What Are the Causes of Blinking Household Lights?

Poor Connections

• If all the bulbs controlled by one light switch flicker and blink, but other lights in your home are unaffected, the switch is probably bad. The lights on an entire circuit may blink, which means the problem is most likely found at the breaker or at a neutral connection in the panel. Panel connections are most often the source of flickering when every bulb in a circuit acts up. If several circuits flicker and blink, a main wire at the panel, the main breaker, your meter or the power company could be the cause of the problem.

Main Hot Wire is Open

• This could be the cause of the problem if around half of the lights in your home are dead, but come on dimly sometimes, especially when you turn on an appliance. The location of the affected main hot wire could be at the panel, the main breaker, the meter or on your power company’s end. Most likely, the power company is the cause of the issue, so they should be contacted and told about the issue.

Main or Circuit Neutral is Open

• If some of your lights run bright while others are dim for several seconds or even a minute at a time, either the main or the circuit neutral is open. Most likely, the main neutral is the one affected. Because your electronics could be damaged from this kind of surging and withdrawing of electricity, you should call the power company to report the issue. Next, call an electrician.

Troubleshooting

• Sometimes, the problem isn’t in the circuitry. If an individual light bulb is blinking, the bulb is defective. Change the bulb for a quick fix to the problem. If a compact fluorescent (CFL) bulb controlled by a dimmer switch is flickering, the dimmer isn’t compatible with the bulb. This is the case with most dimmer switches and CFLs. If you have a CFL controlled by a light switch that glows when it’s off, this may cause the bulb to flash from time to time. This is normal and requires no action on your part.