Voltage on lights circuit when switched off

[dave cunningham]

Last week I removed the light from our hall while I was painting the ceiling.

I've just gone to put a new fitting up and couldn't remember which circuit I need to switch off in the fuse box so checked the fitting with a multimeter.

It reads 240V when on but 60V when off (it's 0V as expected with the MCB switched off).

Is this normal, if not is it likely caused by poor quality switches and do they need replacing or will a fluorescent be OK with 60V rather than

0?

The light in question is on a dual pole switch if this has any bearing.

Thanks

[Bob Minchin]

This is almost certainly due to capacitive coupling in the wiring and the high input impedance of your meter. I expect if you use a moving coil meter you will hardly notice this effect. I doubt if your light switches are dual pole but are two or dual WAY. There is nothing to be concerned about changing to fluorescent lights from your measurements.

Bob

[Andy Burns]

This will just be induced voltage from parallel conductors, only a tiny current will be available, presumably the multimeter is digital and therefore has a high impedance? It would probably barely register on an old analogur meter.

Fluorescent should be OK, though you /might/ see them give an occasional flash if they manage to charge an internal capacitor from the tiny amount of current that is available.