The power suddenly went out on us last night for our kitchen and entry lights. I checked the breaker and it did not trip. We do not have a GFCI receptacle on this run.
Last month I replaced the light fixtures in the kitchen, they were showing charred wires when I took them down to paint. Today I took them down and it looks like I have wired them correctly. Nothing looks pinched, burned, or loose.
The voltage from black to white is 20 volts. However from either the white or black to neutral is 126 volts.
House was built in 1968, aluminum wires. On a side note it looks like at one time the outside lights were spliced into this run, but I am not sure where?
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I looked at a DIY forum, and they said you could have a bad backstab connection:
If you look at the back of a receptacle, there are two methods of connecting a wire. The screw terminals on the side of the receptacle accept a wire wrapped around the screw "side-wire". There are also holes in the back which a wire can be simply stuck in and there's a spring mechanism which retains the wire "back-stab".
The backstab connections tend to weaken up and fail over time. If you encounter backstab connections in your examination of the receptacles, it's a good idea to move those wires to the adjacent side-wire screw terminals.
There is a third connection mechanism found on higher quality receptacles called back-wire where the wire is inserted into a hole and screw tightens a pressure plate against the wire. Both back-wire and side-wire make very good connections; back-stab connections are not that great.
Thank you!! I think that it ended up being that we didn't get all the charred wire out to begin with, kinda like you were describing. The wire was broke about 3" back. Also the screws that hold the fixture up were too long, and touching the box.
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