On 23 Oct 2006 19:48:51 -0700, wrote:


wrote:
digital meters are flkey try checking voltage by wiring a 100 watt
lamp as a tester, that will show whats really there

I used a 100-250v voltage tester with a light on it as well.

That has a neon light, though, doesn't it.

Hallerb means for you to use a real light bulb (incandescent), 100
watts, and see how brightly it glows.

Others would say to use a non-digital meter, that is one with a needle
that is not an FET VOM or a VTVM. FET meters and vaccuum tube volt
meter have high input impedance, like digital meters do, and I presume
the people here would say that all 3 are flakey. That is, a high
induced voltage, like 27 volts will be measured as 27 volts, even
though there is only a minuscule trace of available current. With
the other meters, with needles, the 27 volts will be drained off by
the meter itself, and the voltage will read zero.