Inside lights and outside lights, if GFIs are used, should be on separate
ones.


wrote in message
oups.com...
So, I went around the whole house, all circuits live, with my trusty
voltmeter. Figured some of the outside boxes must be tied in
somewhere. Found my way to the back deck and... 96 volts. The night
light test revealed a dimly glowing bulb. Ha! I've got you now!

Turned off the breaker, tested with the voltmeter, and out came the
outlet. Turns out it had some corrosion going on (one of the sides of
the box didn't seal particularly well, evidently) and one of the hot
wires came out pretty easily. It was one of those "jam the stripped
wire in the hole" sorts of recepticles. So, a quick trip to the
friendly local neighborhood Despot of Homes and all is well again.

I lined the gasket surrounding the new outdoor cover with some RTV
sealant this time around - we'll see how many years this one lasts.

- David