On Sat, 21 Dec 2019 00:53:58 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Sat, 21 Dec 2019 09:21:16 +0630, Oumati Asami
wrote:

On 20/12/19 22:25, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Fri, 20 Dec 2019 14:39:41 +0630, Oumati Asami
wrote:

The light in the laundry room stops working after worker had worked on
the ceiling in the next room.

There are two wires coming in to the light (or one in one out). Before I
flip the switch, both wires are not charged as tested by a tester. After
flipping the switch, both are charged. Yet, the light just won't light.

I removed the light and plug it in to a socket, it works.

Question:

1) did the test (both wires not charged and then charged after flipping
the switch) I do make sense?

2) how could the work in the other room affect the light next room? I do

I put a dimmer on the dining room light, got interrrupted in the middle
for a long time, then didn't know why the range hood didn't work. The
wire for the range hood came out of the box with the dining room light
switch. Of course the wall was right between the rooms.

You're using a real volt meter, not a neon light or something? The
lightbulb is not in the socket when you are testing the voltage to it?


I used a neon light tester.

That's NO GOOD. It can show something as hot that isn't, just because
something nearby is hot. Once you have one mistake in your perception
of things, you'll never figure out the truth.


Actually he CAN do the whole test with nothing but a proper "neon
tester" desighned for the job
The light bulb was in the fixture. The light
worked when both the fixture and the light bulb were removed and
connected to another circuit.

So there's nothing wrong with the lightbulb but using neon, you haven't
learned a thing about the socket wires.

You need a VOM, a volt-ohmmeter. HarborFreight has them for 4 or 5
dollars. If that isn't handy, Home Depot has them for 10 or 20.

No - a proper neon tester was actually the troubleshooting tool of
choice for many professionalelectricians for decades. BUT - you have
to understand it and how to use it.

You're going to have to get a real meter, do all the same measurements,
and if necessary, come back here with useful results.

$10 is a small investment for something this important, considering what
electricians charge, and that a meter can last you 60 or 100 years.

Try to get a package of jumper wires too, with alligator clips on each
end, so that you can connect the black wire from the meter to another
location, such as a ground, and only have to pay attention to the red
proble.

!!! While analog meters, with a moving needle, have an advantage in a
few situations, if you're only going to have one meter, I think digital
is much better and much more useful.

Don't get a battery tester, don't get non-contact.

This, or something that looks like this, only $10:
https://www.amazon.com/WeePro-Vpro85...-search&sr=8-4

Note that there is one set of settings for AC and one for DC. Try to
set things right before touching the leads to the wires. Most meters
have over-voltage protection now but it's good practice, and some day
you may be using a meter without that.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=vom&link_...tag=mozilla-20

The more expensive ones have options you'll probably never use.

Jumper wires, 1000 uses:

https://www.amazon.com/WGGE-WG-026-P...-search&sr=8-4



see that there are three wires in the switch box, none of them neutral
or ground. They are all live wires. Two on one side of the switch, one
on the other side. The two are charged, the other is only charged after
the switch is flipped.

This is the switch for the light that does not work?

The "two are charged" when the switch is not flipped, but are both
charged when the switch is flipped?

Yes and yes.



Is there more than one switch controlling the light in hte laundry
room? Not very common but would account for there being 3 wires to the
switch.

No.

Alternate question, are the two that are charged directly conneded
outside the switch, by a continuous piece of copper, or are they
connected inside the switch. (I'm assuming one is connected to the
other and the second one is hot only because it's connected. That's
probably true.)


They are connected directly to the switch, two wires going into one side
of the switch and being tightened by a switch screw, the other going to
the other side of the switch.