Nowadays, lights can dim or flicker due to many different causes, but what could be causing your lights to dim and then brighten?
When dimming or flickering lights are a nuisance, no matter when it occurs. Sadly, this is a problem many people will frequently face in residences and commercial businesses with artificial lighting.
Reasons That Lights Could Dim and Then Brighten That You Could Easily Fix
There are many different reasons that your lights could be dimming and then brightening or flickering. Some of these possibilities are really simple to fix such as the following possibility.
Old Light Bulb
Some people may assume that flickering lights stem from issues with the light bulbs or light sockets, but this is rarely the case. Dimming or flickering lights usually indicates that your electrical system isn’t adequate for the abundance of appliances within the circuit.
However, it’s not impossible that the light bulb is simply old and needs to be replaced. Bulbs and lamps will only put out 70% of the light that they did before their stated lifespan ends.
Depending on which component of the bulb wore out as it aged, the light could be dimming or flickering.
Things Causing My Lights to Dim That I Will Not Have To Fix Myself
The following is a list of reasons why your lights could be dimming that are out of your control, and you should not have to fix them yourself. Your utility company should resolve the issue themselves.
Power Grid Issues
It’s possible that the utility company’s transformer has a failure or the line from the transformer to the residence has an interruption of power.
Usually, blackouts will occur rather than brownouts (dim lighting versus no lighting), but if there is an unusual amount of high energy demand, then there could be a citywide power shortage.
Storm Or Power Surge
If there was a recent storm in the area or a power surge on the power grid itself, then this could have caused a brownout or dimming of lights.
Reasons That Lights Could Dim and Brighten That I Could Fix With Some Difficulty
The following is a list of possibilities for why your lights could be dimming that are more central to the inside of your home and could cause you to want to seek help from a trusted electrician.
Improper Wiring
Depending on how old or strong the wiring of your home is, the lights dimming could be due to faulty wiring.
If the circuitry throughout the house is not efficient enough to support the load of the lighting that is connected to the circuit, then this could cause the lights to dim.
Connective Issues
There could be connective issues within the light switches that are causing the lights to not reach their full potential.
Too Much Power To Your Lighting Load
Junction boxes throughout your house may be feeding power to your lighting load, causing the circuit to overload again.
Loose Neutral Connection
A loose neutral connection can cause dim lighting. This is when a neutral wire sends power back to the electrical service allowing the flow of current through electrical and lighting devices throughout the home.
Certain Appliance(s) Causing Overload
If the lights only dim or appear to flicker when a specific appliance is being used, such as a hair dryer or microwave, then the appliance is likely connected to the same circuit as the lights, which is causing a circuit overload.
Each home has a maximum amount of power it can draw from the electrical circuit, so this amount is reached, or nearly reached, by the use of this appliance.
This loose connection is actually a common occurrence and is found with most lighting issues.
Still Not Sure What Is Causing Your Lights to Dim and Then Brighten?
If your lights are dimming and being a nuisance to you, let our qualified electricians help you at Fusion Electric. We serve those in Overland Park and Kansas City. Here at Fusion Electric, we not only get to the bottom of what is causing your dimming lights but, more importantly, we also solve the problem.
We provide our services to residences but also commercial businesses all over the Kansas City Metro area.
Dimming lights can be such a hassle. Luckily we have a specially trained crew of electricians ready to assist you today. If you want to know what is causing your lights to dim and then brighten, contact Kansas City Fusion Electric today!
