current-limiting circuitry of the power supply or, if that fails, the blowing of the line fuse or tripping the circuit breaker.

 

a crowbar will not automatically return to normal operation when the overvoltage condition is removed; power must be removed entirely to stop its conduction.