This may be simple and obvious, but in about twelve years of fixing things, it is a first for me. I installed eight new light fixtures today on a about twenty year old home. Different circuits, different sides of the house, yet nearly all showed similar symptoms. When the switches are turned on, it takes a couple of seconds for the lights to react. NO, they are not flourescent bulbs, and YES, the homeowner says the old lights were acting similar. The only thing I can imagine is a bad connection in the switch, but I have never seen such behavior before!! Any other ideas, before I go put in a new switch to see what happens. It is copper wiring, if that matters, and there are not motion detectors or photo switches either. Thanks for any ideas, will check back tomorrow night.
Dan
Replies
Are these low-voltage circuits?
Any relays involved?
Dan: Put a meter on the socket and see if the voltage comes right up, rises slowly, or delays and then comes right up. It'll help you figure out what's happening. Watch for 240v - it may be that you have a bad neutral somewhere.
Also, when I was a kid, they sold these thingies that you put in a lamp socket or connected in series with the lamp socket. They had a high initial resistance that quickly dropped. The point was to gently bring the filament up to temperature, lengthing its life (!).
Let us know, will you? This sounds interesting!
I've had a light switch or two do that in the past. When the toggle was flipped, it would take a second for the click and then the lights would come on (I had one in the kitchen where I could actually hear internal arcing for a second after I flipped it on.) I chalked it up to using the cheapo 29 cent switches from the big box store, and when they were replaced the problem went away.
Thanks to all of you for the input, I believe I will try a jumper over the switch to see if that works instantly, if so there will be some new switches in their future. No they are not low voltage circuits, although a couple are on three way switches if you believe that could make a difference. These are nice folks, and they deserve a house that works as it is supposed to. Thanks again.
Dan