outdoor light fixture kills everything on circuit

kramwens · 10-10-2009, 03:28 PM

there is a light fixture on the side of the house. it looks pretty standard with white, black, and a copper ground wire, a ground screw and two mounting screws. a dog leash was thrown over the tin light fixture and all of the outlets and lights on the circuit stopped working. when the light fixture is jiggled the power flickers and if it is held at the right angle the power will stay on, but it is very touchy. all of the connections look fine, but i have never heard of one fixture killing everything on the circuit. does anyone have suggestions?

300zx · 10-10-2009, 03:50 PM

Shut of breaker and take the light down and check how many wires are in this box. There is something stange going on if you have 3 or 4 wires in this box make shure all the conections are twisted wirh a wirenut .Dont have a clue why you would put your Feed in your outside lightbox!

Red Squirrel · 10-10-2009, 03:52 PM

I'd take it down and maybe test it on it's own to see if it does the same. Sounds like a short either in the junction box or the light itself. Probably not worth fixing if it's the light itself, best to get another. Sounds like the leash caused some wires to get loose or something. May be obvious when you take it down if yes just fix it and you'll be good to go. Just make sure the hot is not touching the ground (the junction box itself included). A wire nut might of fell off or something. The uninsulated wire is the ground and that should be the only wire that is in contact with the junction box.

Red Squirrel · 10-10-2009, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 300zx

.Dont have a clue why you would put your Feed in your outside lightbox!

lol never thought of this... that actually sounds more like what is going on. Not exactly how I would of done it.

kramwens · 10-10-2009, 03:59 PM

the black, white, and copper ground wire all come out from a clamped taped section from the wall. the black and white are both connected to the fixture wires with wirenuts. the ground is connected to a thinner wound copper wire with a wirenut and connected to a clamp that is between washers on the fixture. upon closer inspection i found a burn on the white rubber sheath exposing the wire.

300zx · 10-10-2009, 04:06 PM

you need some pics or something.Does't sound right if there is only one wire going out of the wall ? There might be a splice inside the wall that someone didn't put a j-box in

kramwens · 10-10-2009, 04:12 PM

3 wires coming out of the wall, but they are all taped together and behind a clamp with a screw.

kramwens · 10-10-2009, 04:13 PM

also, note the burn on the white wire next to the metal fixture

300zx · 10-10-2009, 04:18 PM

deleted

300zx · 10-10-2009, 04:29 PM

I think you need to take that bracket off and pull the wires out and make sure they are well conected

kramwens · 10-10-2009, 04:50 PM

That is the burn mark.

i took the clamp bracket and clamp off, the wires are connected as far as i can tell. i did not take out the whole casing.

should this be killing all of the electronics on the breaker? they are off now because the breaker switch is off but they don't work even when the breaker switch is on.