30V hot to air?

Status
Not open for further replies.
jaylectricity

jaylectricity

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
Occupation
licensed journeyman electrician
Testing a receptacle I found 122V hot to neutral and hot to ground. The weird thing is when I had one lead on the hot and the other in the air not touching anything conductive the meter was reading about 30V. It fluctuated between 28-35 while I held it there.

Is there any chance that the air was dry or wet enough to read voltage through the air? This room is at grade level with tile floor.
 
jaylectricity said:
...The weird thing is when I had one lead on the hot and the other in the air not touching anything conductive the meter was reading about 30V....
Click to expand...
This was because of the current created in the test circuit by leakage and capacitive coupling. I would not be surprised if it changed based on where you held the meter and leads because your body was actually contributing to that effect.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top