"Ghost" AC voltages can often be seen with analog as well as digital VMs.
The situation is related to the extremely high impedance of most "service
type" VMs. They are designed to impose very small loading on the circuit
under test. This is fine when testing electronic devices but can be
misleading on ordinary AC power circuits. The cause is leakage. The source
of most home power is a center tap (grounded) transformer with 120VAC
circuits taken from both ends. Insulation leakage anywhere in home
distribution, esp. across "open" breaker contacts, can give erroneous
readings on ordinary voltmeters.

Bob Swinney

"Wild Bill" wrote in message
...
Yes, an analog volt meter is definitely more reliable than a lot of DMMs
for
AC volts.

With a DMM sitting on a table, not connected to any circuit, you might
notice that if you only hold a single meter lead tip with your fingers,
that
the reading jumps around.

A quick check for the relative quality of a DMM is to set it on the lowest
voltage range with no leads attached. The display should be zero or a very
low reading that doesn't fluctuate. Fluctuation can indicate that there is
no shielding, or that it's inadequate, and some low-end meters are the
worst.

Depending upon the design of the DMM meter's input and conversion
circuitry,
the readings can be very unreliable, especially when checking for AC
voltages.

Generally, the only analog AC meters that will give unusual-looking
readings, are the amplified ones that are intended to measure very small
potentials in the micro or millivolt potentials (not for AC house/building
wiring troubleshooting).

WB
..............

"Mike Henry" wrote in message
...

Did you use a digital voltmeter to measure this by any chance?


Yep, it was a digital VOM - would analog have given different results?






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