The lights in my veranda have stopped, where do I start?

Step one, the boring checks that solve most of them

Start where the power comes from. A tripped RCD in the consumer unit, a switched fused spur turned off during other work, or an outdoor socket that has tripped after rain accounts for a surprising share of dead lighting. If the veranda shares a circuit with an outdoor socket or a garden supply, check that circuit rather than the lights. Reset a tripped breaker once, and if it trips again immediately, stop and call an electrician, because that is a fault reporting itself.

1. 1Check the consumer unit for a tripped breaker or RCD.
2. 2Confirm any fused spur or isolator serving the veranda is on.
3. 3Check whether other outdoor circuits are affected too.
4. 4Reset once only, and stop if it trips again.

Step two, the control side

Most integrated lighting is operated by a handset or a wall mounted controller, and handsets are the single most common culprit. Batteries fade gradually, so the range shrinks before the handset dies entirely, which is why people find it works standing under the beam but not from the kitchen door. If a system has multiple channels, check you have not simply changed channel, and if the handset has lost its pairing, the pairing procedure varies by system so it is worth finding the original documentation.

• Replace the handset batteries before assuming anything else
• Test from directly beneath the structure to rule out range
• Check the channel selection on multi channel handsets
• Try any hardwired wall switch to bypass the remote entirely

Step three, one section out or all of them

This is the question that splits the diagnosis. If every light is dead, the supply, the driver or the controller is responsible. If one run is dead and the rest are fine, the fault is in that run: a connector that has admitted water, a damaged section of strip or a break at a corner where the strip turns. Outdoor connectors are the usual weak point, because a joint that was fine indoors behaves very differently after a few winters of driving rain.

All out points upstream, at supply, control or driver. One section out points downstream, at a connector, joint or strip run.

Flickering, dimming and colour change

Symptoms other than complete failure are informative. LED strip that has gone noticeably dimmer along its length usually means voltage drop on a long run rather than a failing strip. Flickering across every light generally points at the driver. A section that has drifted warmer or cooler in colour than its neighbours is a sign of ageing or heat stress in that run, and mixing a new strip with old is why replacements are usually done a full run at a time rather than in patches.

All lights flicker together

suspect the driver or supply

One run fades along its length

suspect voltage drop on a long run

One section a different colour

that run has aged or overheated

Lights work then cut out after minutes

suspect driver overheating

What to leave to an electrician

Changing batteries and resetting a breaker are owner jobs. Anything beyond that is not. Drivers, transformers and outdoor wiring are electrical work in an outdoor environment, and the fact that the strip runs at low voltage does not make the supply side of the driver harmless. Do not open a driver housing, do not splice a strip with connectors intended for indoor use, and do not run a repair from an extension lead as a temporary measure.

• Do not open a driver or transformer housing
• Do not repair outdoor strip with indoor connectors
• Do not repeatedly reset a breaker that trips again
• Do not leave an outdoor joint taped rather than properly sealed