Quite not trapping related,have own house 15 plus years. Had lite switch go put long ago an couple outlets, would like try figgure out someday, how fix, came home work an lites were on in living room, i thought my housecat did it but not an now got unscrew bulbs, to turn lite off, anyone know how lite switch could fail inside an turn on? That should be safe to leave like that until figgure out how replace ?

I'm no expert but what I think it might be is either a short in the wires or at the fixture or the switch is faulty. Replacing the switch isn't hard but 1st you need to figure out if there's a short.

It has to be the switch , as turn off an on an lites are on except for slight dim when flick switch, the switch was turn off when left to work an when cr home the lites are on, so I unscrew bulbs, is that safe ? How could a faulty lite switch that turn off, just turn on inside ?

i'd find the breaker that circuit is on and pull that if their on the same circuit and no power at the outlets but the light is on you may have bigger problems you
ll have to pull the power to drop the light and check wires anyway

First question. Do you know how to use a multi meter ? If so the detection part is very simple. Actually you don't need a meter to determine if it is the switch. So another question is can the same lights be turned on by another switch say on the other side of the room ? If not then it gets really simple. If they can it is a three way switch and will be more complicated. If they can only be turned on and off by that switch do the following. Find the breaker to the lights and turn it off. Once you have the power off take the cover off the switch. Remove the top and bottom screws holding the switch into the box and pull the switch out where you can get to the screws on the side of the switch. There will also be a ground usually a bare copper wire attached to it. In any case disconnect either the top or bottom wire on the side of the switch it makes no difference which one. Wrap the bare end in electrical tape and make sure it can't touch anything. Turn the breaker back on. If the lights do not come on then the switch is bad. Turn the breaker back off. Go and get a single throw light switch. Lowes and home depot have them for about 88 cents or so. No need to spend a fortune on a light switch. Upon return replace the switch wire for wire just like the bad one. Turn on breaker verify that it works. Turn off breaker install it back in the box replace the cover and turn breaker back on. You are now part electrician a hero for a few minutes and have corrected the problem. The first part to find out if it is the switch will take about 5 minutes or so and replacing it will take about the same amount of time. Side note. Use a flat blade screw driver on the screws. What looks like a phillips is actually a square tip which is used in the electrical world. Hope this helps.

How many lights are there that are not working? How many switches are there that operate the same light(s)?

About the outlets- Find all the ones that are not working. Pull the plate off and pull the outlet out. If there are only two wires on it then it is the last one. Go to the other end and go back one outlet. Most likely you will find a loose wire there. Reconnect that wire and you should be good to go.

In reading your description, you say that the light and a couple outlets are not working.Sounds like a wire is loose,probably in a wirenut.
If a wire is loose coming from the breaker to the light, then the light will not work, a heavy vibration will sometimes let them make good contact and they work until the next vibration.
I would look at the first outlet that is between the breakers and the light that is not working, usually power is pulled from the breaker box to the outlets and they tap out of an outlet to run lights.If the wire is loose at one of the outlets before the light switch it will not have power.

Good description, turkn8rtrapper.

A lot of time, a supply wire from the panel will come to a light switch box first, tie to the switch, then run to the nearby outlets. In the light switch box, that incoming supply is either wrapped up in a wire nut or looped under the hot screw on the switch. As suggested above, the wire nut is suspect.

If a breaker trips, it usually has to be pushed all the way to the 'Off' position to reset properly, then back to the 'On' position.

If your breaker didn't go out and/or resetting the breaker doesn't do it, I'd suggest getting help from someone familiar or a pro.

No I turn lite switch off, an when came back from work, the lites were on but switch off, of course, like I left it before work, so I unscrew lite bulbs to get lite off as turn switch does nothing but a slight dim for split second. Can a lite switch fail when off an lites turn on byself? Is what I talking about need immediate look at as could start electric fire?

Since you know nothing about electrical wiring I would call a electrician. A few bucks may save your thousands.
If you feel lucky shut down the power and replace the switch. If that doesn't solve the problem then you need that electrician.

Yep..I once knew a guy who was working on electrical...So he turned off the power and thought everthing was off..However there was some sort of back feed of power to what ever it was that he was working on..so he got shocked..

How old is the house and wiring? Is it possible that you have aluminum wire and not copper. If aluminum wire it corrodes the connections at outlets and switches. It would need to have special connectors used for aluminum wire. I would check by shutting off the breaker and look at the wire. Aluminum wire connections if not corrected can cause a fire.

We may know the same guy Chama

Yep..Once I was on a industrial worksite..the task was to flush 24" pipe...so there was a 440 volt pump mounted on a skid..however the pump was not installed for a plug..so this guy gets a screwdriver and is exposing everything..I asked him do you know what your doing?..Cause I sure don't..So he says you can't go wrong just hook all the color wires to each other..There are a few real electricans working 50 feet away..I say maybe you better have them look at it...Nope...So he tells me to go turn on the breaker..I know just enough about that..lol...anyways I turn on the breaker and ..POW..POW...a flash of light and smoke..and a heck of a bang...man-o-live...what a deal..

I like it when you open up the panel on something and every wire is the same color and nothing has any marks. Wiring diagram what's that?

Taking the bulb out only turns the light off it doesn't remove electricity from the wires so if there is a wires problem taking the bulb out doesn't make it go away it just makes it dark in that room so no that isn't the safest thing to do.

You could have a bad switch but I doubt it. If the light worked and now it don't its most likely a loose wire. Most likely the white one.

Check for it being loose on that switch, check it on the other switch that runs that light if there is one, check it at the light itself, and check all the white wires in the breaker box.

If that all checks out then you can try replacing the switch, thats easy enough, but at that point Im guessing you'll have to change the light fixture itself.

I look an see if can see white wire an if copped. I think so

I check the switch an copper wires, all is tight an no loose wires, likely just a switch an turn main breaker off an replace? Is there any danger of font replace of fire ? I am thinking it had be switch but I dont know , I don't think a problem of a fire ?

Yep...Coonman220 If you end up getting shocked..and you feel alright..you still need to go to the doctor..something about electricity and your heart..They told us that in a safety class..Maybe you already know that from your job..

Yes I know, years ago at work I pick a short out lite stand up an a skill saw plug into it an i was ground, I couldn't hardly let go