A circuit in my house has stopped working. I have the breaker turned off until I can resolve the problem. The circuit consists of the following:
- 5 electrical outlets
- a single light fixture controlled by a single switch
- two light fixtures controlled by a single switch
- a single light fixture controlled by two 3-way switches (hallway)
Additional background: the house was built in 2001. All outlets, switches and fixtures appear to be from the original construction. We are the third owners (since 2005). No problems on the circuit until it inexplicably stopped working.
With a plug in circuit tester and a digital multimeter, these are my observations:
- in any of the outlets, with all light fixtures switched off, the tester shows "correct" however the middle amber light is half power and flickering, while the right amber light is full power and steady
- with any one or more light fixtures switched on, the tester changes to show "hot/grd reverse" with both the left red light and right amber light glowing full power and steady
- a multimeter at an outlet connected to hot and neutral with all light fixtures switched off reads around 80 volts. Hot to ground reads 124 volts.
- the lamp base in a light fixture reads 0 volts on the multimeter switched off
- with the switches on, this now changes the multimeter readings. Hot to neutral is 0, and hot to ground is around 120 volts. Neutral to ground is around 100 volts. The fixture lamp base reads 20 volts. This last point is from memory. I will reconfirm in daylight.
So far I have taken a new single pole, single throw switch, replaced one existing switch, then tested with no change, and cascaded the removed switch to the other installed switch. Did this to the 3-way switches as well, and to the 3 used outlets out of the 5. Ran out of daylight to get to the other two unused outlets, and highly suspect I won't find anything different once I get to them. In all cases, changed from a backstab installation to screw. Any wiring and connections I see as I open each box appears normal, and connections seem to be tightly wound into the wire nuts.
At a loss as to where to try next once those last two outlets are switched out. I suspect I don't need to look at the fixture connections as one of the failure modes still exist with all light fixtures switched off.
- 5 electrical outlets
- a single light fixture controlled by a single switch
- two light fixtures controlled by a single switch
- a single light fixture controlled by two 3-way switches (hallway)
Additional background: the house was built in 2001. All outlets, switches and fixtures appear to be from the original construction. We are the third owners (since 2005). No problems on the circuit until it inexplicably stopped working.
With a plug in circuit tester and a digital multimeter, these are my observations:
- in any of the outlets, with all light fixtures switched off, the tester shows "correct" however the middle amber light is half power and flickering, while the right amber light is full power and steady
- with any one or more light fixtures switched on, the tester changes to show "hot/grd reverse" with both the left red light and right amber light glowing full power and steady
- a multimeter at an outlet connected to hot and neutral with all light fixtures switched off reads around 80 volts. Hot to ground reads 124 volts.
- the lamp base in a light fixture reads 0 volts on the multimeter switched off
- with the switches on, this now changes the multimeter readings. Hot to neutral is 0, and hot to ground is around 120 volts. Neutral to ground is around 100 volts. The fixture lamp base reads 20 volts. This last point is from memory. I will reconfirm in daylight.
So far I have taken a new single pole, single throw switch, replaced one existing switch, then tested with no change, and cascaded the removed switch to the other installed switch. Did this to the 3-way switches as well, and to the 3 used outlets out of the 5. Ran out of daylight to get to the other two unused outlets, and highly suspect I won't find anything different once I get to them. In all cases, changed from a backstab installation to screw. Any wiring and connections I see as I open each box appears normal, and connections seem to be tightly wound into the wire nuts.
At a loss as to where to try next once those last two outlets are switched out. I suspect I don't need to look at the fixture connections as one of the failure modes still exist with all light fixtures switched off.