Ceiling fan light flickering - Help please

gustus on 24/02/2020 - 20:19
Last edited 07/03/2020 - 18:15

Hi all,

3 months ago, my ceiling fan light started to flickering. I had an electrician came in and it was a 5 minutes job. Paid lots. Now it happened again. I looked back at the invoice and the electrician noted "found a loose terminal with wire handing out which cause the flickering. Tightening screws and light working fine." The light bulb was also 3 months old only so i dont think it needs a replacement. What should i do? I dont want to call and pay a huge amount for a 5 minutes work again, yet playing with wire scares me. Does anyone know which screw or what components i need to tighten up? Is the screw under the light cover or the fan base cover. I didnt watch the electrician fixing up so unfortunately i didnt know what part exactly he was fixing.

Thanks

Update:
Managed to open the cover with the help of my bro. It looks like the wire is exposed(?)
http://imgur.com/gallery/w4KiNcN

Home & Garden

Comments

  • hashtagbargain on 24/02/2020 - 20:24
    1. Turn mains off.
    2. Tighten every screw your can find on fan.
    3. Power back up and try fan.
    4. Repeat steps 1-3 if necessary.
    • gustus on 24/02/2020 - 20:40

      Ooo of course. Thats what i should attempt to do first. I just woke up from a long nap so my brain aint working right. Its way too dark to fix it now. I ll try to do it tomorrow after work and do an update. Thanks

      • brendanm on 24/02/2020 - 21:18
        +1

        Make sure to confirm the power is off before touching bits.

        • AdosHouse on 24/02/2020 - 22:38
          +4

          Easiest way to confirm power is off, touch bits.

          • gustus on 24/02/2020 - 22:43

            @AdosHouse: He actually didnt shut off the main power during his work tho. He just took off the light cover, looked at it. I was distracted by something at the time so i didnt noticed what he was doing after that. By the time i came back, hes all done

            • AdosHouse on 24/02/2020 - 22:45

              @gustus: If you know what you are doing, you know what you can and cannot touch regarding live gear.

              Take off the light cover, you can do that with power on, and take some photos and post them here, lets see if it is something obvious.

              • gustus on 24/02/2020 - 22:50

                @AdosHouse: I have absolutely no idea what to do regarding electricity. Hence calling electrician the first time. If its blumber work it would be a diff story. If i do something wrong with plumber work, consequence is that more water comes out. If i did something wrong with electricity, ill get electrocuted and dead. Actually im having trouble taking the light cover off 😅 Its so tight :/ i ll try tomorrow when theres more sunlight

                • AdosHouse on 24/02/2020 - 22:53
                  -2

                  @gustus: Chances of dying these days are pretty low. Most likely you will cop a decent zap to your hand, might get some tingling in the arm. You would have to be doing incredibly stupid, like holding a ground in the opposite hand for electricity to flow through your chest.

                  Modern safety switches save people every day.

                  My personal record is three 240v zaps in one year.

                  • timthetoolman on 25/02/2020 - 10:20
                    +2

                    @AdosHouse: -If you know what you are doing, you know what you can and cannot touch regarding live gear
                    -My personal record is three 240v zaps in one year

                    I'll just leave that here

                    • AdosHouse on 25/02/2020 - 10:57

                      @timthetoolman: My statement was in regards to a licensed electrician.

                      Me getting zapped 3 time, 1 time was my fault, I was stupid and touched something that I knew I shouldn't, I thought I had turned the power off, but I was continuously turning on and off the unit that I was working on to test it, so I lost track, and I only brushed the live contact and zapped my hand a bit.

                      Second time, was at work, there was a fault with a fridge light, and the bulb had become live. Not my fault.

                      Third time, I was in the roof putting down a new network cable, and had to move over a downlight transformer, turns out that the positive power cable had come loose and my finger brushed it. Cable should have been tight in the transformer.

                  • Euphemistic on 25/02/2020 - 12:10
                    -1

                    @AdosHouse: There is no safety switch on light circuits.

                    • AdosHouse on 25/02/2020 - 12:51

                      @Euphemistic: You should probably get your electrical board redone, every circuit in our house goes through a safety switch.

                      • Euphemistic on 25/02/2020 - 14:15
                        +1

                        @AdosHouse: How old is your house? That might be the modern standard. It wasn’t that long ago that a safety switch wasn’t included on lights, stove and often the separate fridge circuit. None of the houses I have lived in have had them except for the main power point circuits.

                        Don’t encourage people to test electrical items because you think they all should have safety switches.

                        • AdosHouse on 25/02/2020 - 14:44

                          @Euphemistic: Every house in QLD built since 2000 has got safety switches on all light circuits. Having at look at legislation, NSW (which OP is in) was WAY behind in legislating in requiring them, so yeah that was my bad to say OP should be safe. But the first comment by hashtagbargain, which these comment are part of, says to turn the mains off first. Once mains are off, OP could rip up every electrical cable in the house safely if they so choose.

                          • Euphemistic on 25/02/2020 - 15:08

                            @AdosHouse: Even in qld ‘every house since 2000’ only. There are hundred of thousands of houses built before 2000.

