One outlet reading 40v, rest are 120v?

Question

I have 2 three way switches that turn on a light. I wanted to add another light and an outlet. I took the 2 wires off the original light and put 3 pairs of new wire on it. One to old light, 1 to new light, 1 to outlet. New light read 120v and works great. New outlet reads 120v and what I plug in works. Old light reads 40v and will not glow. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

I used a meter to check the voltage. When I test one light the meter shows approx 120V AC. When I test the second it reads 120V AC. When I test the third it reads 40V AC. I tested the third by putting the probes on the wires leading to the back. Thanks for the help so far.

I think Pepsi nailed it. I somehow must have wired the third light to the travel wires, and not the feed. I just did some checking and the switches are not working correctly either. If the top switch is down the bottom switch will not work. Maybe I should stick to computers. Thanks all!

Answer 1

Your question is strange, but if you tried to wire an outlet and/or a seperate switch onto a 3-way switch leg, you will get a reading of 40v on the switch leg. You can't pull power from the 14/3 wire because the power is not constant on any given leg it switches between them, you have to take the power from the feed side (the line where the power comes from the breaker)

Answer 2

OK, sounds like you may have put the new light and outlet in series instead of parallel in the circuit. Voltage is additive in series, and common in parallel. So in the series if you have 3 loads, something drawing power in your case the 2 lights and the outlet, then its splits that 120v line into three 40 v lines. Easy way to check, turn all three off; and try turning them on and off one at a time. If you have to have certain ones on to get the others to work you have it in series. Major issue, or hard to fix, not really. Ensure that the feeds lines go to feed lines and returns to returns. similar to this:
|----------|----|----|
Power (1) (2) (3)
|______|___|__|
As always safety first, disconnect power from the circuit prior to any electrical work. Hope this helps. If it doesn't email me and I can walk you through some other things to check.

Answer 3

The old light may need to be junked. 40 volts? Never heard of it.

If the designation is on a bulb, it's measured in Watts. Part of the "W" may be missing.

Forgive me, Father, but that's the best I can do.

Answer 4

Double check your grounds; both@ the outlet and the load center( breaker box ) You may have a faulty connection.

Answer 5

It is probably a loose connection, because a short sapping 80 volts would trip the breaker. Check all your connections.

Answer 6

this is a guess but i would say you have series your loads each load needs a direct power supply not thru another load

Answer 7

Please see my answer to "GGS" in this same column. The title on the question is "Electrical Wiring Question?" It is a few hours newer than yours. I think the problem is the same. If not,email me and I will give it a shot.