Unscrews glowing bulb, immediately sticks finger in socket 😆. That’s why Kevin’s only allowed to carry tools and talk to the audience... dude almost lit himself up.
You guys saved my house, the flickering was causing my bulbs to burn up crazy fast, I removed the socket and peered in and saw they were a little corroded, so I filed away at the corrosion, tried again and no more flickering at all!
Yep, the non LED compatible dimmers depend on more current to function correctly. If you have a few LED light fixtures on one non compatible dimmer and they flicker etc., there is a slight work around until you can find the right dimmer switch. Simply have one of the fixtures fitted with a regular bulb and that current draw will usually be enough to get the dimmer to function. We did this in one room as the switch box that housed the older style dimmer doesn't have enough room in it to put the newer dimmer inside it. The newer dimmer is much larger and there's just no room for it so, until we arrange to cut into the plaster wall and put in a correctly sized switch box, this idea works for now. For those who don't know, LED bulbs interfere with garage door openers and video cameras...be sure to find LED bulbs that are made for those applications.
When Heath turned the switch off for Kevin, I had a huge sigh of relief. I know they wouldn't but the video up if Kevin had actually hurt himself, but as soon as he took the bulb out, I kept thinking "Don't reach in there! Don't reach in there!"
It’s amazing how we have ingress protection on power outlets, but light sockets have a great big opening for fingers to reach into. I know it’s a standard that has been used forever, but surely now is time to change to something a bit safer...?
@@matthewlewis5631 That's why the shell part is the neutral, in order to keep your fingers away from the tab deep within that is hot. Hypothetically, you can touch the threaded shell without getting shocked if everything is wired properly. Not saying I recommend to do it. This is also the same reason why they invented polarized receptacles and outlets. Plugging in a lamp with a non polarized plug made it dangerous to change bulbs.
I've been an electrician for close to 20 years and this video is really simple and effective for a homeowner to fix their own problem. A 4th very common cause would be a loose splice, especially if the house was built in the 70s when aluminum wire was prevalent
Does anyone scrolling by happen to know the answer? (Q: What if it's every light in the house?) The two guys up there^^ and myself would definitely appreciate it 👍
@@dylan-nguyen i have all led recessed. It's not an issue in my house but I have seen other houses where the lighting and receptacles are on the same circuit and the washer drum agitation causes the lights to dim with every turn of the tub. Back in the day they were not concerned with as many separate circuits as we are now lol
Mine was corroded inside the meter box; electrician replaced that, and it helped but didn't solve it. Then they found there were a lot of ground & neutral wires doubled up under the same screw on the ground bar, and theorized that some weren't making good contact. They added another bar so every wire could go under its own screw, problem solved.
@@DaddyBeanDaddyBean I am surprised the installation even passed inspection with two conductors under "one screw head" Point of added resistance and corrosion poor contact. Ought to installed a longer bus bar for the grounds and neutrals to begin with if the factory supplied were too short.
@@TheTheo58 It's a very old house (1860's); the previous owner did extensive work, much of it himself, and I'm pretty sure that included replacing the service panel. It's entirely possible he added a bunch of circuits after getting it inspected, and didn't have the sense to add another ground bar. I had the upper entrance cable replaced (from the weather head down to the meter box) along with the corroded meter box itself, so needed an inspection for that, but I honestly don't recall whether the inspector took the cover off the panel inside. I suppose he must have, but can't swear that he did.
@@DaddyBeanDaddyBean my goodness 1860's era would likely involved K/T wiring. The home I grew up in was built in 1946 (the building permit was still nailed to the stud in the garage) had a 100 Amp main entrance fused disconnect, six branch circuit fuse panel (hall closet) Main panel had fuses for range and dryer. Older fiber wrapped non-metallic cables for interior and BX cable. I used EMT and BX cable when I added additional outlets in the garage and the newly built darkroom. Adding a ground at two locations.
@@TheTheo58 Correct - there are still a few unused bits of knob & tube here & there, but the entire house was rewired with Romex at some point, presumably by the previous owner.
Over many years, I have fixed many flickering bulbs by re-tensioning the tongue in the center of the socket with a little hook. They originally are sprung against the bulb, but eventually flatten against the bottom. Sometimes they corrode and a few strokes with a scraping blade, like a chisel, makes them like new. Sometimes the screw shell is fastened with a screw instead of a rivet, so a turn of that loose screw fixes it. Also, before i buy and replace a switch, I just short the wire screws together to see if the flicker stops. If not, it is not the switch.
There’s got to be some other reasons. I have a new energy saving light bulb in one socket and a four foot shop light in another, both off the same switch. The energy saving bulb, which is new, occasionally will flicker a couple times, inconsistently, but most times stays on without doing that. The bulb is in tight and there’s no signs of corrosion in the socket. They are located in the garage and there’s no way any rodents could be in the ceiling, plus this happens without any other things running. Only the energy saving build that was given by the electric company does this. Also the same symptoms have been happening in my daughters home after I installed a couple of these light bulb’s there. Again, most times they stay on without any flicker, just occasionally they will flicker a few seconds, sometimes just once and sometimes they will do it a couple times in a row. One outlet in my daughters home looks like some is sending Morse code, but then it will stop and not usually act up for a long time. One more thing, this does not occur when I use the old fashioned type of light bulbs. Personally I think that there is something wrong with these bulbs! I’m 65 and maybe things have changed, but I was always taught that turning a light on and off not only wears the bulb down, but also consumes more energy, uses more power, which would make me believe that these new energy saving light bulbs are not as good as they say.
