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I have a energy saving spiral light bulb in my kitchen. In exactly every 27 seconds, the first segment of the bulb faintly flashes when the switch is off. And not once, repeatedly every 27 seconds. This weird situation occurs for more than half and a year. What can be causing these flashes? How can I prevent it if it spends energy or has safety risks? PS: A new spiral bulb does the same thing. And the bulb doesn't flash when I remove from socket. |
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For this to happen there must be some voltage to the light socket. It may not be noticeable with a standard incandescent bulb because it apparently is not the full voltage and current. If you are comfortable in what you are doing, you could measure the voltage across the two wires and ground to see what you get. Incorrect wiring could be the problem, such as an improper shared neutral leg, or the neutral being switch instead of the hot leg. This can be found using a voltmeter and referencing to a known ground. If your not sure, leave it to an electrician. Wiring is not a hobby, and can be lethal! |
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A cause of this could be an electronic/magenetic dimmer on the light versus a standard single pole single throw (SPST) switch. The electronic/magentic dimmers leak a very small amount of current. With incadescent lights, there is not enough power to cause the filament to glow, however it is enough to cause your flourecent light to intermittently light up. To prevent it you can use a rheostat-based dimmer instead of an electronic dimmer, or just a plain-old switch. As another answer said, it could be a wiring problem too. In addition to checking with a multimeter, I'd also visually inspect all of the switches and the wiring at the fixture. Replacing the switches is a cheap thing to try as well, and because it is a 3-way, there is more room for error. |
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Is your switch lighted/illuminated (something like the picture)? When I put in CFL bulbs in sockets with lighted switches we got the same situation that you described. I believe the cause is the same as what @Steven already described. As for a solution, that might be a good topic for a new question. :) |
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