basic electricial question

[Jaxfishgyd]

The admiral plugged the vacumn cleaner in the outlet in the master stateroom and within a second of turning it on, she lost power and "thought' she heard a pop from the outlet.

She reset the breaker but it didn't help. Later that night she also found out her nightlight over the bed was dead. Everyother outlet on the breaker works fine. (port side outlets it's labled)

Yesterday I changed out the outlet with another one and it didn't fix the problem.

Today I used my voltmeter on it and the one on the other side of the stateroom that's working.

On the good outlet I got:
white to black=100v
black to green=100v
white to green=0

On the bad outlet I got:
white to black=0
black to green=100v
white to green=100v

The outlet is at the end run.

 

[Boatsb]

Look for a GFI outlet in the line. It may be the one in the middle that you did not find. It will trip itself and all others down the line.

 

[mike41tc]

It looks like you're green ground wire is hot. not good.
Mike

 

[(Nobody You Know)]

Can the night light simply be a victim of the "jolt" and the bulb g dead, and the outlet be fine? Just one thing in the process of elimination.

Your readings on the bad outlet suggest that it may be wired wrong or the volt meter wires were connected wrong? The "white to green 100V" suggest that there is definitely a short somewhere and that the ships GFI should have shut some part or all of it down. Dangerous situation.

Also, you might want to test the vacuum for a shortage in it as well.

 

[(Nobody You Know)]

I forgot to mention that you may also want to test the reading light involved. It may be the culprit. Electrical problems can be very strange and difficult.

 

[Will]

Most hardware stores have testers to see if electrical outlets are wired properly. Costing only about $10, you plug them into an outlet and look at the indicator lights. Any miss-wired connections will show up right away. You might want to check the outlets in your house too.

Will

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

The outlet has worked since we bought the boat(2000). And that's the outlet she normally uses. She plugged the vacumn into the starboard outlet and finished the carpeting..

I haven't really checked into the lamp.... Be easy enuff to check though.

Ah the fun and frolic of boat ownership...

 

[DickB]

If I understand what you said correctly: You normally use the last outlet in the line-up for the vac. You replaced that outlet. The second to the last outlet is the nightlight, and it doesn't work. If you use the last outlet, the breaker pops. All other outlets in the line-up work.

And I assume the nightlight and vac work in the other outlets.

I think the culprit is the nightlight outlet. Not uncommonly, and even more frequent in a marine environment, that outlet has fried itself such that the ground is now connected to the hot lead. You might look at this outlet more carefully.

I'd be interested in what you find.

Dick

 

[Fanfare]

I bet there is a GFI somewhere upstream in that circuit which has tripped. It could be some distance away. Get one of the three-light plug in circuit testers and check. While you are at it, check every socket on board. That's how I learned none of my green ground wires were wired.

 

[DickB]

But he said there's power to the last outlet, even though it's wired wrong. If there's an upstream GFI, how could there be any power downstream? Am I missing something in his explanation?
Dick

 

[Trojan]

Look good and hard to the wiring on the bad side. You should NEVER have 100AC volts from white to green. White and green are common. Black is feed. You have something shorted or wired wrong. Most likely wired wrong. Using the circuit that way could cause a fire or electrocute someone. Not good. Fix that circuit right now. Check all the plugs on that circuit. Your first readings on the good side are correct. But your 20 volts low on voltage. In order for that circuit to have worked, the plugs and circuit must have been isolated. As in all Hatteras boats. You should get yourself one of the plug checkers that was menchened early in the thread. Makes testing circuits and plugs easier. Once you get the plug checker, it would not hurt to check all your plugs on your boat. Good luck. Should be an easy fix.
BILL

 

[(Nobody You Know)]

On the "white to green at 100V" issue shouldn't the boat have GFI protection in the breaker panel and/or on the dock especially, if and when, he uses a three-prong outlet tester as mentioned earlier (creates a stray current)??

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

It's a 1973 boat... GFI were not required back then... Even the plugs by the sinks don't have them (yet).

Will be hitting it hard this weekend.

Problem is, most of the wiring is behind panals...

Plus I haven't tried to just replace the bulb on the nightlight.... Am not sure it wasn't out before the outlet went dead...

Wiring on the bad outlet is the same as the good outlets.

 

[krush]

First check the wiring on the outlet you changed.

Second, put a load (plug in a light) on both outlets and re measure. When you got dirty/loose connections, you will get all kinds of goofy ass readings. Same thing happens on 12v systems when you got a bad ground.

If the readings don't make sense, you usually have a bad ground (DC) or messed up/loose connections--for AC it's often in the neutral.

You need to hook the light bulb up because the you can get 100v to go thru even the worst connection as long as there is no current flow.

Or you could just keep throwing darts....LOL