I have the senecio where the electrical panel hasn't been gone over in ages. I've found loose or corroded wires there. Tightening with a screwdriver usually fixes most. I've taken an infrared thermometer and found a couple of hot spots. Fuse or breaker itself getting warm. Replacing those usually fixes it. Main did not use de-oxide compound. Aluminum & copper don't get along without it. Found loose wire nuts, but rarely.
Excellent video, well done. I particularly appreciate how you guys just went on with the video without editing out the near-blunder where the presenter nearly got electricuted because he neglected to first switch off the power before touching into the socket, a common mistake many of us make
No! You don't have to replace the socket. Just bend the contact out. Problem solved. It's brass and if it has a little corrosion, just take a pencil eraser to it. Good for 5 more years. Not everything has to be replaced.
I had bulbs flickering in just one room. I put a multimeter to a power outlet and saw low voltage. The cause? Bad grounding. My circuit breaker was in there tight, and the ground wires were tight (sometimes just tightening the ground wires will fix this). I removed the breaker and saw the ground bar that it was latched on to had corrosion at the contact point. I turned off the power to the entire house and used a wire brush to clean the ground bar in the breaker box. I put the breaker back in and turned on the power, and problem solved!
@@ErikStone1 that's something to keep an eye on because once the coating is damaged it may develop a hot spot and cause a fire down the road. If you have any room in that panel you may want to move that breaker or install a new breaker in a new location. If not I would at minimum examine the entire buss bar for any similar signs, because you may need to replace the panel.
That's not the ground, it's the neutral. Ground has nothing to do with electrical transmission, it is an emergency exit when a wire gets damaged. Power comes into your home on the hot and leaves through the neutral. If ground wires are affecting your power, your whole system is screwed. A bus bar can be hot, neutral or ground. It is simply a place where wires come together at a common point. The hot bus bar is behind all the breakers, the neutral and ground are off to the side and have white or green or bare wires. Black or any other color, usually red is for hot. If you have any corrosion in your panel you should have it replaced, that could cause a fire if left untreated. Electrician.
Like an episode of Tool Time...sticking your finger into a live electrical socket failing to check to see if it is turned off. And these guys are advising me...!!!
The lights in my entire house used to flicker anytime you turned the dryer, refrigerator or anything that draws a decent amount of electric on. The box on the outside of my house was completely corroded and filled with water. Electrician came and fixed it and did a total re wire. Problem solved. The annoying part is that the box on the outside of the house is not accessible by anyone except the electric company (at least legally), so it was a process to have them come out with the electrician and get this all fixed. However, none of the lights flicker anymore and the power lines are now safe
This is my current situation as we have been In our new “old” house for 5 months and no flickering, we just set up the fridge and washer/dryer. Now all my lights flicker, even my fan will fluctuate in power
We use LED bulbs in light fixtures that are simply on or off, like in the bathroom or stairwell. For other lights controlled by a dimmer switch, like our dining room, we've gone back to good old incandescent bulbs. No need to mess around with expensive new dimmer switches or flicker issues.
I'm a 15 year journeyman , my most recent find was that the coffee machine being plugged into the same circuit as the one with the recess made them flicker . Wasn't even running, just being on made the lights flicker until it turned off
At a house, flickering LED lightbulbs bypass the switch power company. Check the neutral on the main powerline coming in ran power across the street to the neighbors house tempting the lights and they still flicker reveal lightbulbs. Replaced them and they stopped flickering.
I have a different situation than the 3 in this video. I have a basement light, pull chain, works fine with an incandescent bulb, but when I put in an LED bulb - the bulb sometimes flickers, and sometimes does not light at all. If I put the incandescent bulb back in - it works fine; there is no dimmer switch. Why would an incandescent bulb work, but an LED does not work?
I stocked up with scores of packs Thomas Alva's best and won't have to worry about the silly LED "lightbulbs" in my lifetime. You can still find Commercial Grade incandescent bulbs. Saves a lot of aggravation and diddling around.
I’m bummed, I didn’t see my house’s symptoms in this video. My LEDs pulse at about 1 Hz every now and then, typically lasting for several minutes. It seems like the incoming power to my house is either out of phase or dropping voltage. The house was built in the 60s and has the original supply and panel. Any ideas?
I've got one bulb in my basement doing exactly that! A slight flash every second, I watch it for 5 minutes, then turn my back and the bastard is burning steady!!!!
Check the bulbs, maybe cheap bulbs but check the bulbs. There seems to be issues that no ones really touching on . One commentor said it could be just one bulb. I would try that.
Additionally, some dimmable LED lamps aren't compatible with certain manufacturers LED dimmers. The manual or manufacturer website will list the compatible LED lamp manufacturers.
there are two other causes for flicker , if the led driver inside is bad . and i have another situation where i have a bulb over the kitchen sink that flickers when the oven is on due to some sort of interference .
There is also a change that signals on the line from the grid (such as those sent to trigger on-peak and off-peak switches) can induce flicker. Not sure if it’s a common thing in the US but down here in Australia there are numerous times per day where a load control ripple is sent on the line that makes my lights flicker for 1-2 mins. You can get filters for the circuit but it’s a bit involved and not so cheap.
that not all the reasons a bulb will flicker, there is the loose joint In a junction box,or an appliance breaker could be above the lighting circuit that powers the bulb your trying to light up,just so you know.
