Two continuous wires are needed for the light to work. The hot leg, which
your tester indicates that you have, and the neutral, or grounded leg, which
you apparently don't have. The first thing I would do is be sure that the
splices at light A are tight, beyond that, it would appear that the neutral
has been severed



"Alan" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi,

Here is my situation.

Have a light switch that controls 2 lights -- A & B on opposite sides
of the front of my house. The wire runs from switch to light A and
then a wire runs from A to B. Both lights used to work. I recently
had construction in my house and had new wood siding put up outside
and drywall inside. Now light A works but B does not.

Here is the weird thing. When I put my electrical sensor (I don't
have a volt meter, just the device that beeps if current is present)
to the wires of light B, it beeps as if current is present when the
switch is on. However, the fixture does not work. I have tried new
fixture and new bulb including moving the fixutre from A that I know
works there.

I am guessing that during remodeling they somehow hit the wire with a
nail or screw. But why do I show some current there at all? And if
they hit it with a screw/nail, shouldn't I get a short and keep
blowing a breaker when I turn on the lights?

Can anyone shed some light (sorry for the pun) on this for me? I am
hoping there is a good answer as trying to run a new wire will be
difficult and expensive for me.

Thanks.

Alan