One track light fixture keeps burning out bulbs (of any quality) and I’m wondering if it could be that the hot and neutral wires are switched . My house has one or two knob and tube circuits still running and when I put in the fixture the jb had two fabric coated wires; one whitish and one blackish. So I hooked it up how it appeared to be .So -Whats an easy way to test for neutral/hot and does it make a big difference on bulb lifespan?
p.s. there is no apparent ground in this box and yes I own many pliers and drivers with nice weld marks 🙂 and no I’m not ready to rewire my house today lol
thanks fer any help ………… Rik………..
Replies
RTACOMA,
While the orientation of hot and neutral can make a life ending difference to people, it doesn't matter to the electrical device.
Check the voltage across the wires. hi or lo. Safely check volts with lamp on and in circuit.
remove the bulb and look for signs of overheating in the socket. Poor center connection?
observe the fixture to understand if it has sufficient ventilation/airflow for cooling
take the fixture apart to see if there are any suspect connections inside.
Check connections at circuit breaker.
Good luck and persevere.
SamT
"Law reflects, but in no sense determines the moral worth of a society.... The better the society, the less law there will be. In Heaven, there will be no law, and the lion will lie down with the lamb.... The worse the society, the more law there will be. In Hell, there will be nothing but law, and due process will be meticulously observed."
Grant Gilmore, The Ages of American Law (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977), pp. 110-111.
From 32866.117
To check which is neutral:
Take questioned wire and touch one leg of a circuit tester to it; Take other leg of a circuit test and shove it in the hot leg (right side) of a socket. If it buzzes and lights up, you have neutral or a ground.
The light socket doesn't know or care which leg is being switched. So a switched neutral is not the cause of your problem.
Low voltage, bad transformer, overheating could be.
Look elsewhere for your issues.
Regards,
Boris
"Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934
If all else fails, check the contact of the bulb and the fixture. If either or both appear blackened and maybe crusted up, poor contact and arcing is going on. You 'll need to clean and pull up the fixture contact so a better connection is made b/4 the bulb bottoms out. Around here, alot of mini cans seem to have that problem. It won't blow them right away, but it will regularly. Another long bulb life idea is to use the 130 v. , the filament is thicker.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
If the bulb get real bright and pops like a flash bulb you have 220 volts! Somewhere down the line a "nuetral may be lose", get an electrician.
i have a small yellow electrical tester w/ male plug, that plugs into any 110 grounded outlet, with three lights on the face, two yellow and one red. you just plug it in and it tells you by lighting (instructions written on tester) whether it is wired correctly or not. this could also be used with alligator clips and test wires to test light sockets but as you already heard in previous posts this is not the answer to your problem, but should be done anyway to protect from injury
Thanks guys
Today I'm gonna get a plugin tester and check any suspect outlets that might be on the same wire and then I'll take down the fixture and tweak and make sure the bulbs are seated and get good contact.
If I screw up and burn another tool I'll post in 'what tool did you buy today' ;) ..............Rik...............
The plug in tester will not work without a ground wire.
And even at that there are many problems that it won't show. For example reversed ground and neutral or a bootleg ground (from the neutral) won't show up.
You best bet is to extend a wire from a ground. And then use a tester from the groud wire to the two suspect wires.
You would see near full voltage on the hot leg and near zero on the neutral leg.
I see ......... what type of tester would I need? a multimeter of some sort?.. any recomendations? thanks ..........Rik...........
Realy anything that will give a realative indication.
A mechancial multimeter, an LCD multimeter, or a "wiggler" will work.
The LCD unit can give false reading if you connect it up to wires that are not connected to anything (or the switch is open).
go and buy (borrow) a gfi outlet and hook it up to the wires, if it is backwards you won't be able to reset the gfi breaker.
Strong words indicate a weak argument
No.
While some GFCI's will not reset if the power is connected the LOAD side of the connection instead of the LINE.
But they don't know the difference between Hot and Neutral.