Usually the cause is a failing LED bulb. They are extremley unreliable. Sometimes the flickering sorts out as the lamp warms up. The center contact in the socket might be flattened and need to be twisted back. New bulbs have a flat pin on the bottom without a blob of solder. If it was so corroded that screwing the bulb didn't polish it, then it would fall off, not work at all or short out.
I had the 3rd one even with a dimmable switch and dimmable led can lights. Happened to be on a 3 light chain. Had same setup on a 2 light switch without problems so I'm thinking had to do with the 3 chained together 🤔
Any update. Same here. I just changed the dimmers (LED compatible) and my dimmable LEDs still flicker. I’m going to buy a different brand of LEDs tomorrow and see if my flickering goes away
@@Paul37Ontario I figured out theres a setting on the led dimmer switch to set the dimmer limits. Check out if yours has something like that. My switch was a leviton I think. I found it in manual guide after I finally read it 🤦♂️
The dimmers that I bought are simple straight dimmers, Home Depot (5 pack). I wish it was that simple. I'll let you know tomorrow if changing the LEDs worked. Thanks for your reply. @@JonnyDIY
Bought Philips Ultra Definition 100W equivalent after doing lots of research, and no more flicker. There expensive, had to get 8 of them. But no more flicker. Thanks @@JonnyDIY
Just remember you MUST check and get the proper outlets ,switches and bulb recievers that is compatible to your wiring (aluminum to aluminum and copper to copper ) and use proper grommets and electric grease on connections.
Can corroded water pipe ground clamps cause lights to flicker under a load I have s security light wired to the garage & every time I use the garage door opener It goes out and cycles back on I'm thinking a loose Neutral?
I have LEDs that dont need a dimmer but can be dimmed by turning the light off and on again. It can go to 3 levels: 100% and then I guess 70% and 50%. For some reason they worked a while but started flickering or even going out. It's a ceiling light with 4 LED lamps. Sometimes one of em goes out or changes the level, but if you keep em runnign a while, they eventually stop the nonense. I have no idea whats going on.
Its not about the dimmers. The light outside my door flickers with LED bulbs, and it only has a regular switch (no dimming feature). There are specially made LED bulbs which says on the box "No Flickering!", and those indeed don't flicker. So its the way the LED bulb is made inside. My problem is now that I need a 100W LED bulb with the "No Flickering" feature, but they only make it in 60W.
When my neighbors ac turns on all of the lights in my house flicker... I think it's the power companies side of thinks because their different houses but I've never been able to get them to come out and check on things.
Mr Eastman, the driver circuit does not cause flicker ? I was about to try to prise open the bulb and maybe put the LED board on aother bulb's driver, when I saw your video.
Pretty obvious stuff here. How about when you have dimmable fixtures and a supported dimmer but still get flickering? Even tried multiple led dimmers and led fixtures now and still have the issue.
I have the same issue. Been doing it for years, with both CFL and LED bulbs. Always on a dimmer that was made for that type of bulb too. I can guarantee that the connections are all tight in the panel and at the fixtures because I have done them all myself. I torque those connections down tight with pliers for wire splices before the cap goes on and proper screwdriver at the panel. My buddy is a master electrician in his 60's and he has no idea what is wrong with it either!
#4 electric company has a bad neutral wire connection. This is pretty dangerous so always worth figuring out why lights aren't performing normally. Electric company fixes this problem for free because it's in their equipment.
My wife and I have a bedside table each. We have the same lamp, the same bulb, the same dimmer switch. Mine flickers at most levels, hers does not. Truly bizarre.
My house is 2 years old only, and have the same problem ( being built by Progressive builder, Minnesota), be aware of this builder, I got many issues in my house from that builder
I have both dimmable led bulbs and dimmer switches rated for leds, but I still get a flicker when I initially turn them on. And a humming noise. Should I chalk it up to cheap Chinese led bulbs?
How about all the LED bulbs that start flickering that has nothing to do with dimmableness? LED bulbs don't las nearly as long as expected and start flickering or just get dimmer or yellower over time.
When I had the power company come out they told me everything was okay, luckily I called back a 2nd time and they sent a different tech, he tested and all was okay, BUT, then did a LOAD test, showed I had a bad neutral. He installed a "service saver" transformer and my lights are now STEADY! Now I just have to wait for them to replace my neutral wire from the road to my house.
2 bathroom light fixtures on the same switch. Each holds 4 bulbs. No dimmer. One fixture has never had a flicker issue. The other fixture has had a single bulb flicker for the last month. Recently, sometimes 2 bulbs flicker at same time…sometimes only 1 flickers. Surely must be the fixture, but what…?
I’m confused. My issue is the 3rd and you say switch to “dimmable” on switch and bulb. I already have BOTH and it it doing that, but not dimming ones. It can’t be a steady 60w?
Those are some of the most common reasons for flickering lights. Believe it or not I actually seen a brand new led bulb cause the entire circuit to fail. All the lights would randomly flicker on that circuit. The homeowner stated that they install all new led bulbs throughout the house in all the lights and now all the lights in his house would randomly flicker. I checked all the common issues like stated in your video including checking for proper connections at lights and switches., but none of those were the issue. I traced the entire circuit and checked every location, check the main panel and breakers. All was great with no issues. So I grab a case of led bulbs from my van which were different brand then the cheap house brand he was using. Well in the one of the kitchen pendants I removed one the bulbs and all of a sudden, all the light stopped flickering. I put the bulb back in and the flickering started up once again. So I swapped it out for one of the led bulbs I had and no flickering anywhere in any light. I put his bulb back in and flickering. I then take that one bulb a put it in a different location on that circuit and all the lights started to flicker once again. So all their issues were from a defective led bulb that was brand new. Not say cheap house brand bulbs are all bad, but sometimes it is just better to spend a little bit more for name brand. All in all I spent a little over an hour trying to figure out the issue. So that one bulb cost him a whole lot. Something to think about when going the cheap way.
