I have one circuit in my house with problems. The circuit has 3 receptacles and four lighting circuits. It has 12 ga. wire and a newly replaced 20-amp breaker. (The old breaker was not faulty). After the entire circuit started flickering or dropping voltage I replaced the 3 receptacles and changed the four light switches. I went to the breaker box, cut the power and checked for loose neutral connections, all seemed snug. With all of the lighting switches off I put a load on the circuit at a receptacle and the circuit is still dropping voltage under a load. Any remarks will be welcomed. Thanks in advance.
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- Flickering lights, voltage drop :(
It is possile that the wire has been damaged someplace in it run with a nail/staple.
But most likely you have a loose connection.
Start checking the light boxes (or switch boxes depending on how it is wired). Check all of the wire nut connections.
And if you did not already do this check any wire nut pigtails in the receptacle boxes.
There is a possibility that the cable is splice in another box that does not have a light/switch/receptacle for this circuit. But that is no common.
But most likely you have a loose connection.
Start checking the light boxes (or switch boxes depending on how it is wired). Check all of the wire nut connections.
And if you did not already do this check any wire nut pigtails in the receptacle boxes.
There is a possibility that the cable is splice in another box that does not have a light/switch/receptacle for this circuit. But that is no common.
I will check the wire nuts in the boxes if there is any. I did not think to do that. The previous owner pulled wire from a light switch in this circuit for a ceiling fan connection. But the flickering continues even with that switch off, which isolates the ceiling fan........
Check the neutral connections in the switch box where the power for the fan was taken. Chances are that is where the problem is.
You were right. It was a loose neutral in the box. I waited till last to redo the bus bar connections in the box, that way I would have all new switches, plus I found other potential problems. The loose neutral was where 3 wires were in the bus bar together. The wire further from the bus screw was the wire giving the voltage drop. I put that wire in a spare lug and it worked fine. This connection was 27 years old and just now went bad. Thanks for your expert advise.
