Old house wiring - new fixture

Hi. I was hoping someone could offer me a little advice. I have a house built in 1940 and has old 2 wire BX (I think it's BX). I am trying to hook up a fixture in the kitchen and am having some issues. The wiring coming in is new wiring that is obviously not original. When I use one of the bulb testers to check hot to neutral I get a faint light. When I check hot to ground I get a stronger light. I don't get anything with neutral to ground.

Can you help??

Thanks,
Brad

 

Are you checking at the light box? with the switch on or off?
Be carefull some of the older houses switch the neutral, if this is the case, It must be corrected.

 

I am checking it at the box for the light with the switch wires completely unhooked. The power runs to the fixture so I figured it would be easier to troubleshoot with the switch out of the equation and just checking the power coming into the box. There were wires with no light at this box when I moved in so I don't know the last time it actually worked.

 

Back to the switch box. How many wires(conductors) and cables are there (bx)? The same question for the light box.(colors and type of cables/conductors in each box will be helpfull.)

 

What wires do you have at the light. Describe ALL the wires. What wires do you have at the switch. Describe ALL the wires.

 

I have 3 wires at the light box. Black, white and bare. I am trying to hook up the light for 'always on' right now. I'll set with up with the switch later. The situation described in the first post: "When I use one of the bulb testers to check hot to neutral I get a faint light. When I check hot to ground I get a stronger light. I don't get anything with neutral to ground." describes what happened when I tried to wire the light straight to the incoming power. I'm only dealing with the 2 wires from the light and the 3 from the imcoming power.

I tried hooking up the light with the neutral and hot from the incoming power and nothing. I tried the hooking up hot to ground and the fixture lit up.

Help!!

 

The neutral is open. It might be open at the switch, it might be open at another location on the circuit, or it might be damaged and open in the wall somewhere.

if it is open at the switch or at another junction box then you can find it and fix it. If it is open in the wall then the best you can do is find out where in the wall it is damaged and replace that section of wire.

Start with the switch. Does the switch have the neutrals properly connected together? Is there full power between the neutrals and the hot at the switch? Then go backwards. Check every other location of the circuit. You will either find the problem or you will determine between what two locations the problem exists.

 

Thanks for the input. I have soccer games and meetings after work until Thursday so I'll try to trace it then. Thanks for the help and I'll post what I find.

Thanks,
Brad