Just doing some interior alterations and moved a ceiling pull cord switch. Very simple job, just three wires, all working after.

Then my wife switched on another light on the same circuit but it flickered and went off. The light I moved still worked though. Lots of fiddling later and I eventually took the ceiling pull switch off completely and left it with nothing working. Then it suddenly started to work again (apart from the light I had disconnected of course).

Any ideas? I am stumped.

Presumably 2 wires went into one terminal and the other on its own?
If so, that’s a loop-in lighting circuit, and you have a loose connection on the feed to the other lights. Either not terminated properly at the switch, or the wire has broken, usually just where the insulation starts on the cable.
Recheck the connections.

No – one to earth, one (red wire) to ‘in’ (as marked on the switch) and a black one to ‘out’.

Bump for the daytime crowd – does anyone have any ideas?

Definite loose connection at a light fitting somewhere on the circuit. How many lights stopped working, just one?

yup, something has been disturbed – you have a loose connection / broken wire.

Loose connection+1

Wiggling the cable feeding the switch you moved has probably pulled out a loose connection down the line, most likely in junction box which the switch cable may have originated.

Can you get to the floor above and have a snoop around under the boards?

Its a 4 bed house, the landing and all four bedroom lights stopped working (apart from the one operated by the switch I moved), house bathroom and en-suite weren’t affected. Then mysteriously the light I was moving stopped too.

I went up last night and followed the wire back to where it disappears again and wiggled but it didn’t have any apparent effect on the circuit.

Going to make some Local Searches to see if the house is sited on a Ancient Indian Burial Ground next…

Don’t worry, you ll be fine as long as they didn’t just move the headstones.

Back on the cables, it might be worth changing the feed cable from the rcd unit up to your switch, and or the one from your switch on to the set of lights that are dodgy. Cable breaks can be a nightmare to find.

Lighting is usually radial (wired in a line rather than loop) so it’s quite possible that anything before the loose wire will still work ok.

If upstairs, pop into the loft and try to follow the wiring path.

Disclaimer – turn off power before fiddling too much 😉

Yeah well we are about to start an en-suite job and I want to fit a new consumer unit so I think I will just ask the sparky to fix this too.

Proper spoiled my weekend after feeling like I’d managed to do some proper DIY (apparently) successfully (I ripped out a set of built-in wardrobes and made good prior to the en-suite being refitted).

If none of the upstairs lights are working have you checked the breaker hasn’t tripped? you need to see if you have power at that bathroom light, it seems to be the first on that circuit.

They work periodically – they keep going on and off. The consumer unit doesn’t have RCD breakers, just fuses and they haven’t blown.

What is the switch for, it is a single switch for a bathroom light, or a second switch together with a wall one in a bedroom. If the former I would go with the cable pulled out in the junction, if the latter then that earth isn’t an earth.

TBH unless you can hunt down the fault i would disconnect it or pull the fuse on the circuit until someone who knows what they are doing can take a look at it.

Esecially if it’s not particularly modern wiring and you have no idea where it’s failing…

i would disconnect it or pull the fuse on the circuit until someone who knows what they are doing can take a look at it.

Yeah I did that last night.

What is the switch for, it is a single switch for a bathroom light, or a second switch together with a wall one in a bedroom.

It is a single light switch – simply switches a light on and off in a built in wardrobe.

Well went round the circuit again tonight – taking ceiling roses off each fitting and found one with a loose connection – must have disturbed it whilst fiddling.

Well that was simple, if somewhat long-winded.

Is the wardrobe a passage to Narnia ?

is that a reference to “the wiring twitch in the wardrobe”