55 Volts on neutral.....untill something else is plugged in ?!?

15 years ago

Ciao,

Ill start off by saying I am not an electrician but comfortable enough (and hopefully knowledgeable enough) To do service installs which I have done in the past (my one). Now Ill try to make this as clear as I can. I recently remodeled a room and added about 9 receptacles ( thanks to the NEC) and 2 lights with switches. Everything on one circuit (ARC Fault...thanks again NEC) All of the outlets in the room are split. Top half constant, bottom switched. Everything works fine EXCEPT......When I have the switch for the receptacles OFF I read 55-56 volts from Hot to neutral UNTILL I plug soemthing else in on another outlet (switched half) So in otherwords, I have nothing plugged in to any of the switched halves of the receptacle, I read 55 volts hot to neutral. If I plug ANYTHING in (doesn't matter if it is on or not) the voltage drops to 1-3 volts....zero in my mind. If case you guys ask, the tab IS broken on the hot side of receptale and NOT the neutral side....shouldn't matter. All neutrals tied together in switch box. Switch box contains 3 switches. 1 for ceiling light, 1 for ceiling fan and one for receptalces. And ground to neutral, zero-3 volts. ANY IDEAS....driving me insane. Thanks in advance

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Comments (11)

zimzam
Original Author
15 years ago
Let me edit.....On switched halves, with switch OFF...ground to neutral 0-3 volts. Hot to neutral 55-57 volts
itsunclebill
15 years ago
You're using a digital meter. The voltage is really an induced one and the meter is sensitive enough to read it. Any load immediately dumps the induced voltage because there is virtually no current present.

You will find that a plain old analog meter with a low impedance won't show the voltage and neither will a solenoid type tester (wiggy).

You really need something that places a bit of a load on a circuit to verify if a wire is truely disconnected - as in your case. Plugging in a lamp or other load and getting a zero or near reading between neutral and hot would be normal.
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zimzam
Original Author
15 years ago
Even if there is no "load" per say. For example I'm just plugging in a lamp socket with a a bulb in it of course. (the kind that allows you to plug a light bulb in to a receptacle.) Plugging that in with the switch off shows zero. If the switch is off, and bulb is not on, is there really a load? Unplug the bulb......55-57 volts
zimzam
Original Author
15 years ago
Thought of more questions..... Will a Wiggy even detect 50volts? I can see a "sensitive" meter picking up minute voltages but 57 volts shouldnt be hard to miss. Im not too clear on what is "inducing" that 57 volts. I had originaly thought that the constant part of the receptacle was backfeeding somehow to the only neutral on the receptacle. I dont know if backfeeing is the right word or not. Asked a retired electrician and an electrical engineer and they were both stumped by my problem. Im not sayng you cant be right, but if you could exp[lain a little more i would appreciate it. THANKS A MILLION for responding though !! This is going to keep me up nights.
zimzam
Original Author
15 years ago
and yes it is a Fluke 87-V
kencaz
15 years ago
Could be the switch. Have you checked the voltages on both sides of the switch to neutral?

Also, try un-hooking the feeder for the un-switched recepticles and see if you still have the voltages with the switch off.

It's going to have to be an elimination process.

KC
zimzam
Original Author
15 years ago
Same feeder for entire outlets. Feeder comes in, scotch locked to black for constant receptacle with a tail to the switch. Red wire from switch to switched half of receptacle. same feeder powers all three switches in box. but i iwill try anyway
normel
15 years ago
What unclebill said. It's a phantom voltage. The switched wire (red) has voltage induced by the constant hot black wire run along side it.
itsunclebill
15 years ago
If you do some searching you will find this is an often asked and answered question here. The voltage in a "hot" wire in close proximity to a wire not hooked to anything (the situation when a 3 conductor cable has one wire switched off) will be induced in the wire. If you have any 3 way switches in your home you can find the same situation with the travelers in the cable with the hot wire.

Try unhooking the ground wire from the rest of the circuit at the first new receptacle. Measure the voltage from neutral to ground at one of the other new receptacles and see what you get. (Hook the ground back up.)
zimzam
Original Author
15 years ago
Getting there.....starting to make sense to me now....BUT How does plugging something in cause that phantom voltage to go away. If I plug in a light socket, is there really a connection going from hot to neutral that is made? Causing phantom or induced voltage to go back to system? Is it just the fact of have something in the receptacle causes induced voltage to make it over to the neutral?
fa_f3_20
15 years ago
Possibly the voltage that you are reading is actually a high harmonic of the line frequency. Plugging in a lamp essentially creates an antenna that radiates it away. Or, its line cord (which has the conductors very close together, hence more capacitance) acts like a high-pass filter and allows it to flow to neutral.

55 Volts on neutral.....untill something else is plugged in ?!?

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zimzam
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55 Volts on neutral.....untill something else is plugged in ?!?

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