voltage on gnd wire.

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Re: voltage on gnd wire.

OK there is no N/G bond in the circuits(there are two doing this). With the gnd disconnected it reads Open Line to hot and neutral. When I unplugged the computer and surge suppressor printer etc. The shocking problem disappeared and the voltage from gnd to N went down to 13V. I am clueless here.

PS I resent the comment about things being "rigged" in my city. There are a lot of problems because the houses are old and it is no different with other areas with houses the same age. ( Except worse in say Pontiac, Detroit) I would much rather live here than some 90's built cookie cutter crap you get elsewhere in the area.
 
Re: voltage on gnd wire.

All,

This sounded too similar. I opened an outdoor light today. Wiggy and hot stick showed no voltage present. Went to remove the back plate to remove access the wiring and got a very mild shock from the "grounded" plate. After finally finding the right circuit to disconnect and separating the supply wiring: with digital voltmeter I had 40 volts from Hot to Neutral and the same 40 volts from ground to neutral. Thought about induced, but this was not enough to trip the wiggy, but enough to give the shock. I could not do further troubleshooting because it is a brick "replacement" fixture and the H.O. did not want to remove the fixture. She is calling the builder to repair. I thought about parallel ground path, but why no voltage/shock on the grounded conductor. Too late to think more. Any ideas?


Thanks,

Mark
 
Re: voltage on gnd wire.

All,

Should have posted more last night, but was pretty tired with the time-change. I feel like I should have done more resistance and current measurements, but the H.O. was very stressed about the cost to already fix her GFCI's (10 million dollar house - go figure) and she did not want to spend the money to troubleshoot or damage the brick wall to access the wiring. It bugs me to get shocked and then not find out why.

Of course I had the H.O. sign-off on the hazard and there was not any exposed voltage when I left. The only wiring I could see was some UF thru the back of the enclosure and the fixture was fed with UF thru a very corroded metal NM connector. Since there was only one piece of UF entering the fixture and it was in the middle of a long run of lights, I wonder where the junction is - in the wall? The only other clue was that the next light in the line was intermitant. It would go out if the swith was turned off then on again. It would then come back on if nudged a little in the wall. Thoughts would still be appreciated, but I doubt I will get to test any theories. As always, thanks for the help.

Mark
 
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