Line And Phase Voltage

I am only using a simple "non-contact" voltage detector. I am getting a reading from the switch, along part of the line and then at the lights themselves, but the lights are not coming on. I have not gotten into the attic yet to check the line and junction box. What could cause this? An open connection or loose connection? Any help with troubleshooting would be great.



This is a new install of lights, they were not existing. Power is at the switch. Had single pole now I have a double switch. (the existing light that was on the single pole is still working fine). At one  point I connected just the new lights to the existing power, single pole switch, and still did not have lights.
      

I am installing a new shed and redirecting an existing electrical line from an old shed to the new shed.  There is a GFI receptical (non-outlet type) in a weather-proof metal box attached to the house that is fed by a dedicated line from the circuit breaker box.



I never paid much attention to why the lighting in the old shed never worked until I decided on getting a new shed.  This weekend I went out with my multimeter to test the line and load sides of the GFI recepticle and measured only about 12 volts on both sides. (I did test the multimeter on some inside outlets and measured 120 volts).



I tried many times to reset the GFI without success.



Is the GFI bad?  Is it normal for a bad GFI to measure such low voltage on both the line and load sides?



Thanks for your help.
      

I have converter a 3 phase 220 volt  air compressor to single phase. I need a  timed relay to start the

the system when the air pressure drops. Since it is momentary, it needs to be a timed relay with a short (1-2 Seconds) to prevent burning out the capacitors.



Can someone help me with the timed relay I need or how I can have the motor start when the pressure drops and kicks out when it reaches the top limit
      

I'm buying a 12 lead Stamford generator, engine driven, and have a question or two about over current protection and ground fault protection.  I will normally have it wired for single phase 120 and 240 in the double delta configuration.  I may occasionally rewire it for 3 phase 240 in the series delta configuration.



For the single phase setup, what I've read so far leads me to believe I should have a main circuit breaker of about 125% continuous ampacity; it's a 10 kw generator.  Is that correct?  What kind of breaker do I need?  Should this main be a GFCI?  Do I bond neutral and ground?  This is a portable unit so I need to package a load center on the generator frame.  Can I wire one 240 receptacle directly to the main and two or three 120 volt GFCI's on it as well?  Or do I need another 240 breaker downstream of the main?  What should I be thinking about for swithching back and forth between single phase and three phase?  Alot of questions, trying to get smart and be safe.  Thanks.
      

I want to run a Cat 5 line from my phone box outside to a jack inside to connect my phone and DSL. Right now I just have a regular phone line for both and the phone company recommends running a new line because the internet is always slow and I can't call out on my phone.



How do I know which wires to hook up outside?



Kevin
      

Greetings all.



This is my first post here, I hope it goes well.



My name is Joe and I have searched Google. and this forum for my answer but have not been able to find a definitive answer to my question.  I have seen many replies talking about getting a tone generator or a line tracer but my experience is that tone generators are for Data and phone cables rather than electrical cables and the line tracers I've found online all seem to be about tracing the line back to the breaker panel so without knowing more I'm hesitant to purchase a line tracer in case it cannot do what I want.

My dilemma is very likely very simple to anyone with electrical experience so I hope it's not too trivial for this crowd.

I have recently purchased a house that is over 120 years old and have a motion sensor light on the porch that is supposedly connected to a switch inside but does not turn on.  I've opened the wall plate and used a voltage indicating pen to see where the electricity is.  In this case there are two light switches, one that has lines that have been spliced and another that supposedly leads to the porch light according to a long time tenant in that unit.  It all looks like a bit of a mess and the connections don't make sense.  In this scenario the black cables have the electricity and the white cables complete the circuit.  The switch to the porch light has a black cable coming from the top of the box going to the switch and a white cable connected to the other screw that comes from splitting the white cable from the other switch.  What I would like to do is know which cables in that wall box correspond to the cables to the porch light.  Can anyone give me an idea what I should do?

Do I need something like the Amprobe advanced wire tracer (http://www.professionalequipment.com...0/wire-tracer/) and can it do what I need, or is there something simpler I can do?

All help is appreciated.

Thanks



Joe
      

I am wiring a three phase motor through a two pole vacuum switch. two lines go through the switch but one line is always hot to the motor. is this proper or is this a safety issue?
      

i have 3 switch sets in my house that are giving me absolute fits.



#1  kitchen switch, controls the light over the outside door




    Code:

   

3 sets of lines coming in,



line from the breaker panel (power)



line to the ceiling lights 



line to the outside porch light.

i cannot get this 3 line to work without tripping the breaker every time i turn the switch off



#2 bathroom switches




    Code:

   

power feed line



line to the light over the medicine cabinet



line to the second switch to control the exhaust fan.

same issue as the first set, flip the switch and trip the breaker (different breaker from the kitchen switch)



#3 living room switch and plug controlled via switch




    Code:

   

 power feed line



outside porch light line



line to wall switch to control the lower wall outlet

flip switch, trip breaker



the switches i have are "1 pole" am i using the wrong switches for this job?
      

I have a mwbc where one is running my kitchen outlets, and the other is running a dedicated circuit for the disposal. the breakers are adjacent in the panel, so they are on opposite phase and share a common neutral and ground. I was updating the outlets and so turned off only one of the breakers. when I tested the line to make sure it was off, my voltmeter still read about 10 volts. Is this normal? there were no appliances connected to either circuit.
      

I'm getting ready to dig a trench to run electricity from my house to my garage.  Along with an electrical line, I would also like to run a line for my air compressor.  I would like to keep my compressor in my basement and have a line for it in the garage.  Does anyone have any tips for how to properly bury an air compressor hose?  I searched on Google a bit, but couldn't really find exactly what I was looking for.  Thanks.



Jesse