Need some electrical help (non-working outlets/lights)

[biosurfer1]

I recently had my house painted and in preparation, took down some exterior floodlights since I was going to replace them with LED.

I hooked up the light just outside our spare bedroom and when I hit the switch, I heard a quick buzzing and quickly turned the switch off. I took down the light to make sure everything was wired correctly and while it was, I did see that there was a nick in one of the wires that made contact with a mounting bracket and obviously shorted out as there were some burnt wire char marks.

I fixed the nicked wire and went to the breaker and saw one was tripped, so I reset the breaker and went back to the light switch and nothing this time. I thought maybe I burnt out the light so I tried the old light (which still worked) and still nothing.

Then while checking things I noticed that none of the outlets or the lights in that room work, and the light and exhaust fan in the adjoining bathroom were also out, however the outlets in the bathroom are working.

I tried resetting the breaker again but that didnt work. I am assuming that there is something wrong with the circuit for that area of the house, and the outlets in the bathroom are on a separate GFCI circuit which is why they are still working.

I'm a handy guy but not an electrician, but I thought I would check with the collective wisdom here to see if there anything else I can check before calling out an electrician?

One odd thing I noticed is there are actually two switches in the box going to the outside light. One to the floodlight that burnt, and a second one to a smaller decorative light outside too. The decorative light will not turn on either now, however it is hooked up to an electronic timer instead of a rocker switch, and the electronic timer is still showing the time, but I am not sure if that timer has a small built in battery or not.

Any thoughts?

[908/930]

Do you have a voltmeter? I think you will need to check for 120v at the connections at the breaker and work your way to the outlets and light switch whatever is next in line, if one was slightly loose it likely arced and no longer making contact. If the wire was joined going through the outlets check the tab that runs between the screws, if it was just plugged into the back change it to the screws.

[Scott Douglas]

With the light and exhaust fan in the other room not working I'd bet there's a junction box that is having a problem.
I don't mess with electrical stuff much. Don't care to be 'bitten' by them there lil' electrons. I have learned that the best thing you can do is shut off the main power and then double check to make sure the circuit you're messing with is dead with a VOM.

[biosurfer1]

I'm the same way Scott...I used to work on low voltage controls and got bit by a 277V lighting circuit and thats not something I ever want to happen again.

Anyways, thanks for the help guys, that exactly what it was. Found a poor wire nut in a junction box in the attic. Fixed that, reset the breaker and viola, everything back to normal!

I'm going to check all of the junction boxes just to make sure. The house was built in 1997 and I dont know if anyone has ever been in the box since, so very weird all it took was a short to mess things up.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

shut off the main power and then double check to make sure the circuit you're messing with is dead with a VOM.

use one of these. test on known live circuit first to see how sensitive it is.

[stevej37]

I just went through the same thing about a month ago. In my case it was a wire that was connected to the buss bar in the breaker box had come partially loose.
According to the electrician it had arced over and over until the wire heated up enough to melt and took a couple other wires with it.
He said it is common to happen....the wires on the buss bar need to be re-tightened every year or so.
He flipped all the breakers off and replaced the burnt wires. Tightened all of them down good and said it was fine....just remember to check them.

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/off-topic-discussions/1146481-electrical-fun-home.html

[917_Langheck]

Originally Posted by john70t

use one of these. test on known live circuit first to see how sensitive it is.

I call my yellow Klein the "death meter" and use it any time I have to chase a circuit and ensure it's not active at the switch or box. 20$ lifesaver.

[billybek]

Is it possible that there is a gfi at the first box in the circuit?
May just need a reset.