I'm helping my mother-in-law with an electric problem in her home. There are nine light switches in the master bath controlling ceiling lights and fans. They are all controlled by a single 15 amp circuit (part of a double-breaker).
Recently, at the same time, all the lights/fans failed to turn on. I first checked the breaker, it was not flipped. Next I attached a tester to the hot line out of the breaker, it's okay -- turns on and off depending on the position of the breaker switch. All the other breakers test correctly as well.
I removed two of the bulbs from problem ceiling fixtures and tested them in a table lamp plugged into a bathroom outlet and both bulbs worked fine.
Next, I removed the switches from the walls (with the breaker off), removed the wires, and tested them for continuity -- all were fine. With the power back on, I identified which wires were the hot lines and which were the loads (I tested with the ground wire not the neutral). After re-attaching the switches, I tested to make sure that the load sides were dead when switched off and hot when switched on, and they were - almost. My tester is not digital but has a needle. When switched off all the load sides showed a very small amount of voltage going through.
With all the switches re-connected but still hanging out of the walls, I discovered with the circuit power on, if any one of the nine switches is turned on, all the other switches which are turned off, will show 110 volts passing through to the load side. If all nine switches are turned off, none will have power going through the load side.
I'm stumped. I can see that if one light fixture died out, it might effect the others on the same switch. But I can't figure why all the fixtures would not work on that circuit when the switches seem to check out fine.
Thank you for any help.
Marty
Recently, at the same time, all the lights/fans failed to turn on. I first checked the breaker, it was not flipped. Next I attached a tester to the hot line out of the breaker, it's okay -- turns on and off depending on the position of the breaker switch. All the other breakers test correctly as well.
I removed two of the bulbs from problem ceiling fixtures and tested them in a table lamp plugged into a bathroom outlet and both bulbs worked fine.
Next, I removed the switches from the walls (with the breaker off), removed the wires, and tested them for continuity -- all were fine. With the power back on, I identified which wires were the hot lines and which were the loads (I tested with the ground wire not the neutral). After re-attaching the switches, I tested to make sure that the load sides were dead when switched off and hot when switched on, and they were - almost. My tester is not digital but has a needle. When switched off all the load sides showed a very small amount of voltage going through.
With all the switches re-connected but still hanging out of the walls, I discovered with the circuit power on, if any one of the nine switches is turned on, all the other switches which are turned off, will show 110 volts passing through to the load side. If all nine switches are turned off, none will have power going through the load side.
I'm stumped. I can see that if one light fixture died out, it might effect the others on the same switch. But I can't figure why all the fixtures would not work on that circuit when the switches seem to check out fine.
Thank you for any help.
Marty