What about the switch on a lamp ? If hold down or up on switch it stay on. It's a lamp that build into a table. It's next to my chair where I need reading. Drive me nuts. If I bump it , it goes off .
This does not cover every cause of flickering of an LED bulb. I am using one with a smart switch - don't know if it is the cause, but it will flicker at times, other times not. Nothing loose - no dimmer involved - no wall switch (old school) involved.
I have a flickering LED bulb. Swapped it with the bulb in another fixture. All is good. Can someone explain this one? The switches are good and the sockets are nice and clean; all indoors.
I have a half bath light that is 3 LED bulbs. It is on a motion sensor. (kids never turn off the lights!!) It used to work fine. Now it will be fine if it is ON, but as soon as there is no motion and it turns "off", the lights just flash about every .5 seconds. Any ideas there??? Thanks!
This sounds like a minimum load problem. I recommend checking the specs for your motion sensor to see what minimum load they require to be connected. If you have a 2-wire occ sensor (aka. no neutral wire) then the sensor needs to trickle a bit of current through your lights to run the sensor, even when the lights are supposed to be off. Some LEDs handle this gracefully and remain off when this tiny amount of current is passed through, but it sounds like yours are lighting up. This is common if you have too little load connected, like if you only have 25W connected to an occ sensor that has a 40W minimum load. Occ sensors that have a neutral wire will pass no current through the lights and instead it will use the neutral wire. So if you are using an occ sensor with no neutral wire you might need to upgrade to one that has a neutral wire connection (assuming that you have a neutral wire available in your wall box).
@@andrew-online-w6g pretty sure you nailed it here. Thanks for the response. I went and got a switch that was rated for LEDs and now it is working perfectly fine.
I’ve replaced our ceiling fan and it still flickers like crazy. Afraid I might have to spend crazy money to require the house at this point. Someone please tell me I’m wrong.
Unscrews glowing bulb, immediately sticks finger in socket 😆. That’s why Kevin’s only allowed to carry tools and talk to the audience... dude almost lit himself up.
Kevin must be trying to reach the status of Kenny from South Park. Stay tuned for the circular saw episode.
It would have been just a mild shock.
😂😂
You guys saved my house, the flickering was causing my bulbs to burn up crazy fast, I removed the socket and peered in and saw they were a little corroded, so I filed away at the corrosion, tried again and no more flickering at all!
0:55
“I don’t think so Tim” - Al Borland
Al: what's the first thing we do?
Tim: jam the potato into the broken light bulb! *proceeds to do it*
Al: and now a word from our sponsors.
Why he’s the host lol..
Not only did I just replay this section, but I noticed the set does look like the Tool Time set, a bit. LMAO.
I got home improvement vibes too!
So your saying it’s not ghosts?
Grab the salt just in case.
And the garlic 🧄
😅😅😅
Well he never said it wasn’t …
A bit of both
Thanks Heath for saving Kevin's life ha ha ha
110 voltage won't kill you or hurt you
@@Greenredfield volts don't kill you the amps do
@@jonahblacksmith1 for sure. But you know what I mean.
I wouldn’t have stopped him.
It's not Europe where they got 220 running on everything
Yep, the non LED compatible dimmers depend on more current to function correctly. If you have a few LED light fixtures on one non compatible dimmer and they flicker etc., there is a slight work around until you can find the right dimmer switch. Simply have one of the fixtures fitted with a regular bulb and that current draw will usually be enough to get the dimmer to function. We did this in one room as the switch box that housed the older style dimmer doesn't have enough room in it to put the newer dimmer inside it. The newer dimmer is much larger and there's just no room for it so, until we arrange to cut into the plaster wall and put in a correctly sized switch box, this idea works for now.
For those who don't know, LED bulbs interfere with garage door openers and video cameras...be sure to find LED bulbs that are made for those applications.
When Heath turned the switch off for Kevin, I had a huge sigh of relief. I know they wouldn't but the video up if Kevin had actually hurt himself, but as soon as he took the bulb out, I kept thinking "Don't reach in there! Don't reach in there!"
It’s amazing how we have ingress protection on power outlets, but light sockets have a great big opening for fingers to reach into.
I know it’s a standard that has been used forever, but surely now is time to change to something a bit safer...?
I mean I know that Kevin sometimes acts a little silly, but I've never seen him actually BE silly.
@@MrKyleDD if he can do it a kid can do it. The difference being a kid doesn’t have Heath to switch it off 🤦🏼♂️
@@matthewlewis5631 That's why the shell part is the neutral, in order to keep your fingers away from the tab deep within that is hot. Hypothetically, you can touch the threaded shell without getting shocked if everything is wired properly. Not saying I recommend to do it. This is also the same reason why they invented polarized receptacles and outlets. Plugging in a lamp with a non polarized plug made it dangerous to change bulbs.
@@matthewlewis5631 Leave it alone. It cleans up the gene pool.
I've been an electrician for close to 20 years and this video is really simple and effective for a homeowner to fix their own problem. A 4th very common cause would be a loose splice, especially if the house was built in the 70s when aluminum wire was prevalent
So what if it’s every light in the house?
I am having that same problem as well.@@thenarrowpath2731
@@thenarrowpath2731 right
@@thenarrowpath2731 what is the answer
Does anyone scrolling by happen to know the answer?
