Question for the electrical gurus

[Mudslinger]

I want to get rid of the dimmer. I think that is the cause of the lights flickering!

[db@100]

okay electricians here's a thought for y'all. There are 3 pieces of 12/2 in the box. One is the hot coming in the other 2 maybe travelers because he didn't have any 12/3. One neutral is from the panel, one goes to the lights, the other was just in the romex and isn't used. Need more pictures and a tester to know for sure.

[Txjourneyman]

okay electricians here's a thought for y'all. There are 3 pieces of 12/2 in the box. One is the hot coming in the other 2 maybe travelers because he didn't have any 12/3. One neutral is from the panel, one goes to the lights, the other was just in the romex and isn't used. Need more pictures and a tester to know for sure.

That's why I said I'd need to check it with a meter and see what goes where. I don't like to try and fix stuff on line. Vital info could be missing and that can be dangerous.

[db@100]

Yep, you never know what the guy did before or if he had any idea what he should do. After 45 years I've seen all kinds of stuff.

[Sparkles]

okay electricians here's a thought for y'all. There are 3 pieces of 12/2 in the box. One is the hot coming in the other 2 maybe travelers because he didn't have any 12/3. One neutral is from the panel, one goes to the lights, the other was just in the romex and isn't used. Need more pictures and a tester to know for sure.

But the way it's made up the 3 ways wouldn't work right, and it has one to few wires to be in the 4 way spot while carrying the neutral through.
Right?

[db@100]

It would have to be a 3 way spot. It could be wired with the hot and one traveler tied together on one side of the switch and the other traveler on the other side of the switch, At any rate, no matter how it is wired, it's not working like a set of 3 ways and 4 way should. Everything is just a guess. I was assuming that it was wired for the 3 way 4 way set up and someone just tried to wire in a single pole dimmer. It could be that the "electrician" that wired it to begin with just messed up. Ya never know...

[Mudslinger]

I now have a tester, but my wife is working in there and frowned when I told her I needed to cut the juice, so please check back on this thread in the AM and I will let you know if there is any juice still in the box when I cut the breaker off. I will also taek some more pics of inside the box to maybe help clarify some things. thanks.

[db@100]

pull out the other switches and take your pictures. That will tell a lot.

[Bill]

I'm not an electrician- but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express.

Can't he 'just' replace the dimmer with a new single pole dimmer that's intended to control compact flourescent lights having the correct wattage to handle 8 of 'em?

http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Education-Training/Pages/LCE/DimmingCFLsandLEDs.aspx

[Sparkles]

Question for the electrical gurus

I'm not an electrician- but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express.

Can't he 'just' replace the dimmer with a new single pole dimmer that's intended to control compact flourescent lights having the correct wattage to handle 8 of 'em?

http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Educatio...LsandLEDs.aspx

As long as they are dimable fluorescent lamps.
If the ballast they put in those lamps aren't dimable. He will have the same flickering and shortened lamp life.

[Mudslinger]

OK, electrical gurus. The power is turned off and my newly purchased voltage sensor shows that there is ZERO power coming into the box where the dimmer switch. Does this mean that i can tie all the black wires together to close the circuit and cover the hole up with a blank cover? What say you?

[Sparkles]

Yup
Should be good

[Texas Tracker]

OK, electrical gurus. The power is turned off and my newly purchased voltage sensor shows that there is ZERO power coming into the box where the dimmer switch. Does this mean that i can tie all the black wires together to close the circuit and cover the hole up with a blank cover? What say you?

If you turned the power off then------- It will always read no power. You can only test for power with the power on.

[Mudslinger]

I turned the power off to the living area only where these lights are located, not the whole house. I wanted to make sure there was no juice coming into the box where the dimmer was located and that I can safely tie all the black wires together without getting shocked and then know that by tying all the black wires together in the above mentioned box that it would be OK to do so. Can I do this safely now and not burn my house down?

[db@100]

I don't see any smoke yet....must have been okay