I have power wire entering my shed.
It powers one switched light and one unswitched outlet.
My VOM says about 115v taken right at the outlet.
BUT nothing works in this outlet. It’s worked for 4 years and just out of the blue it stopped working but still shows it’s live.
What the heck?
Change the light bulb 
Brian,
I bet you need a new blender…. Sorry.. 
Quote:
Change the light bulb
X2 
Quote:
I have power wire entering my shed.
It powers one switched light and one unswitched outlet.
My VOM says about 115v taken right at the outlet.
BUT nothing works in this outlet. It’s worked for 4 years and just out of the blue it stopped working but still shows it’s live.
What the heck?
Check for 115 between the the ground prong and the smaller of the two blades. The bigger blade and ground should be tied together at the breaker panel.
BK…..your VOM probably has an internal resistance that really high. A good VOM is probably on the order of 500K ohms or so. “Anything I plug in” is going to be a much, much lower resistance. Lamps, electric motors, etc. all look almost like a dead short when you first turn them on.
My guess is that you have a bad, high resistance connection somewhere. When you look at it with a high impedance VOM you see the voltage but a normal (low impedance) load drops all the voltage across the lousy connectioons. Ohm’s law, you know. Before you do anything, KILL THE POWER TO THIS OUTLET, OK? I’d start with the screw terminals on the outlet, make sure the metal is clean and the screw are tight.
Please be careful
Rootski
My guess would be some sort of corrosion. If you used aluminum wire you need to tighten the lugs every once in a while. If you have a splice somewhere check to make sure it is still making connection.
Your volt meter/ohm meter will draw very little amperage when testing voltage but when you plug in an appliance or tool you are drawing more amperage then the bad connection will allow, and not allow the item enough electricity to power it.
Do not mix wire material, copper and aluminum will expand and contract at different rates and create a bad connection. Lastly there is a paste that is made for aluminum wire that helps to make a better connection and keep it cooler when under load, it works for copper also. Sorry I don’t remember what it is called. 
Thanks guys…you to Kevin! 
No AL wire…and the ground and neutral are in good shape.
I think that might be it, a faulty connection in the switch box that gives me 110v but not the required amperage.
I’ll give that a try tomorrow when I can kill the power and still see.
IDo, learning more here by accident than other places by design! 
Installing another ceiling fan. 
Beeks messin with voltage….I think I could be reading about that in the papers!!!
But seriously, connections/terminations are the cause of many problems, it’s a high percentage. Go over everything and make sure it’s tight and hopefully it’ll be an easy fix.
Quote:
Installing another ceiling fan.
I’m officially retired from the ceiling fan installation business. 
if somebody took the easy way out, and installed the outlet using the “push-in” connections, remove the wire, clean things off and re-attach using the screw or clamp connection. Those “stab-in’s” ain’t worth a damn.
HRG
Quote:
I have power wire entering my shed.
It powers one switched light and one unswitched outlet.
My VOM says about 115v taken right at the outlet.
BUT nothing works in this outlet. It’s worked for 4 years and just out of the blue it stopped working but still shows it’s live.
What the heck?
Now when you checked the voltage, where exactly did you test it at? I mean if you have the correct power at the plugs, how could the recept not work? Now the light maybe a whole different problem.
You may have lost the neutral
The switched light works fine.
The voltage was checked in the plug in holes.
Yes, the wires were “pushed” in.
I think the only thing left that it could be is a weak connection at the switch box where the outlet gains it’s power. The connection is good enough to show 110 on the vom, but there’s not enough amperage to run anything.
I’ll be finding out tonight.
Quote:
Those “stab-in’s” ain’t worth a damn.
HRG
That’s no lie, neither. They are terrible. You should definitely take the time to make a nice loop in your wire, and install the loop so that when you turn the screw, it closes the loop when tightened.
