[graceec]

Hi,

My housemate and I went out at about 8.30pm last night and are 100% sure we turned all the lights in the apartment off. When we got back to the apartment at about 11.45pm the same evening the ceiling lights in the corridor and kitchen area were on. Both sets of lights are powered by dimmer switches and were on full blast when we got back. Could this have been caused by a power surge or someone coming into the apartment but not taking anything and leaving the lights on? Bearing in mind that we have asked everyone with keys whether they came in or not and they didn't. Would really appreciate someone helping me solve this mystery....

Thank you.

 

[PoleCat]

A momentary outage is most likely what happened.

 

[graceec]

I'm not very good at this kind of stuff, sorry, but what does that mean/entail...?

 

[J. V.]

A momentary outage is most likely what happened.

And how would that translate into turning things on? I am asking politely.

 

[Billy_Bob]

More likely power went off for a moment, then came back on. To test to see if this can cause those lights to come on, find the circuit breaker for one of them, (with the lights switched off like they were when you left) turn the breaker off, then back on.

Try flipping the breaker off and leave off for a minute, then back on.
Also try flipping the breaker off, then quickly back on.
See if the lights come on when power is restored.

Electronic gizmos in many cases will "remember" if they were on or off before the power went out. In some cases you would always want the device to power up "off" like with an electronic controlled kitchen range. For lighting in some cases you might always want the devices to power up "on" (maybe when used in a building with no windows).

And lately cheaply manufactured electronic devices are not designed and tested to work as they should. So no telling what they will do if there is a power outage or power surge.

 

[graceec]

Thank you. I will give it a go and report back.

 

[PoleCat]

And how would that translate into turning things on? I am asking politely.

See Billy Bob's post above, happens all the time here with electronic dimmers and touch lights. Thankfully enough all but the oldest digital clocks don't need to be reset anymore.