[Bonesaw]

Hey, I'm an 18 year old kid, and I went for a year schooling of electrical construction, I was trying to help my mom out and add some lights in the basement, so I added 3 light sockets, all off one breaker (15A), and they are really dimmed lights. Im guessing its not drawing enough amprage but I'm not exactly sure, Can someone help me out and tell me what went wrong, and How can I fix it to make it work?. thanks... apreciate it.

[Harvey1955]

Hey saw, you will get an answer from someone, I just wanted to commend you on trying, most 18 yr. olds today can't find a bulb, let aloneput in a circuit. Congrat. (sounds like you wired in series, maybe)Electrical Circuits
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SERIES CIRCUITS
A Series Circuit has only one path to ground, so electrons must go through each component to get back to ground. All loads are placed in series.

Therefore:

1. An open in the circuit will disable the entire circuit.

2. The voltage divides (shared) between the loads.

3. The current flow is the same throughout the circuit.

4. The resistance of each load can be different.

[shader]

Symptoms sound like a poor neutral connection. If you have access to a voltmeter, measure between hot & neutral, and hot & ground; both should be 120v, if not, have to trace the problem. If you can measure continuity, check between the neutral and ground for a connection. Even without a meter the first thing to check are all the connections, both at the socket terminals and at the breaker. Make sure the breaker is properly seated and the hot & neutral wire connections are tight. If you pigtailed the connections at the lights make sure all of the wires are making solid contact. Improper installation of wire nuts will result in poor connections. Actually, the wires should be pigtailed as putting more than one wire on a screw terminal, unless specifically permitted, is not good practice. ----This is wired in parallel, not series, hopefully. Even if it was wired in series, the resistance of the bulbs is very low and I doubt it would cause the bulbs to be noticeably dim. BTW, any other circuits on this breaker?

If there is a switch in the circuit it could be defective. The internals could be faulty & still pass voltage but not full voltage. I've had that happen. Same goes for the breaker.

Bad sockets, though all three bad is rare. Don't know how the lights/wiring were physically installed but improper installation may cause problems. Last, and without sounding like a wise guy, did you check the wattage of the bulbs? Yeah, it's the most obvious, but that's why I asked. :D

[Stratmando]

If you remove 1 bulb and they all go out, they are wired in series. All the whites need to tie together, and the lights white. The black? Comes off the breaker and all blacks tie together, and tie to light black wire.