House Lights Blinking

[rca]

OK, in all fairness I know this has probably been addressed, but try searching for blinking lights on a Christmas forum.....

The interior lights in my house are blinking occasionally this year when I have a big show wide shimmer or blink going. It seems like they might have done this in years past as well, but this year I'm wondering what can cause that. Is it something I need to be concerned about? What are the possible culprits?

It seems like I read somewhere that it's possibly related to good/bad ground, but I can't remember now.

Thanks for the input.

Ron

[macebobo]

Ron,

It may mean that your are drawing too much current for your service. How many lights and how much current are your drawing at peak times in your show?

-- John

[jrock64]

Sounds like you need some filtering caps on your houses supply lines.

Your houses input lines are not large enough to deal withe the fluctuating load produced by the blinking lights.

JOel

[CaptKirk]

It means you have achieved blinky nirvana- whole house blinky!! How festive until something catches fire...

[rca]

John, probably the fewest number of incandescents I've ever run, maybe 90 100 count minis tops. The rest are LED. Load should be much reduced from years past.

Joel, what are filtering caps for the house input lines? Sounds like a power company request or is that just an electrician call?

Kirk, funny, yes nirvana.

Ron

[Reddy_Kilowatt]

I had that problem a few years back. I didn't need a radio to tell that the show was running, the kitchen light dimmed with the beat.

I had all the power I needed to run the show, but the load apparently wasn't balanced between the two legs in the electrical panel.

I swapped a few breaker positions and now I'm back to using the radio...

http://www.ehow.com/how_7799795_bala...-circuits.html

-Craig

[tdx]

Flickering can also be an indication that your neutral leg is not well connected somewhere, usually in the panel or in the line to the house. I had the same problem years ago when large loads like AC or TV's would turn on, a quick flicker. Inside the panel I found the neutral wire set screw wasn't torqued down real well, a good twist of the screwdriver solved the problem. You probably want to have an electrician inspect it, a poor connection somewhere trying to pass a lot of current can produce a lot of heat and potential fire.

[scootchu]

Same thing happens here. In fact I noticed something strange a week or so ago. I was testing my lights and my next door neighbor on the same side of the street was blowing his leaves with an electric blower. When I hit all on I could hear his leaf blower change pitch. Got me thinking we have a crappy pole transformer. I thought it was my 200amp panel too until that happened.

[Dink1120]

Just a thought, with all the circuits on in your house, do not try tightening your neutral leg on your panel. All breakers should be off to ensure there is no power draw running through you neutral that might choose you as the least path of resistance, or better and safer have an electrician check it. Better to let a pro do it and still be lighting next year than give off one last bright glow and burn out yourself.