(Q: What if it's every light in the house?)
The two guys up there^^ and myself would definitely appreciate it 👍
What's worse is when its not any of those issues and it's instead caused by a high load like a washing machine causing the voltage to fluctuate.
Yup esp in older houses with lighting and recepts on the same circuit and 1,000 other things
@@mikez4132 switch to led bulbs they’ll put way less stress on ur electricity and probably avoid that hah
@@dylan-nguyen i have all led recessed. It's not an issue in my house but I have seen other houses where the lighting and receptacles are on the same circuit and the washer drum agitation causes the lights to dim with every turn of the tub. Back in the day they were not concerned with as many separate circuits as we are now lol
Even worse, loose wiring connections behind your walls
It gets even worse in houses with that old knob & tube wiring.
I had an issue years ago when the whole house was flickering, it turned out to be a corroded neutral line outside the house before the meter.
Mine was corroded inside the meter box; electrician replaced that, and it helped but didn't solve it. Then they found there were a lot of ground & neutral wires doubled up under the same screw on the ground bar, and theorized that some weren't making good contact. They added another bar so every wire could go under its own screw, problem solved.
@@DaddyBeanDaddyBean I am surprised the installation even passed inspection with two conductors under "one screw head" Point of added resistance and corrosion poor contact. Ought to installed a longer bus bar for the grounds and neutrals to begin with if the factory supplied were too short.
@@TheTheo58 It's a very old house (1860's); the previous owner did extensive work, much of it himself, and I'm pretty sure that included replacing the service panel. It's entirely possible he added a bunch of circuits after getting it inspected, and didn't have the sense to add another ground bar. I had the upper entrance cable replaced (from the weather head down to the meter box) along with the corroded meter box itself, so needed an inspection for that, but I honestly don't recall whether the inspector took the cover off the panel inside. I suppose he must have, but can't swear that he did.
@@DaddyBeanDaddyBean my goodness 1860's era would likely involved K/T wiring. The home I grew up in was built in 1946 (the building permit was still nailed to the stud in the garage) had a 100 Amp main entrance fused disconnect, six branch circuit fuse panel (hall closet) Main panel had fuses for range and dryer. Older fiber wrapped non-metallic cables for interior and BX cable. I used EMT and BX cable when I added additional outlets in the garage and the newly built darkroom. Adding a ground at two locations.
@@TheTheo58 Correct - there are still a few unused bits of knob & tube here & there, but the entire house was rewired with Romex at some point, presumably by the previous owner.
Over many years, I have fixed many flickering bulbs by re-tensioning the tongue in the center of the socket with a little hook. They originally are sprung against the bulb, but eventually flatten against the bottom. Sometimes they corrode and a few strokes with a scraping blade, like a chisel, makes them like new. Sometimes the screw shell is fastened with a screw instead of a rivet, so a turn of that loose screw fixes it. Also, before i buy and replace a switch, I just short the wire screws together to see if the flicker stops. If not, it is not the switch.
Glad to hear my house isn't haunted & that there is a normal explanation.
There’s got to be some other reasons. I have a new energy saving light bulb in one socket and a four foot shop light in another, both off the same switch. The energy saving bulb, which is new, occasionally will flicker a couple times, inconsistently, but most times stays on without doing that. The bulb is in tight and there’s no signs of corrosion in the socket. They are located in the garage and there’s no way any rodents could be in the ceiling, plus this happens without any other things running. Only the energy saving build that was given by the electric company does this. Also the same symptoms have been happening in my daughters home after I installed a couple of these light bulb’s there. Again, most times they stay on without any flicker, just occasionally they will flicker a few seconds, sometimes just once and sometimes they will do it a couple times in a row. One outlet in my daughters home looks like some is sending Morse code, but then it will stop and not usually act up for a long time. One more thing, this does not occur when I use the old fashioned type of light bulbs. Personally I think that there is something wrong with these bulbs! I’m 65 and maybe things have changed, but I was always taught that turning a light on and off not only wears the bulb down, but also consumes more energy, uses more power, which would make me believe that these new energy saving light bulbs are not as good as they say.
I have the senecio where the electrical panel hasn't been gone over in ages. I've found loose or corroded wires there. Tightening with a screwdriver usually fixes most. I've taken an infrared thermometer and found a couple of hot spots. Fuse or breaker itself getting warm. Replacing those usually fixes it. Main did not use de-oxide compound. Aluminum & copper don't get along without it. Found loose wire nuts, but rarely.
A bad ground from the service panel to the water supply or ground rod can cause this also.
I have seen failing neutral feed to the meter cause dimming in the entire home
Neutral losing wire is one of the most comuns problems, too.
Excellent video, well done. I particularly appreciate how you guys just went on with the video without editing out the near-blunder where the presenter nearly got electricuted because he neglected to first switch off the power before touching into the socket, a common mistake many of us make
No! You don't have to replace the socket. Just bend the contact out. Problem solved. It's brass and if it has a little corrosion, just take a pencil eraser to it. Good for 5 more years. Not everything has to be replaced.
I had bulbs flickering in just one room. I put a multimeter to a power outlet and saw low voltage. The cause? Bad grounding. My circuit breaker was in there tight, and the ground wires were tight (sometimes just tightening the ground wires will fix this). I removed the breaker and saw the ground bar that it was latched on to had corrosion at the contact point. I turned off the power to the entire house and used a wire brush to clean the ground bar in the breaker box. I put the breaker back in and turned on the power, and problem solved!
