The
chandelier is hung from a standard
batten connected to a grounded dimmed
circuit.
could it be a short to
ground on the neutrial
wire? path of least resistance on the load side following the lamps most likely will not trip the
breaker. thus hot incoming to center contact of the lamp sockets as it should be so you dont get shocked while changing lamps works fine or with a higher resistance
voltage leak but with the resistance of the lamps preventing too much
current flow in
tripping the
breaker. seems to work fine but still could be some or even all
voltage going
thru ground dependant on what
neutral or
ground or what % of each is less resistant. reverse this as incorrectly wired in feeding the screw part of the
base anyway and you now have your hot
line in to path of least resistance short to
ground which is less resistant to
current flow than
current in going
thru the lamps.
on the other
hand, it could be a short on the hot also in situation the same but reversed in working while feeding the
neutral part of the sockets the hot
line and the center contact having a short but one that is higher resistance than the normal
neutral return path pe above.
esy enough to troubleshoot and
wire properly once the problem is solved. touch one probe to frame, the other to
screw shell of
base. get a beep, it means a short, if not frame to center contact would most likely have the short. while there with the multi-meter,
meter center contact to the
wire feeding it. there is no reversing plugs on screw based lamps, one way is correct, the other dangerous when changing lamps if
power on. a hint also is that by code, the
neutral wire is ribbed which normally leaves the hot to be the one with writing on it.
(forgive my typing - one
hand in a cast.)
