Last night a light turned on downstairs by itself. How can this happen? It was very scary and spooky. Nobody was down there and it was definitely turned off when we went to bed. About 2 am it suddenly came on. SHould I be worried? What could have caused this? The light is an electric light with a light switch. Has anyone else known this?

Jan

Neenie,

Well you know, Halloween is getting closer and closer as we write notes to each other.

I wouldn't get to worried about it especially if there are toy children or pets that like to jump on things.

Is this light tied to two switches? Or is there a timer in the circuit somewhere?

I had this keep happening with the hallway light. It could just be a power surge or something-weird stuff like that can happen. My boyfriend kept saying it was the ghost of his grandma turning the light off. I don't think so. Are you sure someone wasn't in your house? Do u have kids that might have gotten up for a snack or something? Do you have a cat that could have bumped the switch or something? That's weird. We replaced our light to put a fan in and it hasn't done it since. Maybe it was the wiring or something. Do you have a home alarm? If it keeps happening, set up a camera or something. I wouldn't worry too much if it was just one time. Don't know if that helps or not! :)

Is it a toggle? rotary, electronic? Switch?

This is a serious response. I'm not being a smart a@#. I had a 100 + year old house, completely remodeled all new wiring etc. Turned out we did have a ghost in that house. Many other things happened besides lights. And it was not just one light but any light in any room. I no longer live there. Sold it and moved on

I had an x-10 light turned on sometimes when the furnace ran. Had to install a filter at the furnace.

Have you ever had a problem where the light wouldn't come on when you switched it? I don't know if this is relevant, but I would turn off the power for the light and check the connections on the switch (or switches), and also at the light itself.

I had a clock radio that would reset itself randomly, and a light that turned off and on. Both items were plugged into the same outlet. When I pulled the outlet from the box I found that whoever had installed it had pushed the wires in from the back. This type of connection is referred to as a backstab. Some electrical devices are designed with this feature, making it more quick for the electrician doing the installation.

The problem with using these types of connections is that over time the heat generated by the current can weaken the metal strip holding the wire in the device, and if there is some strain placed on it, the wire can back out of the connection. I simply stripped the wires back a little further, formed a hook, and connected them to the appropriate screw terminals.

See, your mother told you that backstabbing wasn't a good idea, you just didn't realize what she meant... :D

Is it a toggle?, rotary, electronic? switch?

A lot of the switches in my home are toggles and sometimes I will think that I have turned one of them off completely, only to find that later, the light was on. Finding one still on that I thought that I had shut off has mildly freaked me out on occasion. I think that I just didn't completely shut off the toggle switch.

I actually went on a service call, complaint was the garbage disposal would start on it's own, in an empty apartment. Landlord had me there to check the switch, wiring, etc. The switch was new, no splices in the switch box that could short out, good throw on the switch, had to lift handle to turn on. Found no problems.

LL stated then must be his old tenant having fun.

?? What? Explain? What was he talking about?

Tenant had been an elderly gentleman, passed away, they found him collapsed and supported across kitchen counter with hand on switch.

I closed up the box, packed my tools, gave him a no charge service call, and directed him to a priest. Not much more I can do here.

As Strat asked, really need to know the type switch. Any kind of switch can fail or get worn and "short out", or close contacts. Not so much with a standard switch, as the handle needs to be toggled up, against gravity. More popular with other types of switches.

On the topic of ghosts, was installing a paddle fan in a bedroom, (love installing fans, made a ton of money for an easy install). Bedroom was 9x12 and only had a twin bed in the center and a bureau in the corner. Dropped my 6" straight blade screw driver while I was on ladder leaning over bed. Figured I would get it once I was done and came down from ladder. Never did find that screwdriver, it was not under bed, I heard it hit the floor. And was not under the bureau. Beat the hell out of me.Had to buy a new tool.

I can tell you that I've been looking for some answers myself. Appliances are turning on all over my house by themselves lately. For instance, the TV in the middle of the night in my bedroom. Or a massage chair in the next room. And keep in mind that I've been there and nobody else is in the house. I'll be in the kitchen and the chair comes on in the den. I'm wondering if electrical surges can cause this but it's also strange that when I went to turn the chair off, it wouldn't turn back on until I unplugged it. I'd think it was just something with the chair if it hadn't happened with the TV in a completely different room while I was sleeping. And it's also happened with a clock-radio... in fact, two DIFFERENT clock radios that had NOT been even touched in months, much less set to go off. This is getting annoying. I mean... how can clock radios come on? I could MAYBE see the TV or chair if surges were to blame, but clock where an actual switch needs to be pushed? I'm at a loss. Any answers are appreciated.

This post is 2 yrs old. Start a new thread.

Yes, it would be best for someone to start a new thread who has similar questions because this thread is the thread of someone else, is now old and archived and no longer visible on the list of currently active threads.

Thanks!

I am on similar situation. Very often when I go sleep, I am sure of turning off the lights. But when I wake up, the lights are ON. This has happened in my house back home, and happens also in my rented apt. So I doubt it is a haunted house or whatever, but it is quite spooky because now every time I go sleep I wonder if the lights will be turned on when I wake up...

My family is Christian and so am I, though not a hardcore one. They tell me to pray. Maybe I should start praying, but the question is... could these be harmful in any way? I mean, aside the spookiness of the lights turning on by itself, nothing else bad could come out of it, could it?

This has happened in my house back home, and happens also in my rented apt.

Unless there is some kind of electronic switches involved, both at your previous home and also in you present apartment, it would appear that the common denominator is you. Do you have an any history of sleep walking?

