I am way out of my depth here. I just moved into a new townhouse and set up my home office in the guest bedroom. When I first tried to turn on my desktop (850w power supply) the computer would initially turn on and then loose power, I also noticed the lone ceiling light (a 3 bulb light fixture on a dimmer) would also turn on. I went and tried my computer elsewhere in the house where it works flawlessly. All plugs in this bedroom produce the same result. I now notice that the same ceiling light glows, as if on the lowest dimmer setting, when I have my power strip plugged into the bed room wall (2 monitors a usb hub and a desk lamp) and the monitors are on. In addition when I am drawing power form the wall with the monitors on and I then go to turn on the ceiling light the whole thing browns out until I turn the light down low or off. Any idea what I'm dealing with here? I know I need to contact my landlord but I don't even know what to tell him.
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I suspect a wiring problem, I’d get professional involved as it sounds like you’re no familiar with wiring and electrical issues.– TysonCommented Jul 8, 2018 at 13:51
3 Answers
It is possible that the outlets in that room are all wired into the dimmer switch such that simple lamps plugged into the outlets can be dimmed. If this is the case computers and monitors will not function properly when plugged into a dimmer circuit.
The simple test you can try is to get a simple incandescent light (lamp, trouble light or night stand lamp) and plug it into each outlet in that room and see if it responds to the dimmer switch in a normal manner. If you get other results than dimmer behavior then that is a trigger event to get the landlord or apartment manager involved.
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Yes, they probably put the dimmer on the neutral accidentally.– TroutCommented Jul 8, 2018 at 12:53
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You may also find the top socket behaves differently than the bottom socket. They are designed so they can be split and separately controlled. In fact if they had been split and some genius changes the recpetacle (ie for appearance) and does not realize they should be set to split, weird problems follow. Commented Jul 8, 2018 at 13:15
Your light fixture may not be wired correctly. If you can draw and post a diagram about wire connections in the room, if you can't, you'd better to call an electrician (or your landlord if you're on rent).
My idea is that something in that room is wired with return on the PE (bare copper) instead of return on Neutral (white wire).
The outlet is probably tied into the switch circuit such that when you plug something in it is like closing a switch. However, since whatever you are plugging in has resistance, the light is probably not full brightness when it is turned on by plugging a device into the outlet.
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