ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area low voltage

I have a hallway light that won't turn on. When I took a reading I have only 48V at the switch when I should have 120V, of course. It's probably something simple, but to someone who don't know. Any Ideas?

>I have a hallway light that won't turn on. When I took a reading I have only 48V at the switch
It's wired to your phone line instead of your electric line.

mechcmdr;
do you mean you have 120V going into, and 48V coming out of(to the light) the switch?

if so can the switch...

Dspark,
if that were true, he could dial his own number for some lights!

mechcmdr,

Where are you putting the test leads when you get 48v?

Bill

>do you mean you have 120V going into, and 48V coming out of(to the light) the switch?
If that were true, wouldn't the light at least be glowing yellow?

Bill is onto something about lead placement.
Is something else running on the circuit that is working?

I would measure DC voltage and see whether it is -48. If so, it's a phone line.

My recommendation is to replace the bulb (with 60 watts or less, of course).


[This message has been edited by Dspark (edited 05-23-2001).]

mechcmdr,
What type of meter are you using?
Don(resqcapt19)

I took the reading across the hot and common on the switch. I'm using a Wavetek volt/ohm meter. So I am guessing I have 48V coming to the switch. I took a reading on a few of the other light swithches in the house for reference and I got 120V on them and of course I get 0V when I turn on the light. And no, It's not phone wire.

>I took the reading across the hot and common on the switch.

That won't necessarily work.

You need to measure between the line and a ground.

It sounds like perhaps an open neutral on the circuit.

Your problem is NOT low voltage.


[This message has been edited by Dspark (edited 05-26-2001).]

Like DSPARK says, you need to read between the common and ground. Sounds like it is a 3-way switch which may have gone bad.