Electric receptical problem.
#1
11-24-14, 06:23 PM
Electric receptical problem.
If anyone can help me on this confusing situation, please answer.
About a week ago, we suddenly lost power to 6 outlets and 2 lights. My GFCI plug shows hot/ground reverse (which i've been informed means open neutral). I went ahead and replaced all of the affected outlets since they were old but none of them showed a loose wire or open neutral. Since changing them all out, all of the outlets now show "correct" on the GFCI plug but STILL do not work. I checked all the upstream outlets from the starting point and all of the outlets work and show "correct" on the GFCI plug. I changed the breaker thinking maybe something wrong with it but no change.
the strange thing is... on one of the outlet/light switch combos in my daughters room, when the light switch is off, the gfci shows "correct" on all of the plugs. When the light switch is on, the gfci shows "hot/ground reverse". I changed out the light switch with no different results.
Can someone help me on this situation? Everything appears to be wired correctly and the remaining outlets show no sign of being loose.
About a week ago, we suddenly lost power to 6 outlets and 2 lights. My GFCI plug shows hot/ground reverse (which i've been informed means open neutral). I went ahead and replaced all of the affected outlets since they were old but none of them showed a loose wire or open neutral. Since changing them all out, all of the outlets now show "correct" on the GFCI plug but STILL do not work. I checked all the upstream outlets from the starting point and all of the outlets work and show "correct" on the GFCI plug. I changed the breaker thinking maybe something wrong with it but no change.
the strange thing is... on one of the outlet/light switch combos in my daughters room, when the light switch is off, the gfci shows "correct" on all of the plugs. When the light switch is on, the gfci shows "hot/ground reverse". I changed out the light switch with no different results.
Can someone help me on this situation? Everything appears to be wired correctly and the remaining outlets show no sign of being loose.
#2
11-24-14, 07:46 PM
Group Moderator
Welcome to the forums.
A plug-in tester is a very hard to use piece of test equipment. In this case you really need a voltmeter for testing. You need to determine if you've lost a neutral and where.
You can use a basic $10-$15 analog test meter.
You have a circuit. You have xx receptacles and xx lights on it. You've lost 6 receptacles and 2 lights. You know what you've lost. Now you need to find out what else is on that circuit. Your problem will most likely be at the closest working device to the dead part of the circuit.
A plug-in tester is a very hard to use piece of test equipment. In this case you really need a voltmeter for testing. You need to determine if you've lost a neutral and where.
You can use a basic $10-$15 analog test meter.
You have a circuit. You have xx receptacles and xx lights on it. You've lost 6 receptacles and 2 lights. You know what you've lost. Now you need to find out what else is on that circuit. Your problem will most likely be at the closest working device to the dead part of the circuit.
