"Fpbear II" wrote in message
et...
Originally I used a Kill-A-Watt device to measure.

I just tested again using a high end Fluke Multimeter. The outlet pairs
now show 125V, 118V across hot/neutral, but it changes slightly every time
I measure. In fact, now the high/low readings swapped sides within the
pair.

I had also changed the location where appliances were plugged in to take
advantage of the high-performing outlets, so the difference in load might
have something to do with this swapping of the high/low readings.

Now I remember that whenever I have a high load on one outlet, one of the
other in the different pair suddenly performs better.. for example I plug
in the vacuum cleaner and then the aquarium lights get brighter..


Most of the time if you load one side of the wiring and the voltage on the
other side goes higher you have a neutral problem. Check at the braker box
where the power comes in and see if you get a change there of more than a
volt or two as you load the circuits. If so, it may be a problem with the
power company.

A house should be wired so the load is split between the two sides of the
wiring comming into a house. If the loads were ballanced exectually you
would not need the neuteral wire. This is almost an impossable situation.
The neutral carries the unballanced current. If there is a problem with the
neutral (open or bad connection) , one side of the wiring gets a larger
voltage and the othe side goes to a lower voltage depending on which is
loaded the most.