Ceiling light fault

You're the one with the wiring & multimeters, you tell us where the power's stopping.

One data point - I've had a cord switch fail in exactly this way. Not that I'm claiming that's the most likely cause. Presumably the buckling spring doesn't quite hold the (eroded) contacts together.

I was going to say that too

It's the switch. I bet its got a heavy pull-cord pendant on it too.

Scott

I'd suspect the switch if you didn't swap it already. I fitted a new one a few weeks ago (regular one not a pull switch though), then it got slopped on by my plasterer and it behaved sort of like this - presumably something got into the switchy bit, where you can't see (and wouldn't expect anything to get to). Perhaps in this case, it's corroded, eroded or just plain worn out. I guess the contacts on a pull switch can be a bit temperamental sometimes.

Knackered switch sounds plausible.

Likely the switch mechanism itself is faulty. New switch needed.

Mine did the same a couple of weeks ago - at first thought bulb or BC socket but turned out to be switch contacts. As it was an 40 year old switch with quite a nice soft action (compared to modern types) I uses wife's sandpaper nail file thingy to clean them. Workes fine now.

Geo wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

They are poor design - dirt can get blown into them - they are either feeble or noisy! Why doesn't a firm make one with a sealed microswitch type of innard? In the meantime - any ideas for a quiet one before the one in my bathroom gives up.

snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

This is why when we re-wired we put all the bathroom switches outside the bathroom, so we could have wall-mounted switches.

Jonathan

Not cheap, but:

En el artículo , Geo escribió:

I know the ones you mean, they're 2A, modern ones are 6A which is why they're so much noisier and need a harder tug (oo-er missus) to operate.

Bet she was made up with that! :-)

Ceiling mounted things can be quietened by mounting them using tap washers. It means they'll be a couple of mm off the surface.

NT

I have not fitted one for a couple of years but Legrand used to be the quietest

I've had one working well for the last 9 years.

Chris

Two possible ideas which I've used in different places...

Bathroom with a sloping (lean-to) ceiling, which was very high near the door and a long cord might have looked a bit silly. I wall-mounted the pullcord switch on the (9" brick) wall, which doesn't resonate at all when the thing clicks on and off. Need to make sure you choose one which can cope with the cord being pulled at right-angles. I thought it might fray and break quickly, but 13 years later, it's showing no sign of doing so. (I think it was a bog-standard Wickes one, at the time.)

Second time, I was replacing a ceiling in a bathroom (the original being much too high, so I built a new one at a more conventional room height). For the light switch, I found a block of timber, fixed it to the wall with the lower surface level with the ceiling, and cut the new ceiling around it. The pullcord is fixed to that (and the brick wall), and thus not coupled to the ceiling. The join is hidden under the pullcord base.