Question for elec techs

RJsfishin wrote:
The little I know about this, I would say that this post explains it all. My guess was that this low voltage bulb (1.8 watt) was using the humid air as a return path to the panel. There just was no other path, period.
Why did I do it ??
I felt it was safer,.....because of the special switch that was being used in a position where the wire could get damaged. I felt the black wire has no chance of getting damaged, where as the white wire could. And shorting the white wire would do nothing more than turn the lite on. Damage to the black wire would cause a direct short.
But never fear, I redid the whole thing, and its good now
But I do know now that a low voltage led bulb will burn w/o a neutral or ground connected.

The switch is a n/o push button mounted in a box, that is mounted on the end of the door track.. When the big garage door is open, it bumps the push button switch to turn the light on to let me know if the door was left open,....see it from the house.

Sam Spade wrote:

RJsfishin wrote:
But one clue, mite be that this is a very low wattage bulb.

Any ideas ?

The situation is quite common with florescents and LEDs.
When they are "hot" with no ground, the current that leaks to ground through the AIR is enough to make a glow.

Switching the white wire is a BAD thing to do.
Why on earth did you come up with that idea in the first place ??

Most likely a better way would be to use a LOW VOLTAGE RELAY on the switch circuit.

Something like a relay coil that is 12V, use a 12V DC power supply along with your switch.

Then use common and NC contacts of the relay to operate the 120V light bulb.

Adds a little complexity, but ensures no harm can happen if the wiring to the switch is damaged in any way.