On Mon, 1 Dec 2008 15:54:45 -0500, "Twayne"
wrote:

Twayne wrote:
Phisherman wrote:
On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:12:37 -0800, "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


There are plug-in inexpensive testers to tell you from hot and
neutral. Many just plug into an outlet, but I'm sure you can get
one of those screw-in sockets that would allow you to plug the
tester in.

I believ those only work if they are used on a circuit with a ground
available. I don't see how they could work with one of those
screw-in socket adapters.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, please.

Jeff

I can't speak for all of them, but mine works on two wire/no earth.
In fact, missing earth is one of the light sequences, right along
wiht a "missing" neutral. It can identify any of the 3 wires are
missing. I suspect they all can, no? This is just a cheapie Radio
Shack tester. GB is the only mfg ID I see on it.

If there is no ground it will tell you that.

But unless you have one I haven't seen, if there is no ground the
tester won't tell you if there is a H-N reverse. That is basically
what Jeff asked.
It won't tell you if there is a high resistance (useless) ground.

In an unusual case of N tied to G (which some idiots do when there is
no ground available) and a H-N supply reverse it will indicate
"normal".

lol, not for long once the power is turned on!

Semantics. If the "u" ground on the receptacle ic connected to the
neutral, either at the plug or the panel, everythiing will work fine
except the case of every grounded device connected will be HOT.

If, however, the neutral is connected to a functional ground, and the
H-N wires are crossed, breakers and/or fuses will complain immediately
upon power-up.