Erik ... that's not a ground bar. It's a buss bar, meaning it's part of the hot side circuit.
@@rupe53 Thanks for the terminology clarification. That bar was corroded. A quick cleaning with a wire brush fixed it.
@@ErikStone1 that's something to keep an eye on because once the coating is damaged it may develop a hot spot and cause a fire down the road. If you have any room in that panel you may want to move that breaker or install a new breaker in a new location. If not I would at minimum examine the entire buss bar for any similar signs, because you may need to replace the panel.
@@rupe53 Thanks for the heads up. Yes, I did replace the breaker with a new one. I'll still keep an eye on it though. Thanks!
That's not the ground, it's the neutral. Ground has nothing to do with electrical transmission, it is an emergency exit when a wire gets damaged. Power comes into your home on the hot and leaves through the neutral. If ground wires are affecting your power, your whole system is screwed. A bus bar can be hot, neutral or ground. It is simply a place where wires come together at a common point. The hot bus bar is behind all the breakers, the neutral and ground are off to the side and have white or green or bare wires. Black or any other color, usually red is for hot. If you have any corrosion in your panel you should have it replaced, that could cause a fire if left untreated.
Electrician.
Like an episode of Tool Time...sticking your finger into a live electrical socket failing to check to see if it is turned off. And these guys are advising me...!!!
Thank you so much for this video, which helped us solve one mysterious flickering light in our home.
Doesn't he look like a younger version of Lindsey Graham? Hmm...
The lights in my entire house used to flicker anytime you turned the dryer, refrigerator or anything that draws a decent amount of electric on. The box on the outside of my house was completely corroded and filled with water. Electrician came and fixed it and did a total re wire. Problem solved. The annoying part is that the box on the outside of the house is not accessible by anyone except the electric company (at least legally), so it was a process to have them come out with the electrician and get this all fixed. However, none of the lights flicker anymore and the power lines are now safe
This is my current situation as we have been In our new “old” house for 5 months and no flickering, we just set up the fridge and washer/dryer. Now all my lights flicker, even my fan will fluctuate in power
This sounds like it could be similar to my problem. It's just the microwave and LED bulbs I've been using that do it.
Look tommy, unscrew the bulb and wet your finger and stick it in the socket and see if the current is constant, hahaha
We use LED bulbs in light fixtures that are simply on or off, like in the bathroom or stairwell. For other lights controlled by a dimmer switch, like our dining room, we've gone back to good old incandescent bulbs. No need to mess around with expensive new dimmer switches or flicker issues.
Biden outlawed your incandescent bulbs...hope you stocked up
I'm a 15 year journeyman , my most recent find was that the coffee machine being plugged into the same circuit as the one with the recess made them flicker . Wasn't even running, just being on made the lights flicker until it turned off
Jeezum crow Kevin... -_- lucky you have someone looking out for your safety.
I have fluorescent lights my issue was the ballast needed changing and that stop the flickering.
Thanks dimmable was my problem
At a house, flickering LED lightbulbs bypass the switch power company. Check the neutral on the main powerline coming in ran power across the street to the neighbors house tempting the lights and they still flicker reveal lightbulbs. Replaced them and they stopped flickering.
Always good information
This is why Tommy doesn't let Kevin hold the nail gun.
I have a different situation than the 3 in this video. I have a basement light, pull chain, works fine with an incandescent bulb, but when I put in an LED bulb - the bulb sometimes flickers, and sometimes does not light at all. If I put the incandescent bulb back in - it works fine; there is no dimmer switch. Why would an incandescent bulb work, but an LED does not work?
I had the 3rd one. Dimmable led switches run $25, normal switches are 39¢. Just keep in mind how valuable is that dimmable feature...
Amortize the cost over a few years. Pennies per day.
Worth it to me
I stocked up with scores of packs Thomas Alva's best and won't have to worry about the silly LED "lightbulbs" in my lifetime. You can still find Commercial Grade incandescent bulbs. Saves a lot of aggravation and diddling around.
I’m bummed, I didn’t see my house’s symptoms in this video. My LEDs pulse at about 1 Hz every now and then, typically lasting for several minutes. It seems like the incoming power to my house is either out of phase or dropping voltage. The house was built in the 60s and has the original supply and panel. Any ideas?
I've got one bulb in my basement doing exactly that! A slight flash every second, I watch it for 5 minutes, then turn my back and the bastard is burning steady!!!!
buy an oscilloscope?
Check the bulbs, maybe cheap bulbs but check the bulbs. There seems to be issues that no ones really touching on . One commentor said it could be just one bulb. I would try that.
Additionally, some dimmable LED lamps aren't compatible with certain manufacturers LED dimmers.
The manual or manufacturer website will list the compatible LED lamp manufacturers.
there are two other causes for flicker , if the led driver inside is bad . and i have another situation where i have a bulb over the kitchen sink that flickers when the oven is on due to some sort of interference .
There is also a change that signals on the line from the grid (such as those sent to trigger on-peak and off-peak switches) can induce flicker.
Not sure if it’s a common thing in the US but down here in Australia there are numerous times per day where a load control ripple is sent on the line that makes my lights flicker for 1-2 mins.
You can get filters for the circuit but it’s a bit involved and not so cheap.
that not all the reasons a bulb will flicker, there is the loose joint In a junction box,or an appliance breaker could be above the lighting circuit that powers the bulb your trying to light up,just so you know.
Relax everyone, Kevin wouldn’t had died - it would had just bit him.
