After a large storm here in Michigan I began experiencing a problem in
our barn's electrical system. Now all of the circuits were functioning
fine up until this storm hit and I have checked everything I can
possibly think of to try to repair the problem.

First,... a little description of the problem. When you turn on the
lights in the tack room the bulb does light but it's on the dim side
(60 watt bulb). Now with that light left on in the tack room,.. if I
turn the lights on in my shop which is the room right next door the
bulb in the tack room gets brighter (like a 100 watt bulb in
brightness) Both of these circuits are on different breakers in the
box. When I go to use any of the power tools in my shop there isn't
enough amps/volts to drive the motors. IE chop saw, compressor, bench
grinder. The power to the main breaker box in the barn is fed by the
main box on the utility pole where the meter is mounted. the power is
fed through a 100 amp breaker which supplies 2 seperate circuits to the
breaker box in the barn, each is 120v ( I replaced this breaker to make
sure it wasn't the problem and it made no difference in my barn
problem) Now when I check my incoming voltages at both receiving legs
in the barn breaker box I read 105 volts on the left leg and 135 volts
on the right one. I have physically disconnected all of the circuits in
the barns breaker box from all of the leg connections and tried each
one seperatly to see if there was a problem in a individual circuit.
None of the individual circuits have any change in the symptoms I have
related to earlier by doing this. I have checked the grounds and
neutrals in each circuit and can't find any problems in any of the
individual barn lines. If I leave the power on in the barn for the tack
room light & shop light so they are lit,.. the power for the lights
within the barn area (stalls and such) will function (florescent
fixtures) but if I turn off either of the other 2 lights (tack room or
shop) the barn lights will go out also and come back on if I turn the
tack light on or the shop light on depending on which one I had shut
off originally.

Now remember,... EACH of these circuits are on their own circuit
breaker and none are interconnected anywhere in the system with the
exception of the MAIN power source to all of them. Quite frankly I AM
Stumped!!

Is there ANYONE out there that could high-light me as to what the
problem could be and what could be done to fix it???

ANY suggestions would be GREATLY apperciated !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Warlock49766" writes:

After a large storm here in Michigan I began experiencing a problem in
our barn's electrical system. Now all of the circuits were functioning
fine up until this storm hit and I have checked everything I can
possibly think of to try to repair the problem.

First,... a little description of the problem. When you turn on the
lights in the tack room the bulb does light but it's on the dim side
(60 watt bulb). Now with that light left on in the tack room,.. if I
turn the lights on in my shop which is the room right next door the
bulb in the tack room gets brighter (like a 100 watt bulb in
brightness) Both of these circuits are on different breakers in the
box. When I go to use any of the power tools in my shop there isn't
enough amps/volts to drive the motors. IE chop saw, compressor, bench
grinder. The power to the main breaker box in the barn is fed by the
main box on the utility pole where the meter is mounted. the power is
fed through a 100 amp breaker which supplies 2 seperate circuits to the
breaker box in the barn, each is 120v ( I replaced this breaker to make
sure it wasn't the problem and it made no difference in my barn
problem) Now when I check my incoming voltages at both receiving legs
in the barn breaker box I read 105 volts on the left leg and 135 volts
on the right one. I have physically disconnected all of the circuits in
the barns breaker box from all of the leg connections and tried each
one seperatly to see if there was a problem in a individual circuit.
None of the individual circuits have any change in the symptoms I have
related to earlier by doing this. I have checked the grounds and
neutrals in each circuit and can't find any problems in any of the
individual barn lines. If I leave the power on in the barn for the tack
room light & shop light so they are lit,.. the power for the lights
within the barn area (stalls and such) will function (florescent
fixtures) but if I turn off either of the other 2 lights (tack room or
shop) the barn lights will go out also and come back on if I turn the
tack light on or the shop light on depending on which one I had shut
off originally.

Now remember,... EACH of these circuits are on their own circuit
breaker and none are interconnected anywhere in the system with the
exception of the MAIN power source to all of them. Quite frankly I AM
Stumped!!

Is there ANYONE out there that could high-light me as to what the
problem could be and what could be done to fix it???

ANY suggestions would be GREATLY apperciated !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It sounds like you've lost the Nuetral connection somewhere between the
breaker box and the branch circuits. The brigtening/dimming of lamps on
other circuits is the classic behavior.

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