lights fade & pop back on -- Electrical Gurus??

[timbirr]

In the past few weeks, noticed that the "light bar" above the bathroom sink is having a problem.

It's a set of three 60-watt bulbs in a somewhat standard "bathroom fixture" outlet that I bought some 8-9 years ago and installed myself to replace the old three 60-watt bulb fixture that my wife hated.

So, all three bulbs will dim down....and this is a pure guess....to about 50 percent of their normal light output for ---oh 1/3 to 1/2 a second and then pop back to full brightness.

Then, anywhere from 3-7 seconds later, they repeat. This can go on in cycle for 20 minutes or more.

At other times, no problem...

This has been going on for a month or two....Any ideas?

[John Grabowski]

If this problem is not showing up anywhere else in the house I suggest that you take the fixture down and check your connections. You should also check the connections at the switch. It's possible that the switch could be bad.

[timbirr]

I was afraid of that answer LOL.

Yes, this is the only place I am aware of....To me it seems as if after the light has been on for awhile that it finally goes away, telling me that "heat" may make it disappear, which may mean heat causes expansion, a loose wire that was Loose when cold then gets enough of a seal when hot....

Anyway, I know very little about electricity, so I am just making some very wild guesses here. So, guess next step is to pull down light, check the wire nuts, etc.

If all good, check the switch...sigh....

I'll keep everyone posted on the results...

[RBM]

I agree with John. You didn't mention if the light was controlled by a switch or dimmer. If it's a dimmer I would check that first, then pretty much check all connections

[timbirr]

Lights on a regular switch. I remember having to make a quirky installation. The original switch was outside the bathroom, on the bedroom wall. But the cutout went straight through into the bathroom and on the bathroom side was covered with a blank faceplate.

So, I removed the wall swtich from the bedroom and put a box in the other side of the wall and reinstalled the switch so that the light is now controlled from inside the bathroom..

The liight itself was straightforward swapout.

Of course, since posting this last night, it hasn't dimmed at all last night or this am....I probably won't get to this until tommorrow. Have a bunch of kids-sport stuff to dash off to this am (West Coast time....)...

[HeyBub]

You think you got troubles! I remember by granddad telling me about the shake-down cruise of a new Cruiser during WW2. Every time the 12" guns fired in volley, EVERY SINGLE LIGHTBULB in the forward third of the ship would shatter.

Nothing like fighting in the dark.