To answer shortus: the opposite sides are a series connection with the neutral at the center. So in a series circuit, which would be the result of a failed neutral connection, the voltage across each side is in proportion to it's resistance.
Usually covered in day five of the junior high basic electricity course.

 

Then they attached a voltage recorder to my meter

Which side of the meter? Possible faulty meter?

 

Could this be caused by another homeowner? Lights often dim briefly when an AC unit comes on, and I don't see why lights in one house might not dim if the AC comes on in a different house.

So it might be a neighbor's house or some local business. in fact do any of your neighbors also experience this? is it really the case that this is confined to just your house?

 

You guys and gals are just guessing at the problem and/or solution. Not recommended. Rather, fully diagnose the problem. THEN fix it.

 

Usually covered in day five of the junior high basic electricity course.

Electricity wasn't offered in my JR High School, or even in High school. Looks like according to post 36 max didn't have it either.

 

You guys and gals are just guessing at the problem and/or solution. Not recommended. Rather, fully diagnose the problem. THEN fix it.

Of course there're guesses we don't live there but they give the TS some ideas to check into.

 

What we have not suggested is checking to see if all of the dimming lights are on one circuit. I made a guess that they were not all on the same circuit nor all on the same side of neutral. Others immediately decided that it had to be a neutral problem, when we had the statement that it affected appliances as well.
A faulty neutral ALWAYS CREATES A HIGHER VOLTAGE ON THE OPPOSITE PHASE. We have no mention of the higher voltage happening. So that may not be a good guess.

You might want to reread what you wrote in #22... I believe I mentioned finding out which breaker(s) were having issues and you disagreed.

 

I'm wondering if the TS is using LED lighting that can operate on voltages from 120 to 240VAC. If that's the case it's unlikely the TS would notice a difference in voltages or brightness. Again, Bill, this is just a guess.

This is part of the reason I was trying to mention finding out if the affected circuits were on the same leg of the incoming service. (see #21) Although my gut says it's not a neutral issue there are certain cases where this very thing could happen. It is also very well possible it is just a problem with one leg of the service.

 

I am not an "I told you so" sort of person, but when someone clearly disagrees with sound advice and then tries to present the same as it never happened I get a bit sore.

The fact of the matter is as I said previously without knowing the exact details of the test, the wiring, the service, and everything else related to the issue we can do nothing but guess!!

 

There is also experience and insight, which tend to make guesses not random actions. A "loose neutral" will allow some lights to dim but raise the voltage in other circuits. And that loose neutral also gives other symptoms that have not been mentioned. A faulty breaker also causes problems but seldom of such an intermittent nature. A loose wire at the meter or the feed line will cause a problem that is more constant. also, guesses qualified as being guesses are not pronouncements of what the problem is.
Tomorrow I will be solving the problem of several outlets not working and it not being a breaker that tripped. The last one like that was a GFCI for an outside outlet that also fed other loads that did not require GFCI protection. I have seen that in several locations. The particular GFCI was hidden behind a curtain next to the doorway, in a rental property.

 

Reread #1, #4 where it says all lights, all circuits, all motors. Also notice the part where the power company said "you would notice other lights getting brighter"... not citing that their testing did not show a neutral issue.

If you have all lights, refrigerator, space heaters, and other such devices all on one breaker and it doesn't trip you may seriously want to consider finding another electrician.

I'm not going to argue, but sometimes "experience and insight" get in the way of actual problem solving. I know 30 year experience mechanics who do nothing but change parts until the problem goes away.

 

One last comment and I'm done... I meant to leave this topic alone.

"Experience and insight" should tell you to determine exactly which breakers the affected circuits are on from the beginning and draw any relationships you can from that. I'm not saying my methods are perfect, but they are a lot better than constantly exclaiming that it can't be a neutral issue without measured proof of the matter.

I'll admit my gut says it's not, but it also says I'm hungry when I shouldn't be eating also.

 

Insight tells where to look first, experience tells you not to jump to a conclusion until the actual problem is found and verified. I have no patience at all with parts changers who typically are actually clueless. Insight is how one uses the information gained in the first look, so that the second place look is more useful. That is vastly better than deciding "it was this part" because that was what it was last time. Experience motivates to verify first.

 

Insight tells where to look first, experience tells you not to jump to a conclusion until the actual problem is found and verified. I have no patience at all with parts changers who typically are actually clueless. Insight is how one uses the information gained in the first look, so that the second place look is more useful. That is vastly better than deciding "it was this part" because that was what it was last time. Experience motivates to verify first.

