help very confused

[vasparky]

I am working on an older crouse hinds panel-

1. I turn off a breaker the lights in the room dim. when the breaker is on the light is VERY bright. I moved the breaker to the other side of the panel and the light went out completly and the Main 100 A breaker is very hard too set I have all aluminumm wiring that has been wirenutted to copper in the panel too reach the breakers.

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[stamcon]

Re: help very confused

VA, check for a bad/missing neutral. The circuit that provides power for the light is probably sharing a neutral with the breaker(circuit) that you relocated.

 

[gregoryelectricinc]

Re: help very confused

I agree with Stan. This most definitly sounds like a nuetral issue. Check panel voltage from line to nuetral. If you get strange readings (like 170 v-N on 1 side/50-60 volts-N on the other)then it definitly is nuetral issue.

 

[gregoryelectricinc]

Re: help very confused

LOL, 25 years in this trade and I STILL can't spell nuetral.

 

[karl riley]

Re: help very confused

Be sure you don't activate any motor device until you fix the neutral connection, since motors burn out while light bulbs just dim (or burn out).

Karl

 

[Guest]

Re: help very confused

Long shot. Go easy on me. Just brainstorming here: Could there be a high-impedance short on the load side of the circuit breaker to the other phase? The other phase could be backfeeding and hotting up phase leg that the light is on when the circuit breaker is turned off. Actually the short is there all the time...but it goes unnoticed until the breaker is turned off. Try pulling the other phase from the incoming panel-lug when you turn the circuit breaker off. If the light goes out, then it's getting backfed from the other phase. What I mean is the light may be on black, but it's getting backfed from the red through a high-impedance short. Clear as mud? A picture might explain it better

[ Note to GregoryElectric: Try ieSpell. That's what keeps my posts fairly typo free. Just started using though and forgetting to use it. ieSpell only works in Internet Explorer posts and it just help me not mis-spell impedence (sic) ]