How is this possible? Lampost electrical sound out.? My lampost light went dim later out. I was sure it...
My lampost light went dim later out. I was sure it was the socket. Replaced the socket and nought...sort of. I am able to get a CF 14w/120v muted to light but unable to attain any incandescent lights to work (60w/100w). Voltmeter on bare wires = 120v. Voltmeter with unmarked socket attached = 120 volts. Even 40 watt incandescent barely lights up. How can I have the right volts (120v) but inept to power anything through socket above 14watts? Anyone know?
You might have to turn off power and use nozzle nose pliers and pull the center contact up for a while. The bulbs may not be making good contact.
When most of the lamp posts are installed, a photocell is in the post. These do go wrong after some time. I suspect that this has happened within your case since some power is going through to the lamp but the neutral is dim. I use a photo cell in many of my lights and they adjectives dim the light slightly when working correctly, but are quite dim when they are failing. Bypass the photocell and testing the system. If this fails, call a qualified professional electrician. You didn't mention if a photocell is involved or not. If in that is one in the circuit, that could be the problem.
You may have a partial short contained by the wiring, a common spot is where on earth the wires go into the post, and the insulation has be rubbed away. It's also possible that someone may have been doing some planting and nick the wires with a shovel while doing some planting.
Since I will assume that you don't have a megger to ohm out the wires, you may enjoy to call an electrician to have him check out the condition of the wires going to the reading light.
good luck with it.
Answers: There is something limiting the current. Does it normally turn itself on at night and rotten during the day? The detector is probably bad. You should know how to find these at Lowes or Home Depot.
You've get lots of good answers here, but my money is on a directly buried electrical calble that is dog-eared with the neutral flex broken through from a shovel of just rust and corrosion. Disconnect the wiring at both ends and megger it, you probably hold a partial short.
You're doing the right things. Absolutely. What is sounds approaching is the common or ground is not part of the mix. Can you verbs the wires out of the post and put them on a generic socket someplace or someplace that you can have more control over the test. You hold the right volts but like you said you can't hardly grasp any lights. You had to test the black lead for the voltage, right. Make sure the other connections are ok too.(white and ground.) it could be that the white is loose back at the box or where it come from. Its a simple fix, just keep going. First place to look is at the connections...
Oxidation could motive those symptoms.
A leaking conductor could also...
An outdoor circuit should have any special purpose "wet"conductors, or be inside a waterproof tube..
It is also wise that it be protected near a gfi , which would trip if leaking is the fault.
If it's unprotected, and leak, it is life threatening dangerous.