Ok I had a dead outlet outside when I moved in to this house. It is an exterior plug built into the brick on the side of the house. Nothing will work when it is plugged into the plug, but when I took a closer look at it I realized that a voltage tester tells me that the outlet (which I already swapped out) is live. The wires test live that lead into it too. There is a live black, a white, and a Cu ground wire going into the outlet and a live black and a white that are capped together in the box.
2006-10-23 08:14:37 · 11 answers · asked by CountSackula 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Maintenance & Repairs
No there are no switches nearby. I am not actually reading the voltage, it is just one of those little indicators that lights up when there is current. The black wire is hooked to the brass screw on the outlet(and it checks live wether it is hooked up to the outlet or not) and the white to the silver screw with the ground to the ground screw (this is the only ground wire in the recepticle.). There are two more wires in the recepticle capped together, a white and a black (this set has no ground wire).
2006-10-23 09:04:13 · update #1
and i have already replaced the actual outlet plug. It didnt make any difference.
2006-10-23 09:05:42 · update #2
idiot lights? are you talking about those wands that you can put into an outlet or touch to a wire and they light up if there is power?
2006-10-23 11:46:53 · update #3
If the black and white were tied together this would be a direct short and trip the breaker or blow the fuse. unhook all the wires so they are not touching each other then check the black to the ground not the white. See what the reading is then. If you touch the black with the lead and the other lead to the wite you maybe getting a back feed causing a faulse reading
2006-10-23 08:22:04 · answer #1 · answered by aussie 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
like many of the answers here, i would highly recommend that you invest in a decent voltage tester that will show you the exact voltage you have.
the light tester you are probably using is sensing the voltage on the the black wire. like was mentioned before you probably have a broken neutral ( white wire).
if you are not 100% comfortable with checking electrically work it is always better to get a pro, not only can it be dangerous to you, but done wrong can lead to a fire. outside recepticles by law required GFI, either by a breaker or a recepticle ( which could be upstream of the one giving you problems).
to check the recepticle using a volt meter, check the black wire to ground and check the white wire to ground, the black should read about 115V the white should read 0 V. if these check out ok then check the black wire to the white wire, this should read 115V if it is 0 then you have a broken neutral wire.
the link is of a drawing showing a properly wired gfi hope it helps.
2006-10-24 00:25:03 · answer #2 · answered by icq99871067 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
omg stop with these insane answers! first off my advice(electrician of over 30 yrs) THROW out that so called tester! More people have gotten hurt trusting them! Usually they pick up any(REPEAT,) ANY voltage from around 18 volts to 240 volts.. or higher..and then sometimes it can pick up Static electricity! Smash it up immediately! Get a real tester...or you might gethurt.. and either test it then and wire the connectionsproperly.(assuming you do know how) Or get some qualified person to do this..also...........any outdoor circuit MUST be on a GFCI Breaker or Outlet by code..
2006-10-23 10:39:32 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
So your saying you have 2 romex wires coming in to the box and one is live. I don't know how they've got it wired but both blacks should be on the gold colored terminals and both whites on the silver colored terminals and both coppers twisted together going to the green ground terminal. If the outlet is good, it will work. Make sure what your plugging into it works on another outlet btw as I've done that before.
2006-10-23 08:21:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You know, when I started in the business in 1975, we called those little lights, "idiot lights.". They sure did get a lot of home owners in trouble.
You need to have it checked by a pro. It could be an open neutral. I don't know if you have a GFI outlet in this circuit, if you do it may be faulty and it does not have to be the one you replaced.
I once seen a outside outlet that was connected to the GFI outlet in the bathroom by the wash basin. It had tripped but no one caught it.
2006-10-23 11:26:00 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Take out the fuses or open the circuit breakers in your electrical panel, one by one, and check with your tester which is the corespondent breaker(or fuse) to the live wire. Disconnect the wire from the electrical panel as soon as possible. You're done. Good luck !
2006-10-27 08:15:18 · answer #6 · answered by Imi 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
are you actually reading voltage?or do you have one of those testers that just light up? that plug is either bad or the connection in that wire nut isnt good.try unhooking the plug and then read voltage right there at the wires and see what you got then you`ll know if its the plug or not, be careful good luck.
2006-10-23 08:20:32 · answer #7 · answered by switchplate2003 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check back on your breakers--could be a bad wire connection--loose/corroded -- allowing "some "electricity to flow, but not enough to operate any 110v item at proper voltage level. Breaker might be bad also.
2006-10-23 21:39:52 · answer #8 · answered by Spock 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you need to test the voltage with a meter and get a correct reading you are probaly reading the voltage on the neutreal
2006-10-23 10:56:37 · answer #9 · answered by high1315 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
is it on the same circuit as a GFCI? check the GFCI's in other parts of the house, they may be bad, which would be affecting your outlet.
2006-10-23 09:02:53 · answer #10 · answered by forjj 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