Something is fishy here If you have the voltage then the current should be there. The only thing that could drop the current draw would be a voltage drop or a super high resistance for a load. Voltage pushes the current. Man I’ve got to find out what’s going on here. It’s got to be something really simple 
Quote:
Something is fishy here
Brian,
I started to think about this a little more as a guy who twisted wires for about 5 years.
How many wires do you have going to the receptacle? Two or Three (is there an actual ground – Green or bare wire) EDIT: Upon reread I see you said there is a neutral and a ground.
Did you test between the two prongs at the receptacle, or did you go to the ground?
My thoughts are you may have an open neutral somewhere. The prime culprit is a loose connection at the rear of the receptacle, but often times these are pigtailed at another box, and one may have slipped out. If you tested voltage between the hot and the ground you would have power (110 v.), but if you test from the hot to the neutral you would have nothing.
Please double check that you tested the two top holes in the receptacle and not from one to the bottom. If you do pull the receptacle from the box, the neutral and the ground are always on the same side, and the hot is connected to the other side.
Another thing to check is the push in type receptacles have been known to break the wire directly next to the plug at the back of the receptacle, but not break the covering over the wire.
If it were me, I would remove the receptacle and install a new one. Check voltage at the wires at the box. I would bet dollars to donuts this would fix the problem.
Good luck
Quote:
Did you test between the two prongs at the receptacle, or did you go to the ground?
Short answer…yes, both.
I did pull the outlet out and wiggle the wires going into the push holes. What I haven’t done is checked the other end that’s wire nutted in the switch box. (tonight)
I’m not a professional electricial, but I’ve never watched a vom tell me I have 115v and when I plug something into it, it doesn’t work.
It has to be a poor connection at the wire nuts. I think.
Did you wipe the stink bait off before attaching the wires? I’m not sure Sonny’s is a very good conductor.
I was waiting for that John. But I was expecting it from Kev.
Quote:
If you have the voltage then the current should be there. The only thing that could drop the current draw would be a voltage drop or a super high resistance for a load. Voltage pushes the current.
Not really. Voltage is shows up across a resistance. Resistance limits current flow. If you have a bunch of connections in series, the voltage shows up mainly across the highest resistance. If there’s nothing plugged into the outlet except a (good quality high resistance VOM) then the voltage shows up there. If you plug in a lamp or something (a very low resistance) then voltage is going to show up across the next highest resistance, which in this case is probably a crusty connection…which has now become the highest resistance, right?
Rootski
I’m not going to re read that post Rootski…if you don’t mind.
Quote:
I’m not going to re read that post Rootski…if you don’t mind.
He’s right……………………………………I think
Quote:
if somebody took the easy way out, and installed the outlet using the “push-in” connections, remove the wire, clean things off and re-attach using the screw or clamp connection. Those “stab-in’s” ain’t worth a damn.
HRG
I’ll second this!! I’ve been on a run of switches and outlets lately. Only 4 years old too. Eventually I’ll get them all replaced I guess. 
I’m out the door with the needle nose and screw driver. Hopefully if I short out the wires Ido won’t go down.
Now if I can remember what I was going to do first?
I’m with Rootski. Ohm’s law
A DMM with low impedance ratings will show potential and lead to false diagnosis and worse yet ~ assumptions. Never ASSUME when dealing with current. Voltage burns ~ Current kills.
Do it yourself electricians should stick to something like this for testing live circuit recepticals. This device or several other similar models on the market will tell you if there is a problem with circuit wiring 99.9% of the time.
I wonder if BK has got his jolt yet.
Now you tell me Bose! I have one of those.
Either way, no jolt besides the FW trying out grilled lettuce on me tonight. At least she could have wrapped it in bacon.
Turned out it was a loose wire nut in the garage. Odd too, because I wrap the wire nuts with electrical tape in a way that holds them tight.
Never say never!
Thanks for all the help and I learned a couple things too! 
Quote:
Either way, no jolt besides the FW trying out grilled lettuce on me tonight. At least she could have wrapped it in bacon.
And hold the lettuce.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
