"Jeff Wisnia" wrote in message
mmunications...
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.

Even if you are using a real cheap neon tester, this method works to find a
hot wire, Just hold the end of one lead and touch the other to the wires,
the neon bulb will light up dimly when you hit a hot wire. You won't feel a
thing.