I think there's a ghost in my house.

Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
different circuits) do this.
The first is in a stairwell and switched by two three ways and one
four way.
The second is switched by two three ways.

I've had two electricians look at it and find no apparent problems
with the wiring in the switch boxes. I should state for the record
though that I wired the switches for the first light, and I'm not an
electrician. One of the fixtures had the black and white wires
reversed, but correcting this didn't change anything. The switches
for the first fixture are all brand new. Those for the other are 50
years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
fine.

Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?

By the way, one electrician noted that when one touches the black to
ground, nothing happens -- no spark, no short, nothing, so maybe the
meter is misleading us, but then the other electrician registered the
same thing on his meter, and remember, the bulb lights up.

Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....


Thanks for any advice

"ccsikyr" wrote in message
ps.com...
I think there's a ghost in my house.

Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
different circuits) do this.
The first is in a stairwell and switched by two three ways and one
four way.
The second is switched by two three ways.

I've had two electricians look at it and find no apparent problems
with the wiring in the switch boxes. I should state for the record
though that I wired the switches for the first light, and I'm not an
electrician. One of the fixtures had the black and white wires
reversed, but correcting this didn't change anything. The switches
for the first fixture are all brand new. Those for the other are 50
years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
fine.

Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?

By the way, one electrician noted that when one touches the black to
ground, nothing happens -- no spark, no short, nothing, so maybe the
meter is misleading us, but then the other electrician registered the
same thing on his meter, and remember, the bulb lights up.

Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....

Ham radio operator next door running a huge RF amplifier?

I think there's a ghost in my house.

Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
different circuits) do this.
The first is in a stairwell and switched by two three ways and one
four way.
The second is switched by two three ways.

I've had two electricians look at it and find no apparent problems
with the wiring in the switch boxes. I should state for the record
though that I wired the switches for the first light, and I'm not an
electrician. One of the fixtures had the black and white wires
reversed, but correcting this didn't change anything. The switches
for the first fixture are all brand new. Those for the other are 50
years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
fine.

Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?

By the way, one electrician noted that when one touches the black to
ground, nothing happens -- no spark, no short, nothing, so maybe the
meter is misleading us, but then the other electrician registered the
same thing on his meter, and remember, the bulb lights up.

Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....


Thanks for any advice

I don't have a real answer for this but I do know that static, or stray
electricity , will cause this to happen, Honest, go ahead and rub a tube on
a staticy sweater in complete darkness, it will glow with the strokes
against the sweater.
I think your right about the wiring being goofy, but I'm not an
electrician, just a rental property owner that does most of his own work.
Clark

years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
fine.

Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?

If the BX is really old, you might want to replace that. I had some old BX
(I'm guessing 40 years old) that was going up the chase inside an exterior
wall to my home office, showed some rusting on the steel armor, and that
circuit was never quite right. I ripped it out and replaced with new BX and
it's fine now.

-- Paul

"ccsikyr" wrote in message
ps.com...
I think there's a ghost in my house.

Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
different circuits) do this.
The first is in a stairwell and switched by two three ways and one
four way.
The second is switched by two three ways.

I've had two electricians look at it and find no apparent problems
with the wiring in the switch boxes. I should state for the record
though that I wired the switches for the first light, and I'm not an
electrician. One of the fixtures had the black and white wires
reversed, but correcting this didn't change anything. The switches
for the first fixture are all brand new. Those for the other are 50
years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
fine.

Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?

By the way, one electrician noted that when one touches the black to
ground, nothing happens -- no spark, no short, nothing, so maybe the
meter is misleading us, but then the other electrician registered the
same thing on his meter, and remember, the bulb lights up.

Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....


Probably nothing wrong. The voltage is an induced voltage caused by wires
running close to each other. The meter is most likely a digital voltmeter
and they require very little current to show a voltage. Anytime two wires
are close to each other a very low grade transformer or capacitor is made.
Not enough to have much current but enough to show up as some voltage on a
digital voltmeter. If an older analog meter is used such as the Simpson
260, as you change the switch for the voltages , the meter needle will stay
in about the same physical place, but the voltge will appear to change a
lot.

It does not take too much power for a compact flourescent bulb to flash for
a second or so. Static or maybe even the refrigerator or airconditioner
will produce a spike when the motor starts to do this.

"Charles" wrote in news:8NadnRTfT-
:


"ccsikyr" wrote in message
ps.com...
I think there's a ghost in my house.

Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
different circuits) do this.
The first is in a stairwell and switched by two three ways and one
four way.
The second is switched by two three ways.

I've had two electricians look at it and find no apparent problems
with the wiring in the switch boxes. I should state for the record
though that I wired the switches for the first light, and I'm not an
electrician. One of the fixtures had the black and white wires
reversed, but correcting this didn't change anything. The switches
for the first fixture are all brand new. Those for the other are 50
years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
fine.

Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?

