Low voltage on switch

The switch is turned off. Thanks.

Is the 82 volts the drop across the swithc when turned off or the drop across the bulb when the switch is on?........Good Luck, Ross

Measure the voltage across the switch with it turned on....if there is no drop the switch is probably not the problem...And how is the connection in the socket. Remove the bulb, turn on the switch and measure the voltage in the socket...if it is good, you might have a bad connection with the bulb/bad socket. I have also seen cheap bulbs that won't make a good connection with any socket...I like Phillips....good luck John..........Ross

Keep in mind that if you are not reading from hot to neutral with power to the switch and you are using a new digital type meter, you may be getting false readings due to the very high internal resistance of the meter. You also want to make sure you are not reading voltage with the lamp in the circuit.

Neutral in the switch box (I assume you're measuring hot-to-neutral) might be floating. That can give all kinds of funky readings, depending on the load.

If you know where the feed for this box is coming from, check the connections at the next upstream box.

Did it ever work correctly? If so, its likely the switch. Try a new one.