Switched/split receptacles problem

Nov 16, 2003 2 Replies
T

I have some receptacles on a single circuit that are split (broke the tab on the hot side) and the top halves of each receptacle are switched (lower halves are constant hot). I ran 12/3 wire between the receptacles, so the red wire is my switched hot, my black wire is the constant hot, and my neutrals are spliced together at each receptacle.



When I measure the voltage coming out of the bottom halves of the receptacles (constant hot), I get the expected 120V. On the top halves (switched halves), however, I get the expected 120V when the switch is ON, but I'm getting 53V when the switch is OFF (measuring between the hot and ground wires-- get the same reading between the hot and neutral wires).



Have I misconnected something?


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S

No mis-connection; your meter is too sensitive. The 53V is created by capacitive coupling between Red/Blk conductors. Plug a lamp in the recept to act as a load and re-measure.

Jim

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T

Thanks, Jim. You were absolutely correct. I plugged a lamp into one of the receptacles and the voltage dropped to zero-- the load from the lamp must have sunk the induced microcurrent that was floating around on the red wire. I was really banging my head against the wall trying to make sense of this-- perhaps the static electricity generated by my head hitting the wall was inducing part of this current as well? ;) Thanks again.

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