all the recessed halogen lights in my living room all went off at once!
it’s not the circuit breaker and a voltmeter says that there’s no power at the switch.
anyone know what could be wrong or how I find out what is wrong?

12v or 240v bulbs?
If former check transformer.
If latter, and it’s not a fuse then maybe a wire has burnt out? I dunno

Well if there’s no power at the switch then that’ll be the issue surely?

If there’s no power at the switch it doesn’t matter what voltage they are, sounds like loose connection somewhere.

How are they wired ?
In parallel or series ? they ought to be in a parallel, if a fault has occurred then your breaker of RCD ought to have tripped, does the breaker feeding them only feed them or is there other lighting on that circuit, if you are not totally confident call a spark !

240V.
if there is no electricity at the switch, which wire would it be? or is it impossible to work that out without doing resistance testing?
they are wired in parallel. breaker didn’t trip.

EDIT: the breaker only feeds these lights.

You sure the RCD is still on? (as opposed to the MCB) sounds a stupid question but some require switching to off then back to on to re-energise.

I just swapped two breakers over from different circuits and that didn’t help.

I would switch on all lights downstairs,then knock of the breaker to see what it feeds.
do the same with upstairs so that you know what the breakers should feed.
How are you checking for voltage with a voltmeter if there is only live supposed to be at the switch.
You say recessed lights are these fed from the Diss board or from a fused spur/socket.
Carry out the first to see what the breakers are feeding.

the breaker only feeds these lights, there is one other breaker which feeds all the other lights. this is, I assume, because the lights that have gone are in a building extension.

How are you checking for voltage with a voltmeter if there is only live supposed to be at the switch.

incorrectly? I guess I need to check the other end with neutral rather than the control?

You say recessed lights are these fed from the Diss board or from a fused spur/socket.

don’t know. how would I find out?

How are you checking that there’s no power at the switch, there is only live and switched live in the switch, no neutral to test to??

Have you swapped a bulb to see, it’s not unheard of for a blown bulb to take the others with it… check voltage across the light fitting, if there is none then work back down the line until you you find some juice.

JUST BE CAREFUL! IF IN DOUBT CALL A SPARKIE!

just reread your last saying that the breaker only feeds these lights.
Case of tracing the wiring to where they it is going from and too.
Other option is turn of the breaker and connect switch wires together switch on and off at the breaker to prove it is not the switch.
make sure someone is looking at the lights whilst you do this.

actually, in the corner of the room, above the skirting board, there is a fused switch the purpose of which we don’t know – could this be related?

check voltage across the light fitting, if there is none then work back down the line until you you find some juice

I think this is what I need to do.

if that fails, I’ll call a sparkie out, but I’ll wait until Tuesday…

Other option is turn of the breaker and connect switch wires together switch on and off at the breaker to prove it is not the

the first thing I tried was swapping the switch which didn’t do anything

Without knowing the layout? if only this breaker is feeding your lights,why connect through a fused spur.Check the fuse with your meter/tester.
have you any other lights from the ceiling in this area.

I think the fused spur might be for the decking lights, which have never worked (I moved in to this place a month ago).

I would switch the breaker of and leave it off until this has been tested.(checked and repaired tested)
As you have only been there a month you will not know how it has been wired.
May be a loose neutral, damaged wiring.this does require further investigation.Probably something simple.
Take out the lamps from all the fittings then have a electrician check should not be a big job for a decent spark.
sorry cant be anymore help at the moment.
Take it up with the previous owner.

thanks very much for all the suggestions.
as it turns out I was wrong about the breaker (not sure what it’s for now), the fused spur in the corner of the room is for the lights and the fuse had blown and one of the bulbs has gone. new fuse, working lights.

Good news but you still need it checking out,and all your breakers need a list of what does what.
Check that the fuse in the spur is not more that 5 amp depending on the size of wiring used.
Must admit seems to be a bit of a diy set up.
glad you are sorted.

it’s now at the bottom of the looooong list of things to sort out

Add to your list:
Get some LED spots off e bay instead of halogen, save on your electricity bill,do your bit for the planet and get some cool or warm white light too!

1/20 of the lights are LED… 19 to go 🙂