What about loose wiring (twist connectors not properly connected)? I’ve had several like that in my house.
Thank you
The real #1 reason that lights flicker...
Ghosts!
That's why you grab the salt.
what if it started flickering after you've wiped it with a damp paper towel or sprayed it a few times in the past❓
Thanks for very informative video.
Thank you 💖
Could the flickering bbulb cause a fire
Good video guys!
I solved the flickering dimmable LED issue by first turning the bulbs all the way up for a few seconds before dimming it down to the desired level.
Usually the cause is a failing LED bulb. They are extremley unreliable. Sometimes the flickering sorts out as the lamp warms up. The center contact in the socket might be flattened and need to be twisted back. New bulbs have a flat pin on the bottom without a blob of solder. If it was so corroded that screwing the bulb didn't polish it, then it would fall off, not work at all or short out.
I installed a new 3 way dimmer I get 1 flicker on initial turn on then no issue led bulbs compatible dimmer. Any ideas. Thx
I had the 3rd one even with a dimmable switch and dimmable led can lights. Happened to be on a 3 light chain. Had same setup on a 2 light switch without problems so I'm thinking had to do with the 3 chained together 🤔
Any update. Same here. I just changed the dimmers (LED compatible) and my dimmable LEDs still flicker. I’m going to buy a different brand of LEDs tomorrow and see if my flickering goes away
@@Paul37Ontario I figured out theres a setting on the led dimmer switch to set the dimmer limits. Check out if yours has something like that. My switch was a leviton I think. I found it in manual guide after I finally read it 🤦♂️
The dimmers that I bought are simple straight dimmers, Home Depot (5 pack). I wish it was that simple. I'll let you know tomorrow if changing the LEDs worked. Thanks for your reply. @@JonnyDIY
Bought Philips Ultra Definition 100W equivalent after doing lots of research, and no more flicker. There expensive, had to get 8 of them. But no more flicker. Thanks @@JonnyDIY
@@Paul37Ontario Awesome glad you got it sorted. Those are good bulbs, they should last a lot longet than your basic cheap leds 👍
I have a flicker on the entire house. Sometimes it goes off if I bang one of my switches in front of my house living room. Possibly loose ground wires
thank you, thank you, thank you
Just remember you MUST check and get the proper outlets ,switches and bulb recievers that is compatible to your wiring (aluminum to aluminum and copper to copper ) and use proper grommets and electric grease on connections.
We have all new with a Luntron dimer adjuster. Still flickering
There are many other reasons that cause flickering...
My heroes.
Good grief!
Next on This Old House.... how to tie your shoe laces 😒🙄
I have an outdoor fixture that flickers. Simple two position switch, single bulb. Switch and fixture were both replaced but flicker still happening
Can corroded water pipe ground clamps cause lights to flicker under a load I have s security light wired to the garage & every time I use the garage door opener It goes out and cycles back on I'm thinking a loose Neutral?
I have LEDs that dont need a dimmer but can be dimmed by turning the light off and on again. It can go to 3 levels: 100% and then I guess 70% and 50%. For some reason they worked a while but started flickering or even going out. It's a ceiling light with 4 LED lamps. Sometimes one of em goes out or changes the level, but if you keep em runnign a while, they eventually stop the nonense. I have no idea whats going on.
Another problem could be maybe wires aren’t tightened down enough and are loose or there are loose wire nuts in box
Its not about the dimmers. The light outside my door flickers with LED bulbs, and it only has a regular switch (no dimming feature). There are specially made LED bulbs which says on the box "No Flickering!", and those indeed don't flicker. So its the way the LED bulb is made inside. My problem is now that I need a 100W LED bulb with the "No Flickering" feature, but they only make it in 60W.
When my neighbors ac turns on all of the lights in my house flicker... I think it's the power companies side of thinks because their different houses but I've never been able to get them to come out and check on things.
cld be a loose neutral at the transformer or a shared connection
My lights flicker when the AC comes on. Any idea why?
Flickering lights at my 1892 home means the resident ghost is at it again.
Kevin is the same guy that would look down the barrel of a gun to see why it didn’t fire. Smh
Was waiting for the shock or the switch to be flipped off.
Mr Eastman, the driver circuit does not cause flicker ?
I was about to try to prise open the bulb and maybe put the LED board on aother bulb's driver, when I saw your video.
In my experience the most common cause of flickering lights is crappy quality ChiCom LED luminaries and controls.
cheap china garbage that should be banned
Chinesium products.
@@zack9912000 Just think that these are being sold to the BIllion + people in China too and they are having to live with the same problems. LOL
4th: you have a ghost.
What about the LED light that flickers and the switch is not a dimming style switch?
I know I am late to the game... but can you do a tutorial of your cover of the song?
Pretty obvious stuff here. How about when you have dimmable fixtures and a supported dimmer but still get flickering? Even tried multiple led dimmers and led fixtures now and still have the issue.
Loose neutral wires at splice maybe? Or at panel.
I have the same issue. Been doing it for years, with both CFL and LED bulbs. Always on a dimmer that was made for that type of bulb too. I can guarantee that the connections are all tight in the panel and at the fixtures because I have done them all myself. I torque those connections down tight with pliers for wire splices before the cap goes on and proper screwdriver at the panel. My buddy is a master electrician in his 60's and he has no idea what is wrong with it either!
#4 electric company has a bad neutral wire connection. This is pretty dangerous so always worth figuring out why lights aren't performing normally. Electric company fixes this problem for free because it's in their equipment.
