Why isn't my light fixture working?

[Wade Lippman]

I have this light fixture.
http://www.noralighting.com/Product.aspx?pid=7669
it is 10 years old.
6 months ago I put a LED bulb in it and it stopped working the next day. The bulb was good in other fixtures and known good bulbs didn't work in this one.
I didn't know what to do and just ignored it. A week later it started working again.
Yesterday it stopped again. Its not the bulb...
I have one of those testers that passes a little electricity to your hand and tried that. The hot is nice and bright; the neutral is dim. So electricity is getting to the socket.
Any idea how I can fix this; short of replacing the fixture?

[Kev Williams]

Could be bad solder on the feed wires at the socket itself...

[Jim Becker]

Since this is line voltage without any transformers, it's likely a physical issue with wiring or the socket.

One thing to check immediately if it's a screw socket, WITH THE POWER TURNED OFF FOR SURE, check that the little tab that engages the tip of the lamp ("bulb") isn't compressed down flat. If so, carefully pry the end up with a small flat screwdriver so it will properly make contact with the lamp. I've seen this numerous times in fixtures and it's a show stopper for power to get to the business end of the lamp itself. Note...I'm not kidding about being sure the power is off... If that doesn't fix it, then there's something likely amiss with the wiring, itself.

[Stephen Tashiro]

Yesterday it stopped again. Its not the bulb...

Did it stop working with incandescent bulbs too ?

[william watts]

Some LED bulbs have a slightly different shapes or length than incadesent bulbs, they won't screw into the socket far enough to make contact with the the tab contact in the socket. Some sockets they work OK ,some not, and some maybe.

Bill

[Wade Lippman]

Doesn't work with anything. I originally thought it was the heat sensor that was defective, but then it came back for no reason.


I will try prying the tab up. Worst that can happen is that it breaks and it is already broken. But that wouldn't explain the 30v; but then nothing else would.

[David L Morse]

It could be an open neutral wire. The neutral should read 0V if it has connection. If it's open capacitance between the hot and neutral will allow a high impedance voltmeter to show a reading. The break could be some distance from the socket.