Having a strange problem on one of the outlets in a house I'm doing some work in. I'm only getting 60 volts on the multimeter across the two terminals. I'm getting 120 everywhere else.

The problem is on one outlet and on the light fixture in the closet. The breaker for the circuit also controls other outlets in the room and they are all fine.

Anyone have any ideas. I'm somewhat losts has how I'm getting 60volts out of a 120volt single phase system.

My girlfriends mom is selling the house, so I'm just going to put a cover up to make it look like there isn't supposed to be a light in the closet and hope no one checks the outlet that isn't working right.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone has any ideas on the subject.

7/30/2005 3:53:52 PM

that's mighty strange

[Edited on July 30, 2005 at 4:45 PM. Reason : *]

7/30/2005 4:43:20 PM

The neutral doesn't have a waveform anyway

7/30/2005 4:44:07 PM

yeah, I just googled to check that

I dunno, that seems mighty strange

7/30/2005 4:46:35 PM

yeah, its strange as hell. don't feel so bad now not being able to figure it out. I can think of one possibility, but it doesn't make sense. the house is being sold anyway, so I'll let someone else worry about it.

if anyone knows of a good explanation, i'd like to hear it, since mine is stupid.

all i can think of is two equal loads on the cicuirt, unknown to me or anyone here. And the switch is parallel to one of those loads. That would cause a 60v potential across the outlet. But, it doesn't make any sense as far as this house goes.

7/30/2005 9:13:42 PM

sounds like a fire hazard or something

just to see maybe put a space heater on it and see what sort of voltage drop you read across it

7/30/2005 9:15:51 PM

i have no idea about y it would be doing that. but if it is just one outlet on the circuit that is like that, then try replacing that one outlet. They are like $1 at lowes.

7/30/2005 9:52:20 PM

Some systems will tie neutral to ground or use ground for neutral. Maybe the ground is bad in a hot-ground setup. Are you checking the actual wires in the box or are you just sticking your probe in the slot. Can you trace where the wire comes from.

The hot could be bad and you could be picking up transient (sp) voltage as well, although I've never seen that with 60V, but I have seen 20V.

[Edited on July 30, 2005 at 10:29 PM. Reason : are any wires corroded or does the house use old aluminum wires?]

7/30/2005 10:22:09 PM

Quote :

"Some systems will tie neutral to ground or use ground for neutral."

All residential systems do this out at the local transformer

7/30/2005 11:41:53 PM

It must be wired in series with something else (the light maybe?). That would give you 120/2 V.

7/31/2005 12:06:55 AM

A few more details about whats going on.

In the breaker box, its a 15amp breaker. The breaker controls the ceiling lights in the Living Room, Kitchen, and dining room, and also controls the outlets in the 3rd bedroom/office. It also controls a a couple of the outlets in the living room.

In the office, the light fixture in the closet and the outlet on the same wall as the closet are both registering 58 volts across. The fixture in the closet isn't installed right now, so its a pair of wires sticking out of the ceiling there. All the other outlets in the house seem to be fine.

Quote :

"The hot could be bad and you could be picking up transient (sp) voltage as well, although I've never seen that with 60V, but I have seen 20V."

That seems to make sense with whats going on so far. I have some lamp cord hooked up to the wires coming form the ceiling to make it easier for me to test things. When I hooked up the wire directly to a standard light bulb there isn't any glow at all. Maybe there is some sort of voltage there for whatever reason, but no current behind it.


I really appreciate all the help I've gotten so far. I think the wire is copper, I'll check tomorrow though when there is some light in here. It is a pretty old New England house. Another week and I'll never have to worry about it again though.

7/31/2005 1:28:02 AM