He called me in full CYA mode blaming the genny - I was a couple of states away at another gig. The genny then magically decided to send way too much voltage to about half of the small sound and lighting rig the moment he threw the switch to energize the system. The crew leader (not an employee and never to work for me again) metered the genny as one of my employees watched. It could be that the outlet itself went bad.I'm having a little bit of difficulty achieving that gleam of understanding in the eyes of my employees in reference to how a grand worth of damage occurred in 2 seconds at a genny powered gig recently. If after this the Neutral line still seems to be fine, though you have identified the break, try replacing the outlet. Again, near zero resistance means the line is okay, 1 or some much higher number means that the Neutral line is bad. Now walk back to the prior outlet box and test continuity/resistance from the neutral line you are diagnosing to the ground line in the same wire. To rule out the neutral line, you can temporarily connect from the latter outlet box, the neutral line from the lead to the ground. Once you have identified where the circuit is open, figure out if it is the line or the outlet loading it at the prior outlet box. That means that effectively the Neutral wire that you have just tested is open from that junction to the prior receptacle's load ( or to the neutral bar if this is the first outlet you have tested). If you happen to get 1 or some noticeably higher number then that effectively means Infinite Resistance or that the Neutral and Ground are in no way continuous. Assuming your breaker box was installed correctly, Ground and Neutral should always have near zero resistance as the Neutral and Ground bars at the breaker box should be connected. You should get a near zero reading meaning No Resistance. Starting at the first outlet, set your voltimeter to a low Resistance setting and test the neutral from the lead to the ground wire. To test continuity of the lines you do not need power, just a voltimeter tool so you can shut off the circuit. If you do find the issue, it would be worth thinking about if it is likely to occur elsewhere and if so, how you should deal with that (replace all the wiring, redo connections in junction boxes, etc.)Īs others have mentioned, you need to test continuity of every neutral line from the box to the end of the circuit, and then once you have ruled a bad line out, then you should start checking the outlets if they are all carrying the load of the one ahead of it. There comes a point too where it becomes easier to just run a new wire versus trying to find the exact fault location. If that fails you might have to open up the wall to get a better idea of what's the problem.Īlso inspect all visible wires for nicks, oxidation or other damage. A flexible scope might help you look in stud cavities. Once you have this, use the cable tracer to look for hidden boxes and other fun stuff. You should eventually find the two points where the fault exists between. With each section of wiring (ie: junction box to next junction box), test continuity of the cable. If you've 100% ruled out all known junction boxes then you need to narrow down the problematic section of cable and go hunting between with a cable tracer. Hidden junction boxes do exist but it could also be a failure along the cable. It sounds like you have a pretty good handle of the problem. :(Īm I missing something? Maybe a junction box somewhere? So again open neutral somewhere in the circuit, right? I can't seem to find the open neutral anywhere and it's driving me crazy. So I assume the breaker itself is OK.īut when I test it with one probe on the black and the other to the now free neutral, I get nothing. I went to the breaker box and pulled the neutral from the bar and tested the black coming out of the breaker by touching one probe to the black and then to the bar and I read 120. 2volts ) so I assumed the open neutral was the problem. But when I check any of the neutrals with the meter - one on hot, one on neutral - they drop to nearly nothing ( like. With a multimeter I checked all the hots by touching the blacks and grounds they all read 120V. I pulled all the outlets and switches so I had bare wires everywhere. I checked all the outlets and switches for loose wires, etc., but found nothing. I had a plug tester read an open neutral though it was not positively an open neutral as the first yellow light lit but very dimly. I believe there are two feeds, one to the hall lights and one to the half bath light and outlets all on the same circuit. My lights and outlets went out in the half bath of my home and also the two recessed lights in my hall just outside the half bath.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |