the MRH Forum

elctrical puzzle MRH product support
Reply
Regular poster 158 posts emdsd9 Regular poster 158 posts
emdsd9

Is anybody up for an electrical puzzle? 'm prepping our basement for a train layout and decided I need three 110v outlets along one wall. There were already two there but the wiring looked a little unsafe with a splice left out in the open. I enclosed the spice in a box and ran a drop down to the first duplex outlet. I then ran Romex to a box to the left and another to the right. All three outlets have the bare (ground) wire going to the Green screw, the black wires go the the brass screw and the white goes to the "silver" screw. Should work fine, but when I apply my socket tester two outlets are good and one shows "ground and return reversed". How can that be if all three are wired the same? At age 73, you'd think I'd be accustomed to being confused, but I'm not. I used to work in electronic, so three wires shouldn't be too tough. Help!

 

 

John
Reply 0
emdsd9 Regular poster 158 posts
emdsd9

Never mind! I found it !

Never mind! I found it ! Strange how the answer hits you in the face right after you ask for help.

John
Reply 0
David Husman dave1905 MRH Author 9,859 posts
David Husman dave1905

Fix

I would suggest doing whatever you did.  

Dave Husman

Visit my website :  https://wnbranch.com/

Blog index:  Dave Husman Blog Index
Reply 0
ctxmf74 Super User 15,959 posts
ctxmf74

Never mind! I found it !

So what was the answer? Probably will save someone some trouble sometime .....DaveB

1990.jpg 
Read my blog
Reply 0
peter-f Prolific poster 1,534 posts
peter-f

(Thank you for building to code)

Those open splices  - the worst hazard and most easily concealed.  To have recognized the stupidity and spent time to rework it deserves applause!

I have almost as bad- a J-box once concealed in the ceiling... in an Ugly place... with NO simple re-routing of wire to relocate the splice.  At least it's in a box! 

(To the casual DIY-er, a J-box is required to confine the hazards of an aging or bad splice... should the splice corrode or otherwise short, a resulting spark, fire ideally will be restricted to the inside of the box.) 
- regards

Peter
Reply 0
emdsd9 Regular poster 158 posts
emdsd9

The answer was that I had in

The answer was that I had in fact switched the black and white wires to the faulty outlet. The error indicated was correct, I just misread the indication. Clear as could be after I walked away and came back to it after dinner.

John
Reply 0
Reply