                            You also assume they know how to turn off the mains. They may just turn off the circuit breaker that says ‘lights’. It is not uncommon, particularly in houses that have been renovated, for circuits to be mixed. Ie a light on a power circuit or powerpoint a light circuit. Dodgy wiring, broken or worn insulation and all sorts of other problems mean you cannot assume.

                            If you assume with electricity you might get a little tickle (apparently you’ve had 3 which indicates you shouldn’t be giving advice) or you could die or burn the place down.

                            I’m not a stranger to electricity, my father taught me, he learnt from his father who was a sparkie. I know a bit, but not enough to telling anyone to do any electrical work without some knowledge on how it works.

                            • AdosHouse on 25/02/2020 - 16:33

                              @Euphemistic: If you care to read all my comments in this thread, the only thing I have told OP to do is to take the light cover off and take some photos.

                              • Euphemistic on 25/02/2020 - 17:20

                                @AdosHouse: Well, maybe if you take the ‘joke’ out. But you did say “chances of dying are pretty low” due to safety switches which indicates it’s pretty safe when the OP is already indicating there may be a fault which is likely to significantly increase risk. Something which should be not lost on yourself having received a shock from a faulty downlight and a faulty fridge light.

    • Seasoned Salt on 25/02/2020 - 10:40
      -1

      Ridiculous suggestions. Stop trying to do electrical work when you're not authorised or licensed to do so.

      • AdosHouse on 25/02/2020 - 12:54

        We are talking about tightening a screw after switching mains off, not rewiring the fan assembly.

        Obviously it OP does not feel safe doing it, call in a Sparky.

        • Euphemistic on 25/02/2020 - 14:18

          You encouraged someone who has said they know nothing about electricity to ‘touch bits’. VERY BAD advice, especially since you assume all circuits have a safety switch when he majority probably don’t.

          • AdosHouse on 25/02/2020 - 14:29

            @Euphemistic: I'm pretty sure that anyone with some common sense could tell that that was a joke.

            • Euphemistic on 25/02/2020 - 14:32

              @AdosHouse: The bit about touching hrs maybe, but not the bit about safety switches.

  • John Kimble on 24/02/2020 - 21:28
    +1

    Or call back the electrician and ask them to fix their shoddy work under warranty or troubleshoot for another cause.

    Out of interest, how much did he charge you for the job?

    • gustus on 24/02/2020 - 22:40

      $180 😭 (callout and hourly rate) it was through a company, not a self-employed electrician if theres a different. First time i used an electrician too

      • AdosHouse on 24/02/2020 - 22:46

        Probably about $100-$150 was callout, and the rest was hour/half-hour or part thereof.

        • gustus on 24/02/2020 - 22:57

          Oh yeah $100 or 120 was like the callout rate. They did give me a breakdown before sending one over to my unit. I cant remember right now

  • Duff5000 on 24/02/2020 - 22:15

    I would try another globe first. You can get duds sometimes.

  • ChillBro on 24/02/2020 - 22:43
    +3

    Sure it's not some dude living underground pressing the light switch trying to send you a message?

    • 0FoxGiven on 25/02/2020 - 00:26
      +2

      What a parasite

    • PinzVidz on 25/02/2020 - 00:39

      Might be Will?

    • Ryanek on 25/02/2020 - 08:43
      +1

      Good point. Time to learn morse code OP.

  • gustus on 24/02/2020 - 23:07

    Trying to take the light cover off as the first step for preparation, but having trouble with taking the cover off actually. It looks like this
    http://imgur.com/a/sqO7lcQ
    When i tried to turn it anti/clockwise, the whole bottom component (the light cover and that white part it attached to) also turn. My hand is small too. Can barely hold the whole cover in one hand. Anyone knows how to take it off? :/ Thanks

    • AdosHouse on 25/02/2020 - 00:09

      I believe those just pull straight down. Kept in by a couple of pieces of spring steel. No guarantee though.

    • [Deactivated] on 25/02/2020 - 11:36

      My in-laws had a similar fan - if it's an Arlec, try pushing the light cover up and then turning. Otherwise, check model # and search online for instructions or contact manufacturer for advice.

  • gustus on 25/02/2020 - 19:01

    Update: i cant take the cover off. I tapped it on the side. I pulled it. I turnt it. Nothing works. Also when i try to turn it, the whole thing (cover and that frame it attached too) turn together. Kept going and could hear thing rattle inside, so i tighten it back up and no more flickering :D
    Because the light no longer works 🙃
    I think i f*** up D:
    I gave up. Sorry ozbargainers I let you all down 😞
    I have a very good desk lamp so i ll be using it instead. Altho i am a bit scared to be using the ceiling fan tho in case a wire is loose or something :( maybe one day i ll do an upgrade on our ceiling fans. They are shitty model from previous owners that made lots of noise and wobble

    • hashtagbargain on 26/02/2020 - 18:02

      Maybe you need to call out the sparky after all. Perhaps this time you'll pay attention to what he does.

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