kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Check For Voltage
- Thread starter Little Bill
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- Tennessee NEC:2017
- Occupation
- Semi-Retired Electrician
Nope, not begging for comment, people like pictures!
Since the pic post was at the end of the thread I just thought people might not have bothered to look since everything had been covered.
The neutral wasn't connected to that light at all. It didn't have a bulb in it when I got there. Don't know what happened with the sparks, but the fixture was useless the way it was wired. I took it all down anyway along with the conductors that fed to/from it and were just hanging out of two holes in the ceiling.
This was a repossessed house that a realtor wanted me to "straighten up". They left me plenty to "straighten up"!
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Nope, not begging for comment, people like pictures!
Since the pic post was at the end of the thread I just thought people might not have bothered to look since everything had been covered.
The neutral wasn't connected to that light at all. It didn't have a bulb in it when I got there. Don't know what happened with the sparks, but the fixture was useless the way it was wired. I took it all down anyway along with the conductors that fed to/from it and were just hanging out of two holes in the ceiling.
This was a repossessed house that a realtor wanted me to "straighten up". They left me plenty to "straighten up"!
Only thing we can tell from the picture that is a NEC violation is that the neutral is likely the switched leg to that luminaire. The black lead to the luminaire terminal on the left is the return from the switch, other side of switch has to be the neutral. If that is wrong we need more pictures to know that.
- Location
- Tennessee NEC:2017
- Occupation
- Semi-Retired Electrician
I don't know if there was a switch or not, as I said, the wires, other than the feed, were just hanging out of the ceiling on each side of the fixture. The fixture has a pull chain switch already in it. It only makes/breaks the center contact in the fixture. I can't see how my meter probes would go in far enough to short something but something shorted when I checked for voltage. I have more pics. but I don't see how they would help as they only show wires hanging out of the ceiling about 2'.
Side Note: How do you get the attic insulation monster to give your tic tester back. He ate mine!:happysad:
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Look at the bare grounding conductors right behind the receptacle - if your meter probe is long enough and you insert probe into ungrounded slot of receptacle and tip of probe pushes all the way to one of those grounding conductors .. I can easily see that happening. Sure looks to me like you have a hot, neutral and a switch return all whites are connected together and all but one black is connected together as well as to one side of lamp - the remaining black which is connected to other side of lamp about has to be a switch return with the other side of switch connected to neutral.
How well did the furnace work? Especially when the light was "turned off"
wasn't a switch in sight:happyno:
guess the light was an "Eternal light" :angel:
worked great til a HVAC service tech went to check the furnace, tried running through its cycles and the light went out so he couldn't see to work on it
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
Did the HVAC guy by chance see the lampholder and thought - if I put a bulb in there I won't need to get my trouble light and that is when problems started?
Doesn't make the install right - but it probably worked just fine until somebody decided the bulb was a smart idea.
you are probably right, let me borrow H.G. Wells time machine and I'll go back about 15 - 20 years and find out
we ran into this back when i was still learning this trade, the only reason i rem it ... it just seemed odd
cadpoint
Senior Member
- Location
- Durham, NC
Ask the realtor if the house was formally owned by deaf person? I think it was more of a signal situation than not...
ramsy
NoFixNoPay Electric
- Location
- LA basin, CA
- Occupation
- Service Electrician 2020 NEC
let me borrow H.G. Wells time machine and I'll go back about 15 - 20 years and find out
The science H.G. Wells & others had based time travel theory has changed . Time is no longer considered the fourth dimension of space.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
- Occupation
- EC
I have seen lights used as a signal for the deaf, but putting it in series with the load being indicated does not work so well.
- Status