"CooSer" wrote in message ...
I am new to this group but may be using it a lot since I have just bought a
house that is turning out to be a true Handy Man Special.

Question: Some of my receptacles will run low voltage such as lights, but
not very bright. A hundred watt bulb will only look like it is 50W. A
vacuum cleaner will not even work.

I have replaced all receptacles in the bedroom but there may be more
switches and receptacles on this circuit.

Can anyone tell what the problem may be and is there an easy way to test it?

It sounds like you have a loose wire somewhere. If you have cheap receptacles with push-in wires,
change them to the screw down type. Measuring the voltage with no load on the circuit is almost
meaningless unless its no where near 120V. A poor connection will still show 120V when no load is
present. If you're losing enough power that a 100W lamp dims significantly, you can probably find
the problem with your hand -- the loose connection is going to get warm quick so feel each
receptacle in the circuit chain.

Also, a loose wire at a receptacle will affect the downstream receptacles too unless the receptacle
is pigtailed to the wires. Consider buying a pack of black, white, and green pigtails at Home Depot
with the wire nut on one end and fork terminal on the other. At the problem receptacles (or the one
upstream from it), remove the wires from the receptacle, buy new receptacles with screws on the
sides, and power them via the pigtails. Note - watch for receptacles with red and black wires --
these are wired different and you don't want to pigtail those together. Perhaps just re-terminate
them under screws if you encounter these.

If you know the path of the cable from outlet to outlet, you can plug a 100W lamp in at the last one
and measure the voltage at each receptacle. Poorly terminated ones, or ones downstream of the bad
one(s), won't have 120V across their prongs. Each time the voltage rop considerably, you've hit
another high resistance connection. Also, realize that many houses in the 60's were wired so that
power went to ceiling boxes first and then to receptacles. Ceiling boxes are larger and wires may
fan out like an octopus at the ceiling. A bad connection here will also cause power loss to the down
stream devices, so check the ceiling light connections too (especially since home owners tend to
change light fixtures and many do it poorly).

--
Mark
Kent, WA