Had something similar happen recently to my husband lately who was home overnight alone. TV and computer in separate rooms both caqme on within a short time of each other on full blast. Did you find a resolution or reason to your experience ?

No resolution to my personal experience. The reason I originally posted was hoping that the people running this site could provide some explanation before I had to pay an electrician to come to my home, which I eventually did. All wiring checked out perfectly. No explanation for the different devices turning on in different rooms at different times. And hkstroud... if you were asking me personally about sleepwalking... the answer is "no". Tough to sleepwalk when you're standing in your kitchen and the TV turns on 20 feet from you with nobody else in the house at 5pm. And just to nip another question in the bud if anyone happens to hit on it... the remote control is put into a drawer when it isn't in use. So it couldn't have been accidentally hit or fallen off a platform and turned the TV on. Plus, it doesn't explain lights and a radio turning on by themselves either at other completely different times on different days, weeks apart.

I have the same problem I have 2 kids and I live in a townhome and round 4am just nowe) the radio turned on full blast speaker radio by itself and I was alone upstairs sleeping with my 2 little onesn thisd hasd happened twice already

No... never found an answer or any reason for the quirky electrical problems. Hey didn't happen with any regularity though, fortunately. Just maybe once a month or so. Since my first writing I've relocated to a new State. We'll see if these things follow me in my new home.

Power glitches of some sort almost always turn on an Internet radio that I have.

I had a TV tuner that would do it also and an audio signal processor.

The power on reset circuitry wasn't smart enough.

I built a microprocessor controlled toy crane and it would do it to until I fixed the manufacturer's reset signal of the single board computer. A supply that powered up quickly would work. One that was slow powering up (linear) occasionally would not.

So, those issues may be device related. I will agree, the full volume thing is annoying. There were warnings for the tuner not to leave it plugged in when you went away.

Generated a decent power on reset signal used to cost some bucks for manufacturers to do, so they used an ineffective one.

Why? You found it, didn't you? Besides... it started 2 years ago. Better to establish a timeline in my opinion. However, you've been here and obviously monitor questions and answers so if I have further posts to make I'll honor your wishes.

I've been away from here for a while and I've lost my EXPERT distinction. Still don't know if I'm returning actively or not. I still get emailed on previous threads. Some of the reasons I left were fixed, some not.

If only certain devices are a problem. On page 6 here: http://literature.rockwellautomation.com/idc/groups/literature/documents/wd/800-wd001_-en-p.pdf there is a schematic of a start/stop ckt. If you ignore the STOP and the O/L and make the Motor an outlet, you can put this circuit in an outlet strip or separate box with a power light. When the power drops out for about 20 mS or so, the outlet strip will stay off until reset. It requires a DPDT r120 VAC coil relay, a normally open push button and a pilot light if not present.

I would do this for devices with problems. I have placed this circuit in an outlet strip. I attached it to an auto answer modem. If I called a number and it didn't answer, we had a power failure.

Don't know why you've been gone, hope you, family and friends are OK.
A Cheap Digital clock can indicate and outage, a Motorized clock can let You know how long the outage was. Other digitals flash and show how long the power has be on from 12:00?

I've been having this happen a lot in my house. I've lived here for 15 years, but it's only started happening in the last few years. There are four lights that are the ones that it happens to most. I live in a three story queen ann (built 1897). On the first floor there are two different lights in the kitchen that it happens. In the dinning room I have two cabinet lights that it happens to and also the half bath on the first floor. Usually I go to bed and find them on when I get up. Twice I've caught it happening. Once it was around midnight and the other time was around 9pm. They're different kinds of lights so I don't think it's an electrical issue. Also I have no kids or pets that can be doing it. It doesn't bother me, but it's a little shocking when it suddenly happens. I'd guess it's happened about a dozen or so times.

I don't know what it means and I try not to assume, but lol, friends who I've shared it with come to the same conclusion. What ever is doing it, it seems harmless so as long as nothing or no one starts turning the gas on the stove I'll just chalk it up to the joys of living in a really old house :-).

Last night I turned my light off before bed about 2am and when I woke up in the morning the light in my bedroom was on, I don't know how this happened and the day before my attic opened up by itself my family said it was the wind but I'm worried it might be something else! Please help me

I had my home up for sale for two years. Prior to moving out, I was always on my children about leaving the lights on. Once the home was empty we had a neighbor watching the home for us. We moved some 30 miles away. The neighbor worked with my husband and she would tell him when all or various lights were on in the house. We were certain someone was entering the home knowing nobody lived there, so we changed the locks. There were two keys one for my husband and one for myself. As time went on our neighbor would tell us the lights were on and sure enough the bathroom switch, which was not easy flipped on was in the up position. Soon when we would come the closet doors were open as well. My husband and I made sure every window was locked and that we vacuumed our footprints out of the door of the house. We said aloud to one another in each room, lights are off and closet doors are shut but sure enough the next day they would be open and at least one light switch was in the up position. Finally, I decided to put a poster in the window just about giving the home away, and it sold. We told everyone around us about the mystery. There was never any footprints or open windows or doors to every offer an explanation.

This has been happening to me. I was visiting my mother two weeks ago and 3 out of the 4 nights I stayed there I was woken up by a lamp turning on. Then yesterday, at an apartment that is across the country, my beside lamp turned on twice while I was sleeping. Both times I woke up and switched it off. But this seems a little weird that this has happened so 5 times in one month. I hope I'm not sleep walking, although that seems to be the most likely explanation.