Ivan Vegvary wrote:
Up in the attic. Have to bring hot wire to junction box with three legs
going out. Each leg goes to ceiling light of different rooms. YES, I
can power them up and the wall switch in each room turns on its
respective light. BUT, what's an easy way to test that I don't have hot
and neutral reversed. The old romex in the attic (two wire, cloth
wrapped) is NOT color coded in any way.

Do I simply drag a neutral wire from a different circuit and probe the
bulb socket in each room? Is there an easier way? My A.C. voltmeter
obviously does not indicate polarity.

All replies appreciated. Sheetrock guy is coming tomorrow a.m. and I
have to solve this today!

Ivan Vegvary


I'll assume that the presence of two wire romex means that none of the
outlet boxes themselves are grounded, so you can't use them to test against.

No warranty on this advice, but if you're using an "electronic"
(digital) voltmeter, and are standing on something which insulates you
from ground, then you can jsut touch one of the voltmeter leads with
your hand and probe the shell and center contacts of the sockets with
the other lead.

Your body capacitance will provide enough of a load to cause the
voltmeter to indicate some voltage when it's lead is connected to the
"hot" side iof the line. It probably won't read the full 120 volts, but
enough so you can easily tell the difference.

There are commercial testers which will do what you want to do, if you
want to spring a few bucks for one:

http://www.tecratools.com/product492.html

But, if you've already got a sensitive AC voltmeter, try my suggestion.

Jeff


--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.8*10^12 furlongs per fortnight.