Last Updated on March 13, 2021 by Dave Farquhar
If your ceiling light fixture doesn’t work, let’s talk about one I worked on last weekend. It wasn’t my first time doing that. I ended up replacing the fixture, but then I fixed the broken fixture afterward.
First things first: The Bulb
I started with the simplest thing, replacing the light bulb. It’s best to use a light bulb you know works. Take a bulb from a nearby fixture and try it. When we tried three different bulbs and none of them worked, I took the other bulb in the room and used it. Two of the three bulbs that didn’t work in the bad fixture turned out to be bad themselves.
I’m not sure why people keep bad bulbs around but I know I’m not the only one who’s done that. LED bulbs do last longer, by the way. When you go to get new bulbs, be sure to take your burned-out CFL bulbs with you. Home-improvement stores have a recycle/disposal box at the front of the store, and most types of light bulbs are cheaper there than at, say, the grocery store.
Important safety precautions
If it’s not your bulbs, there are a few other things to check. But before we move on, let’s talk safety. Before proceeding further, cut off power to the light fixture from the circuit breaker or fuse box.
Let’s get back to fixing stuff.
Check the brass tab
I would have saved myself a lot of effort if I’d tried this trick second. There is a brass or copper tab inside the light socket that engages the center tip of the bulb. If this tab gets mashed down far enough, the socket will stop working even if it’s electrically live. Reach in with a wooden or plastic object and bend that tab up to at least a 15-20 degree angle. This is a far more common problem than you might think. It can cause bulbs to burn out prematurely, but if it’s mashed too far down, it causes them not to work at all.
If the tab is badly discolored, this can also cause problems. It’s probably easier to replace the fixture than to try to fix it. You can try spraying it with some CRC 2-26 and see if that cleans and deoxidizes it enough. It works often enough to be worth trying but it’s not a guarantee. It’s also not a quick fix. Sometimes it works within 30 minutes but sometimes it need 8-24 hours to take effect.
At this point, it’s a good idea to test the socket with a multimeter as well. If you don’t measure voltage, there’s something else going on.
Check for a tripped breaker or GFCI
The third thing to check is to make sure you don’t have any circuit breakers tripped, or any nearby GFCI outlets tripped. If the light happens to be downstream of a GFCI, a tripped GFCI will cut its power. This is unusual, but I’ve seen stranger things than this. Especially in basements.
Check the wiring
Fourth, check the wiring. Pull the fixture down and make sure its wire connections are secure. It shouldn’t be hard to twist two wires together and screw a wire nut down on top of it, but I’ve seen people get it wrong. Yes, I’ve taken a fixture down to find a loose wire nut inside and two wires not connected to anything.
While we’re talking about weird and wacky things, try replacing the wire nuts. Scout’s honor–I’ve had connections come back to life just by putting new wire nuts in. More than one thing has to be wrong for this to fix the problem, but it’s an easy thing to try. If there’s a red or yellow wire nut holding just two wires together, it may be too big. An orange wire nut is often sufficient size for a light fixture.
After I have new, properly sized wire nuts in place, I like to wrap the end with enough electrical tape to go around it twice. This gives some protection against shocks and also makes it much harder for the wire nut to spin off on is own.
If the ground wire fell off, that won’t cause the light to malfunction, but it’s usually not hard to fix.
Check the light switch
Finally, check the light switch. Light switches do go bad after a while, and not everyone wires light switches well. Take the light switch out of its box and examine its wire connections. The wire should be completely looped around the screws, not just cinched down under them. If the screws look oxidized at all, that’s a sign the switch has been there a while and could stand a replacement. A new regular duty light switch costs less than 75 cents in quantity, so it’s not the end of the world if you have to replace one.
When you replace or rewire the switch, be sure to strip back enough wire from each connection that you can form a loop of wire into a full letter “c” and cinch it down under the screw without the screw touching any insulation. That gives you a really solid electrical connection. Cover the terminals with a piece of electrical tape after you finish.
If you do all of that and it still doesn’t work, there’s a problem with your wiring. At that point, you need to call an electrician. There’s no shame in that; I’ve done that myself.
But I’d say 90% of the time when your ceiling light fixture doesn’t work, one of my six tricks will fix it. I wish you the best on your project.
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.
Before pulling the light fixture down, or any of the following steps – turn the breaker for the circuit off (or remove the fuse if the place is that old). Forgot that part. 🙂
I have a lite fixture that has three bulbs in it, it works fine. When I replaced the bulbs with 60 watt LED bulbs only one bulb works. I then took two that didn’t work and replaced them with the old bulbs and the fixture worked. I replaced the one LED that worked with the other LED bulbs just to make sure that the bulbs worked, and they do. Could it be that the new LED’s don’t draw enough of amps? and what is the fix?
It sounds like there’s something wrong with some of the sockets in your fixture. The amperage draw shouldn’t matter in a circuit as simple as a light fixture. With the power off, try bending the tabs in the fixture upward 5-10 degrees so they make better contact. Also double-check your wire nuts if you’re comfortable taking the fixture down. I’ve found replacing the wire nuts with new ones of the correct size can fix strange problems, believe it or not. I’ve had to do that twice. Orange is usually a pretty safe choice, size-wise. Frequently people use the big red or yellow ones and didn’t get a tight enough fit for good electrical contact.