Electrical in Old House for Low Voltage Fixture

6zbeast · 2006-11-20T03:40:02+00:00

I was hoping somebody could help. I have installed a low voltage fixture inmy hallway and I can't seem to get it to work. The house is old, and thewiring is always a surprise. Many light fixtures, including this one, havevoltage in the box even when the switch is turned off (learned this the hardway with the first light I replaced in the house). Seems like the power runsthrough the fixture down to the swich, instead of the reverse. I don' t knowif this would make a low voltage light not work. Maybe the transformer isjust defective. When I turn it on, I can barely hear the transformer makinga slight buzz sound, but the lights don't light up. I also thought it mightbe the track, but I've inspected it and it seems okay. I've even triedreverse wiring it, still no luck. Any ideas?

Nov 20, 2006 23 Replies

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6zbeast via HomeKB.com 19 years ago

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Mark Lloyd 19 years ago

It's about safety. The light should still work exactly the same when no one is touching the wires.

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Mark Lloyd 19 years ago

Possibly leading to inconsistent readings on different ranges of an analog meter (meter causes a different load on each range).

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Joseph Meehan 19 years ago

You are too use to professional level meters. :-) Most digital meters OP's will have low enough resistance they would be lucky to get any readings of voltage no matter what range they used. :-)

Of course you are right.

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