If it is in your panel that has failed that is on the home owner to pay for, rarely is in the service coming in at faumt.
My wife and I have a bedside table each. We have the same lamp, the same bulb, the same dimmer switch. Mine flickers at most levels, hers does not. Truly bizarre.
Lol smh Kevin sticking finger in live socket 👉⚡
How about an led bulb that flickers when I turn the switch OFF?
how bout voltage drop???
In thumbnail, Heath looks quite a bit like Elon Musk. Freaked me out for a bit....
👌 my house built some time in the 1940-50s is full of these issues. Doing any electrical work is never a good day. Thanks for all the great videos!
My house is 2 years old only, and have the same problem ( being built by Progressive builder, Minnesota), be aware of this builder, I got many issues in my house from that builder
"but, but, they don't build them like they used to"🤦🏻♂️
Better than a ex wife.
In my case, the Led flickering came with stronger wattage 8 W instead of 5w in a three set (serie or parallel?)
What if the light it ok but starts to flicker when another light in the same room is turned on?
What if my tongue flickers? What causes that?
Are any of these issues a fire hazard?
Just coved about 1/3 of what can cause it.
I have both dimmable led bulbs and dimmer switches rated for leds, but I still get a flicker when I initially turn them on. And a humming noise. Should I chalk it up to cheap Chinese led bulbs?
Yes
00:57 the ostrich from family guy
Great video and information helped me , pretty sure I have #3 maybe with a mix of #1 with the bolts not tight
0:55 “Hahaha Thank you” laughs in the eyes of death.
You mean a slight tingle…
How about all the LED bulbs that start flickering that has nothing to do with dimmableness? LED bulbs don't las nearly as long as expected and start flickering or just get dimmer or yellower over time.
When I had the power company come out they told me everything was okay, luckily I called back a 2nd time and they sent a different tech, he tested and all was okay, BUT, then did a LOAD test, showed I had a bad neutral. He installed a "service saver" transformer and my lights are now STEADY! Now I just have to wait for them to replace my neutral wire from the road to my house.
2 bathroom light fixtures on the same switch. Each holds 4 bulbs. No dimmer. One fixture has never had a flicker issue. The other fixture has had a single bulb flicker for the last month. Recently, sometimes 2 bulbs flicker at same time…sometimes only 1 flickers. Surely must be the fixture, but what…?
I’m confused. My issue is the 3rd and you say switch to “dimmable” on switch and bulb. I already have BOTH and it it doing that, but not dimming ones. It can’t be a steady 60w?
Those are some of the most common reasons for flickering lights. Believe it or not I actually seen a brand new led bulb cause the entire circuit to fail. All the lights would randomly flicker on that circuit. The homeowner stated that they install all new led bulbs throughout the house in all the lights and now all the lights in his house would randomly flicker. I checked all the common issues like stated in your video including checking for proper connections at lights and switches., but none of those were the issue. I traced the entire circuit and checked every location, check the main panel and breakers. All was great with no issues. So I grab a case of led bulbs from my van which were different brand then the cheap house brand he was using. Well in the one of the kitchen pendants I removed one the bulbs and all of a sudden, all the light stopped flickering. I put the bulb back in and the flickering started up once again. So I swapped it out for one of the led bulbs I had and no flickering anywhere in any light. I put his bulb back in and flickering. I then take that one bulb a put it in a different location on that circuit and all the lights started to flicker once again. So all their issues were from a defective led bulb that was brand new. Not say cheap house brand bulbs are all bad, but sometimes it is just better to spend a little bit more for name brand. All in all I spent a little over an hour trying to figure out the issue. So that one bulb cost him a whole lot. Something to think about when going the cheap way.
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your post
What if an LED fixture is flickering?
What about the switch on a lamp ? If hold down or up on switch it stay on. It's a lamp that build into a table. It's next to my chair where I need reading. Drive me nuts. If I bump it , it goes off .
This does not cover every cause of flickering of an LED bulb. I am using one with a smart switch - don't know if it is the cause, but it will flicker at times, other times not. Nothing loose - no dimmer involved - no wall switch (old school) involved.
I have a flickering LED bulb. Swapped it with the bulb in another fixture. All is good. Can someone explain this one? The switches are good and the sockets are nice and clean; all indoors.
I have a half bath light that is 3 LED bulbs. It is on a motion sensor. (kids never turn off the lights!!) It used to work fine. Now it will be fine if it is ON, but as soon as there is no motion and it turns "off", the lights just flash about every .5 seconds. Any ideas there??? Thanks!
This sounds like a minimum load problem. I recommend checking the specs for your motion sensor to see what minimum load they require to be connected. If you have a 2-wire occ sensor (aka. no neutral wire) then the sensor needs to trickle a bit of current through your lights to run the sensor, even when the lights are supposed to be off. Some LEDs handle this gracefully and remain off when this tiny amount of current is passed through, but it sounds like yours are lighting up. This is common if you have too little load connected, like if you only have 25W connected to an occ sensor that has a 40W minimum load.
Occ sensors that have a neutral wire will pass no current through the lights and instead it will use the neutral wire. So if you are using an occ sensor with no neutral wire you might need to upgrade to one that has a neutral wire connection (assuming that you have a neutral wire available in your wall box).
@@andrew-online-w6g pretty sure you nailed it here. Thanks for the response. I went and got a switch that was rated for LEDs and now it is working perfectly fine.
I’ve replaced our ceiling fan and it still flickers like crazy. Afraid I might have to spend crazy money to require the house at this point. Someone please tell me I’m wrong.