REALLY weird electical problem
Russell Alexander
The outlets in my bedroom are wired to their own circuit breaker. I usually
keep the electric heater and answering machine plugged in, and that's it.
Everything worked fine until my wife plugged in some Xmas lights. Suddenly,
I was only getting 80 volts (!) on one outlet, and nothing on the outlet
connecting to it.
After tracing it back, I replaced the circuit breaker (20 amp) and both
outlets. Worked fine for a few hours, now it's back to 80 volts again!
Now, shouldn't it either not work at all or work at 120V? I'm completely
stumped. Any suggestions would be most welcome.
- Russell Alexander
John Coggins
plugged in and check [thoroughly] for good snug unoxidized
connections. If it's the first outlet on the run, check a second
time. Not just the screws at the receptacle but also the connections
inside the wirenuts.
D. Eaton
Russell Alexander <rea...@erols.com> wrote in message
news:82s03n$fn7$1...@autumn.news.rcn.net...
Daniel Hicks
>
> Hi,
>
> The outlets in my bedroom are wired to their own circuit breaker. I usually
> Everything worked fine until my wife plugged in some Xmas lights. Suddenly,
> I was only getting 80 volts (!) on one outlet, and nothing on the outlet
> connecting to it.
>
> After tracing it back, I replaced the circuit breaker (20 amp) and both
> outlets. Worked fine for a few hours, now it's back to 80 volts again!
> Now, shouldn't it either not work at all or work at 120V? I'm completely
> stumped. Any suggestions would be most welcome.
Sounds like a normal bad connection to me. I'd suspect the connections
inside one of the outlets.
Sleepy
<rea...@erols.com> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>The outlets in my bedroom are wired to their own circuit breaker. I usually
>keep the electric heater and answering machine plugged in, and that's it.
>Everything worked fine until my wife plugged in some Xmas lights. Suddenly,
>I was only getting 80 volts (!) on one outlet, and nothing on the outlet
>connecting to it.
>
>After tracing it back, I replaced the circuit breaker (20 amp) and both
>outlets. Worked fine for a few hours, now it's back to 80 volts again!
>Now, shouldn't it either not work at all or work at 120V? I'm completely
>stumped. Any suggestions would be most welcome.
You've got a poor connection or damaged wire somewhere. You'll see
120 voltsif there is no load. If you put a load on it, the extra
resistance upstream somewhere will cause a voltage drop.
-Chris
John
>>
>> The outlets in my bedroom are wired to their own circuit breaker.
I usually
>> keep the electric heater and answering machine plugged in, and
that's it.
>> Everything worked fine until my wife plugged in some Xmas lights.
Suddenly,
>> I was only getting 80 volts (!) on one outlet, and nothing on the
outlet
>> connecting to it.
>>
>> After tracing it back, I replaced the circuit breaker (20 amp) and
both
>> outlets. Worked fine for a few hours, now it's back to 80 volts
again!
>> Now, shouldn't it either not work at all or work at 120V? I'm
completely
>> stumped. Any suggestions would be most welcome.
Who did the wiring? Have you verified the wiring is correct? It
sounds a lot like you have some devices in series (i.e....the heater
and the Christmas lights). If they were all in parallel, as is
normal, you wouldn't read lower than nominal no matter how heavily you
loaded the circuit (within normal limits). JG
Russell Alexander
Thanks for all the replies. As of now, there is nothing plugged into either
of the outlets. If I remove the wires from the first outlet in the series,
and test the wire, it reads 56 volts when I attach a meter to the black &
white wires. The circuit box in the basement reads 123 when I test the the
hot strip and the circuit breaker itself, so I'm getting the right voltage
from there.
When I meter the black wire and the metal box that the outlet screws into, I
get 80 volts. When I test the white wire and the box, I get 24 volts. Does
this indicate that the box itself, which I believe has the ground wire
attached to it, is causing the problem? Before I pull down the wood
paneling and remove it, I would appreciate your opinions.
- Russ
Speedy Jim
Speedy Jim
Before you tear the paneling down...there may be another splice in the
cable somewhere (hidden).
The readings between White and Black show an open.
If it's important to know whether it's the White or Black,
connect a long wire to one meter lead and attach it to a cold water
pipe.
If you then read 123 V on the Black wire, that wire is OK.
Should read 0V on the White wire.
Can you physically trace the route of this cable?
Jim
Russell Alexander
Yes, I can trace the wire almost completely except for about two feet where
it goes up into the bedroom, which is a converted porch attached to the
house. I don't think (emphasize "think") that there's a tear in the wire,
and there definitely isn't a splice in the cable. It's the weirdest thing;
it worked fine for years and now it suddenly messes up like this! Nothing,
aside from my wife plugging in those damn Xmas lights (which she immediately
unplugged) changed as far as load is concerned. I have to get to work now,
but eary tomorrow I'll check the black and white seperately at the fuse box,
as you suggest.
Thanks for the response!
- Russ
Speedy Jim <vo...@raex.com> wrote in message news:3852B7...@raex.com...
John Coggins
pulled too hard; someone drove a nail thru it. Whatever.
One. Get a cheap plug-in outlet tester and check the suspect
receptacle for connections. Looks good? Okay but this isn't
conclusive because testers draw too little current.
Two. Get a good heavy drop cord; plug it into a known good outlet
elsewhere -- one on another circuit but on the SAME SIDE of the
panelboard. (Test this outlet to be sure the polarity is right!! If
you don't know what this means stop here. Do nothing else. Call an
electrician.) Carry the receptacle end of the cord to the circuit in
question and measure voltage from the suspect Hot to the drop-cord
Neutral. If it's 120V, the Hot may be okay but you really can't be
sure without putting load on it.
Three. (Optional! Your call) Connect a load between the suspect hot
and the drop-cord neutral. A 120V bulb with clip-on leads, maybe. It
should work and measure 120V across it. Otherwise, a bad hot
conductor somewhere in the run. Dangerous. It may overheat even
under a low load.
Four. Repeat Two but this time check the drop cord neutral against
the one that's suspect. If it's 120V, the Neutral may be okay but
you really can't be sure without putting load on it.
Five. (Optional! Your call) Repeat the load test in Three using the
hot at the outlet and the neutral in the drop cord. It should work
and have 120V across it. Otherwise dangerous.
One of these steps will find a problem -- if there is one.
Hamm4fun
Possibly replacing the outlet again, but mainly looking for bad connections and
oxidized wires.
Daniel Hicks
the lights. The motion of plugging in the lights distrubed a wire and
loosened it.
Russell Alexander
Thanks to all those who responded, it's very much appreciated. Turns out
that the common was not securely attached to the breaker box, although it
seemed to be (I had to physically pull on it, right by the bar, to realize
it was WAY too loose. The screw was fairly tight, but not enough.)
Snugged it all down, and badda bing badda boom, works fine. Thanks again
for helping me trace it all down.
- Russ
John Coggins
neutral will sure cause a headache.
But as I read your posts, you were measuring low voltage on a branch
circuit that had NO load on it. None. Unless you have 3-wire (2
hots and a common neutral) wiring, what you described just isn't
possible.
If voltage to ground in the service panel was 120V then the voltage
to ground at the outlet will also be 120V. No maybes. No exceptions.
Zero load says no voltage drop between.