Off-topic, so only a Parthian shot:

There are two things to keep in mind when thinking about magic…

1. Arthur Clarke said:

Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
​

which is a brilliant insight but in my hubris I will correct him. I think he had the right idea but from the wrong direction. My version of this venerable quote goes:

Sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
​

This (tongue in cheek) reformulation is meant to point out the nature of “magic”* which has always been a little technology and a lot of misdirection. Those who knew how to arrange the physical bits around them into effective machines and compounds—and figured out that adding some show business could earn them a living invented being “magicians”.

*or, if you are a stalwart magician it could be a complaint about how your best work is met by the hoi polloi.

2. Being a Wizard is just a matter of knowing where to look.

Wizardry arose in the Alchemy days. Once magicians started keeping and exchanging notes, the principles underlying the interactions of things in the physical world started to be revealed to them at various levels of abstraction. Alchemy, despite popular cultural treatments was, by and large, a serious endeavor that was the precursor to science. Prominent early scientists, like Newton, also pursued alchemy. They didn’t call themselves “scientists” rather “natural philosophers”.

In the modern world, the appellation Wizard is bestowed upon a person who, upon encountering a technical problem which has been baffling lesser experts immediately finds its cause and quickly its solution.

My experience of being called a wizard repeatedly over my career(s) is that it is because I know what must be present in this or that bit of technology troubleshooting is just a matter of figuring out where that thing is in the case at hand.

The dark secret is that this only works when either the problem is trivial or competent people have exhausted the search for the answer, and have kept notes. The grunt work process of elimination sets the stage for the wizard to follow the advice (more or less) of Sherlock Holmes when he said:

when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth*
​

*In fact, this is a logical fallacy, but taken with less rigor, one might say “poetically”, it informs the process of wizadry

 

At this point there has been no new information from the OP. Everyone has shared thoughts an experiences. Somewhere in this thread the answer has been shared, but until we hear the results it is pointless to discuss it further.

 

It seems that the reasonable causes have been presented, along with the possible but not so likely causes. So now it would be a very educational event for the TS to appear and explain what was found.
The service visit this morning to solve the mystery of several "dead" outlets was resolved by resetting a GFCI not near, but across the room, from the dead outlets. This was a kitchen with a total of FOUR GFCI outlets installed. The guilty one was the farthest from the dead string of outlets, which had no external hint that they were GFCI protected.

 

It's Common to use GFI outlets in Kitchen, if outlets are looped off a GFI version, they are all normal outlets and the master GFI outlet detects for all.

 

It's Common to use GFI outlets in Kitchen, if outlets are looped off a GFI version, they are all normal outlets and the master GFI outlet detects for all.

And absolutely no hint is provided to indicate that the GFCI has tripped. Given the present low price, it makes sense to have a separate device for each location.
And it would have made sense to require that ALL of the GFCI devices include an indicator to show their condition, either on or tripped would be OK. The ones I met this morning did not even have a different button position to indicate the status.

 

And it would have made sense to require that ALL of the GFCI devices include an indicator to show their condition

Mine have a green LED that indicates status is good. You must have the kind that the reset button pops out when tripped.

 

It seems that the reasonable causes have been presented, along with the possible but not so likely causes. So now it would be a very educational event for the TS to appear and explain what was found.
The service visit this morning to solve the mystery of several "dead" outlets was resolved by resetting a GFCI not near, but across the room, from the dead outlets. This was a kitchen with a total of FOUR GFCI outlets installed. The guilty one was the farthest from the dead string of outlets, which had no external hint that they were GFCI protected.

GFCI protected outlets should be marked, and labels for that and for “no equipment ground”* are always included. But, in a situation like a kitchen where there are fewer GFCIs than receptacles, and several outlets are “dead” the GFCIs would be my first check.

*Installing a GFCI in a box with no ground is a good way to get a 3 pin outlet. But in those cases the ground is not the safety ground it is supposed to be, so they have to be labeled. In our 1941 house, I was installing GFCIs for this purpose and very strangely the tester showed a properly wired outlet with ground.

It turns out all the outlets are wired with BX (metallic armored) cable and the BX is bonded to earth. The installation of the fittings was done very well, and so the box is grouneed. The GFCI has a tab under the bottom mounting screw to made an electrical connection to the box, which is internally connected to the outlet ground.

So we ended up with legitimate grounded outlets, and I could have just put standard receptacles instead of the considerably more costly GFCIs. Still, in some places, I feel better with the GFCIs (for example in the dining room where warming trays are often plugged).