power in circuit, bulb doesn't light

Jun 12, 2009 5 Replies

I have a ridiculous problem with a circuit in my house. A simple circuit tester, when hooked to the black and white wires going to a switch shows that I have 120V (based on an LED on the tester, not an exact measurement). The black and whites coming out of the ceiling show the same result. When I flip the switch on and off, the circuit tester at the ceiling goes on and off. All is good, right?



However, when I hook up a simple bulb fixture to the ceiling, it doe not turn on. Tried different bulbs, fixtures. Wall is hot, switch is working, ceiling is hot, but no lights.



This fixture was functional and then started flickering intermittently and then ceased to function. There was a leak from the roof in the floor above that was fixed around that time, but not sure if it is related. . . Any ideas?



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High impedance meters and those LED testers can give false indications. I use a tester made with an incandescent lamp.

Jimmie

If the wire to that fixture is not connected to a hot circuit and if it runs along a circuit that is live, it can pick up the voltage, but not any significant amperage. Modern meters can measure that voltage, while older analog meters would not.

Learn to post to Usenet the regular way, not Sucko company.

And *you* need to learn to trim posts -- you reposted the entire thing, including the link to the spammer's web site. Idiot.

Hmm. You know, you're right. Of course, I'm obliged to call you a name in return, you big usenet poster.

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