Light Fixture Will Not Work - Voltage Problem

[Ernest & Diane DeVincent]

Hi all,

I have a strange problem here. Light fixture suddenly does not work. All bulbs OK, of course. I assumed it was a bad switch, which I replaced with no change.

I checked line voltage at the switch........it is fine, 122V. However, at the fixture, there are only 75V! Not enough voltage to operate the fixture bulbs. Why am I losing so many volts, and how to correct?

Thanks,

Ernie

[Jeff Wisnia]

You are probably using a digital meter with a high impedance input Ernie.

If you are, you can get snookered by capacitive coupling between wires drawing enough current to produce a meter reading, even when a wire is disconnected.

Do this:

Rig up a way to connect a light bulb across the meter leads. Like, cut the plug off the end of the cord on a useless table lamp, split the wire back a foot or so, strip the ends and fasten them to the meter probes.

Now go back and measure where you found that "75 volts" again. If it's not there anymore then you'll have to start looking for a disconnect in the neutral (white) wire connected to that fixture.

If you're measuring at the bulb sockets and haven't dropped the fixture down yet, do so. You might get lucky and find the disconnect right where the wiring run connects to the fixture's leads. If it's not there, figure our where the wire run goes and check every place where there may be splices which could have come apart.

Good luck, let us know what you find.

Jeff