Electrical conundrum quiz
I have solved this problem, but thought the electrical experts might try their hand at diagnosing this problem. My father in law made a homemade extension cord. He took a 12/2 wG cable and put a pl...
Forum Discussion
Bobbo wrote:wnjj wrote:Bobbo wrote:
I agree that the symptoms are not explained. That is why I have posted this here, hoping someone with more knowledge can enlighten me.
The red light in the tester is a light bulb connected between neutral and ground. The only way I can see the red light coming on is if neutral is not connected to ground (and the strands power up the neutral). This could be an open in the plug, the receptacle it's plugged into or anywhere in the wiring all the way back to the main panel.
If the neutral and ground both have good connections from the receptacle you are testing all the way back to the main panel where ground and neutral are connected, it's not possible to have a voltage potential across that red light.
I think I'd plug s decent sized load into it and measure the voltage on everything.
Again:Bobbo wrote:
He wired everything correctly. BUT! He used stranded wire and did not get all of the strands under the screws in the plug. One or two of the strands from the hot wire were touching the neutral screw inside the plug.
And:Bobbo wrote:
I have already fixed the problem. Further testing of the old problem is not possible.
I understood a long time ago that you already fixed it. I'm not referring to the stuff he built but rather the existing receptacle he plugged into and the wiring upstream of it. I'm also suggesting you perform more tests on what is there now.
There's no good explanation for a red light on the 3-light tester in ANY receptacle that has the neutral and ground connected (which are ultimately directly shorted together in the main panel of the house). It makes no difference if there were any additional shorts like strands of wire. You said you did nothing to correct any poor neutral or ground connections themselves (other than the shorted strands). Either you did without knowing it or something is still wrong.
If it were me, I'd make really sure something still isn't wired wrong, intermittent or reversed. I'm a EE of 25 years and do this kind of debugging (but on electronics) every day. Unexplained symptoms always indicate a misunderstood problem.
Also some interesting reading here as to why you cannot always trust those testers or (even a voltmeter for that matter).
