Ceiling fan light not working

5 years ago

I’m stumped...and I know I’m probably missing something dumb. My ceiling fan light stopped working. I originally thought it was the wireless controller so I replaced that (receiver connected to fan). I should have started here but when that didn’t work, I got the voltmeter out and started tracing things. I get 120 volts at the socket. Bent up center tab and still didn’t work. With nothing to lose, I took apart the socket so now I have the socket part and the tab at the bottom separate. I confirmed good voltage again, screwed the light into the socket part and touched the tab to the bottom of the light and still nothing. I’ve tried LED and incandescent bulbs (all verified good in another light) and nothing.

What else should I check? What else does a light bulb need to light other than 120v running through it?

Thanks in advance for your help!

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Comments (3)

HU-178658043
5 years ago
If there's a poor connection in the circuit, you can get a 120v reading with a tester but trying to pull enough current to light the bulb will send it to zero.
Brad Kirby thanked HU-178658043
mtvhike
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Was it a real voltmeter, with wire probes? If so, get a light socket like this and put an incandescent bulb in it and test again. Also test between the center and the threaded part and also between each wire and some external ground.
Brad Kirby thanked mtvhike
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Brad Kirby
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks for the responses. Unfortunately my multimeter only measures DC amps and not AC so I can‘t measure the current. I did see that the volts drop to near zero when the power is on with the lightbulb in place but I don’t know what’s normal.

I guess my next step will be to take out the wireless controller and wire the light/fan directly to rule that out. I suppose it’s possible i got a bad one. Is there anything else between the power source and the light (remember I took out the switch) inside the fan that could be the issue?