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Electrical Wiring

Voltage with the breaker off. Should I be concerned?

13 years ago

I was replacing an outlet today and double checked the circuit after turning off the breaker. To my surprise, it showed about 6-7 volts. I traced the wire back to a junction box and checked it from there with the same results. The wire feeding the junction box is a 12/3 and it appears 2 circuits share a neutral. What could be going on here and should i be concerned?

Comments (3)

brickeyee
13 years ago
Bet you are using a distal meter.

The input impedance of digital meters is so high they can read voltage that is capacitively coupled to a conductor in proximity to a hot conductor.

Plug a light into the receptacle and turn it on.

The filament will provide a path for the coupled voltage to ground and you will now measure 9 volts.

The effective source impedance for the coupled voltage is very high, but the multi mega-ohm input of a digital meter can read it.
Ron Natalie
13 years ago
Distal meters? I always use proximal meters.
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guvnah
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks for the response brickeyee. Learning something new every day.

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