light socket only receiving 60 V AC

HI,

I light in my basement has stopped working. A quick investigation has revealed that the socket is only outputting 64 V AC. I am in the process of tracing the voltage backwards but wondered if this 64 V AC is a sign of a certain problem.

It did appear the light was on a circuit i was recently working on (removing a light) but now i'm not so sure. There's a wire that comes out of my fuse box, goes to the light and then onto the switch. Then from the switch it goes off in other directions (to other lights i assume). However i turned off this circuit (from the fuse box that wire leaves) and i still see 120 V at the switch. The switch itself has the black wire feeding into the red wire that heads to the light. Perhaps i'll post a photo later.

thanks for any tips.

oman

 

Digital volt meters are notorious for showing large voltages when there is no power on the lines, test the socket with a regular light bulb, if it really shows 60 volts the bulb will glow like it's on a dimmer, if the light does not turn on at all then the wires are not energized.

 

Another helpful measurement would be from black to ground.

 

And change the batteries in your meter if digital or better buy a $8-$15analog multimeter.

 

thanks for the tips, digital multimeter was used. The light definitely doesn't work. I'll have to trace it a bit more. It appears the voltage came through on the red wire at the light. Will have to test the black and ground elsewhere.

 

Ok.... then check the red wire to ground.