lounge lights stopped working? - basic checks. Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[bpascua]

Hello,

I have a house where the lounge lights have suddenly stopped working. hte lights are two seperate light fittings in the lounge. There are two switches at either end of the room. I have changed the bulbs and checked the fuses arent tripped. Before I call the electrician can anyone give me some advice on to what I could check.

Could I unscrew the plastic light fitting cover and hold a screw driver (with a little bulb in it) onto the live connection to see if the power is getting to the fittings? or will I be electrocuted.

Thanks

Brian

[ericmark]

The neon screwdriver is unlikely to help. The British ones are safe to use but only test line wires not the neutral so although good for alerting one when mistakes are made like a circuit being energised while you are working on it they are no good for fault finding or proving dead.

Likely it is not the lamp that stopped working where the fault lies. The power goes through the ceiling rose to next lamp and if the ceiling rose on previous lamp has been disturbed it could mean no power to next lamp.