By the way, one electrician noted that when one touches the black to
ground, nothing happens -- no spark, no short, nothing, so maybe the
meter is misleading us, but then the other electrician registered the
same thing on his meter, and remember, the bulb lights up.

Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....

Ham radio operator next door running a huge RF amplifier?



Wonder if he lives near this guy with the Tesla Coil

http://physics.fullerton.edu/~physic...tesla-coil.jpg

I think there's a ghost in my house.

Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....



Don't bother. I think the whole idea is charming, like squeaky floors or
rattling pipes.

Gives the house character, it does.

In article ,
Al Bundy wrote:




Wonder if he lives near this guy with the Tesla Coil

http://physics.fullerton.edu/~physic...tesla-coil.jpg

All right, *that's* going on my Christmas wish list for sure.

On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:13:58 -0000, "ccsikyr"
wrote:

I think there's a ghost in my house.

Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
different circuits) do this.
The first is in a stairwell and switched by two three ways and one
four way.
The second is switched by two three ways.

I've had two electricians look at it and find no apparent problems
with the wiring in the switch boxes. I should state for the record
though that I wired the switches for the first light, and I'm not an
electrician. One of the fixtures had the black and white wires
reversed, but correcting this didn't change anything. The switches
for the first fixture are all brand new. Those for the other are 50
years old. The house is wired with BX cable, except for renovated
areas, including one of the lights. Both lights are grounded just
fine.

Here's the puzzle: using a meter, the lights register 30V from black
to white when the switches are set to turn the light *off.* Does
anyone have thoughts on what could possibly cause this?

By the way, one electrician noted that when one touches the black to
ground, nothing happens -- no spark, no short, nothing, so maybe the
meter is misleading us, but then the other electrician registered the
same thing on his meter, and remember, the bulb lights up.

Ultimately, I'll probably just have an electrician rewire the whole
damn circuit, but I sure would like to know what's wrong first....



Thanks for any advice


Ralph's post above has the right idea.

It is current crossing between long runs of parallel wires via the
wire to wire capacitance.

CFL's often do this.

If it is a nuisance then change back to incandescent lamps.

Ross

"ccsikyr" wrote in message
ps.com...
I think there's a ghost in my house.

Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
different circuits) do this.

Other posters have correctly identified induced voltage as the most likely
cause.

With some CFL electronic ballast designs, this voltage will slowly charge a
filter capacitor inside the CFL until it reaches a critical threshold, at
which point the lamp will flash on momentarily.

The voltage may be due to the design of the 3/4 way switches, so you can try
changing these to a different design. Or change the CFL to one that has a
different ballast (e.g., quick-start vs. not-quick-start).

HTH.

"Travis Jordan" wrote in message
. ..
"ccsikyr" wrote in message
ps.com...
I think there's a ghost in my house.

Sitting in the dark, I occasionally witness a compact flourescent bulb
light up very faintly, for no more than a second. Two lights (on two
different circuits) do this.

Other posters have correctly identified induced voltage as the most likely
cause.

With some CFL electronic ballast designs, this voltage will slowly charge a
filter capacitor inside the CFL until it reaches a critical threshold, at
which point the lamp will flash on momentarily.

The voltage may be due to the design of the 3/4 way switches, so you can try
changing these to a different design. Or change the CFL to one that has a
different ballast (e.g., quick-start vs. not-quick-start).

Or put one small incandesent bulb on the circuit.

Bob

If it is a nuisance then change back to incandescent lamps.

WHAT? ...AND DESTROY THE PLANET?

"Al Bundy" wrote in message
...


Wonder if he lives near this guy with the Tesla Coil

http://physics.fullerton.edu/~physic...tesla-coil.jpg

I knew a guy who actually did stuff like that in his garage. His neighbors
got him shut down, for obvious reasons. He did light up lamps (dimly) in
adjoining homes. No need to discuss what he did to their TV/Radio reception.

Tesla's dream about wireless power distribution does indeed work, to a
point.

Smitty Two wrote in newsrestwhich-
:

In article ,
Al Bundy wrote:




Wonder if he lives near this guy with the Tesla Coil

http://physics.fullerton.edu/~physic...tesla-coil.jpg

All right, *that's* going on my Christmas wish list for sure.


Take care of those pesky people who come to the door and wanna read to ya.
And think of the Halloween fun! Turn them lil goblins into popcorn chicken.

"Charles" wrote in
:


"Al Bundy" wrote in message
...


Wonder if he lives near this guy with the Tesla Coil

http://physics.fullerton.edu/~physic...tesla-coil.jpg

I knew a guy who actually did stuff like that in his garage. His
neighbors got him shut down, for obvious reasons. He did light up
lamps (dimly) in adjoining homes. No need to discuss what he did to
their TV/Radio reception.

Tesla's dream about wireless power distribution does indeed work, to a
point.




Used to be somewhat easily made. 30+ years ago I think we used a
transformer from those liquor store neon window signs. If I recall they
had some really good step-up.