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Posted by ccs>ikyr on August 28, 2007, 8:13 pm
I think there's a ghost in my house.
Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
different circuits) do this.
The first is in a stairwell and switched by two three ways and one
four way.
The second is switched by two three ways.
I've had two electricians look at it and find no apparent problems
with the wiring in the switch boxes. I should state for the record
though that I wired the switches for the first light, and I'm not an
electrician. One of the fixtures had the black and white wires
reversed, but correcting this didn't change anything. The switches
for the first fixture are all brand new. Those for the other are 50
years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
fine.
Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?
By the way, one electrician noted that when one touches the black to
ground, nothing happens -- no spark, no short, nothing, so maybe the
meter is misleading us, but then the other electrician registered the
same thing on his meter, and remember, the bulb lights up.
Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....
Thanks for any advice
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Posted by Clark on August 28, 2007, 8:25 pm
> I think there's a ghost in my house.
>
> Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
> light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
> different circuits) do this.
> The first is in a stairwell and switched by two three ways and one
> four way.
> The second is switched by two three ways.
>
> I've had two electricians look at it and find no apparent problems
> with the wiring in the switch boxes. I should state for the record
> though that I wired the switches for the first light, and I'm not an
> electrician. One of the fixtures had the black and white wires
> reversed, but correcting this didn't change anything. The switches
> for the first fixture are all brand new. Those for the other are 50
> years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
> areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
> fine.
>
> Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
> to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
> anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?
>
> By the way, one electrician noted that when one touches the black to
> ground, nothing happens -- no spark, no short, nothing, so maybe the
> meter is misleading us, but then the other electrician registered the
> same thing on his meter, and remember, the bulb lights up.
>
> Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
> damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....
>
>
> Thanks for any advice
I don't have a real answer for this but I do know that static, or stray
electricity , will cause this to happen, Honest, go ahead and rub a tube on
a staticy sweater in complete darkness, it will glow with the strokes
against the sweater.
I think your right about the wiring being goofy, but I'm not an
electrician, just a rental property owner that does most of his own work.
Clark
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Posted by Paul on August 28, 2007, 8:48 pm
> years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
> areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
> fine.
>
> Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
> to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
> anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?
If the BX is really old, you might want to replace that. I had some old BX
(I'm guessing 40 years old) that was going up the chase inside an exterior
wall to my home office, showed some rusting on the steel armor, and that
circuit was never quite right. I ripped it out and replaced with new BX and
it's fine now.
-- Paul
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Posted by Ralph Mowery on August 28, 2007, 8:53 pm
>I think there's a ghost in my house.
>
> Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
> light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
> different circuits) do this.
> The first is in a stairwell and switched by two three ways and one
> four way.
> The second is switched by two three ways.
>
> I've had two electricians look at it and find no apparent problems
> with the wiring in the switch boxes. I should state for the record
> though that I wired the switches for the first light, and I'm not an
> electrician. One of the fixtures had the black and white wires
> reversed, but correcting this didn't change anything. The switches
> for the first fixture are all brand new. Those for the other are 50
> years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
> areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
> fine.
>
> Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
> to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
> anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?
>
> By the way, one electrician noted that when one touches the black to
> ground, nothing happens -- no spark, no short, nothing, so maybe the
> meter is misleading us, but then the other electrician registered the
> same thing on his meter, and remember, the bulb lights up.
>
> Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
> damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....
>
Probably nothing wrong. The voltage is an induced voltage caused by wires
running close to each other. The meter is most likely a digital voltmeter
and they require very little current to show a voltage. Anytime two wires
are close to each other a very low grade transformer or capacitor is made.
Not enough to have much current but enough to show up as some voltage on a
digital voltmeter. If an older analog meter is used such as the Simpson
260, as you change the switch for the voltages , the meter needle will stay
in about the same physical place, but the voltge will appear to change a
lot.
It does not take too much power for a compact flourescent bulb to flash for
a second or so. Static or maybe even the refrigerator or airconditioner
will produce a spike when the motor starts to do this.
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Posted by Al Bundy on August 28, 2007, 9:37 pm
ibJknbnZ2dnUVZ_tajnZ2d@comcast.com:
>
>>I think there's a ghost in my house.
>>
>> Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
>> light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
>> different circuits) do this.
>> The first is in a stairwell and switched by two three ways and one
>> four way.
>> The second is switched by two three ways.
>>
>> I've had two electricians look at it and find no apparent problems
>> with the wiring in the switch boxes. I should state for the record
>> though that I wired the switches for the first light, and I'm not an
>> electrician. One of the fixtures had the black and white wires
>> reversed, but correcting this didn't change anything. The switches
>> for the first fixture are all brand new. Those for the other are 50
>> years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
>> areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
>> fine.
>>
>> Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
>> to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
>> anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?
>>
>> By the way, one electrician noted that when one touches the black to
>> ground, nothing happens -- no spark, no short, nothing, so maybe the
>> meter is misleading us, but then the other electrician registered the
>> same thing on his meter, and remember, the bulb lights up.
>>
>> Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
>> damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....
>
> Ham radio operator next door running a huge RF amplifier?
>
>
Wonder if he lives near this guy with the Tesla Coil
http://physics.fullerton.edu/~physicsclub/tesla-coil.jpg
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