OK, this is bizarre. Maybe one of you crusty electricians can shed some light on this.
I am replacing a manual shut off box in a shelter house and adding a separate light switch for the lights. (before that cutoff was used as a light switch too) It powers a series of three light sockets and one outlet. I installed the new outlet and replaced the boxes and conduit. I also broke it out into a junction box so I could wire up the various things without cluttering the main box. This morning at 8 AM everything tested good. I flipped on the lights to finish adding stuff and I added another wire to add another outlet. Plugged in a device and it powered up.
I saw the middle socket didnt have a bulb, so went to add a bulb.. No can do, it was broken off, need to replace it. As I was unscrewing the socket from the box, I heard a faint sizzling from inside that box. I immediately cut power and finished disconnecting.
I figured out due to how short and mangled the wires are, I cant just reconnect. I have to pull the wires back through the top of the board and junction it there or rewire the whole thing. So I wirenutted the bare wires and applied power again. Now Nothing powers. When I put my tester on the outlet It now shows hot and ground are reversed. Even if I physically swap hot and ground it still shows they are swapped. Broken feed wire leaking current Between conductors? I even tried only connecting the outlet to the feed and removing all other wires in the shelter from the circuit. No change. The only thing I didnt do was remove the new cutoff box from the circuit. But I cant see how a simple switch could do that.
Ideas?
I am replacing a manual shut off box in a shelter house and adding a separate light switch for the lights. (before that cutoff was used as a light switch too) It powers a series of three light sockets and one outlet. I installed the new outlet and replaced the boxes and conduit. I also broke it out into a junction box so I could wire up the various things without cluttering the main box. This morning at 8 AM everything tested good. I flipped on the lights to finish adding stuff and I added another wire to add another outlet. Plugged in a device and it powered up.
I saw the middle socket didnt have a bulb, so went to add a bulb.. No can do, it was broken off, need to replace it. As I was unscrewing the socket from the box, I heard a faint sizzling from inside that box. I immediately cut power and finished disconnecting.
I figured out due to how short and mangled the wires are, I cant just reconnect. I have to pull the wires back through the top of the board and junction it there or rewire the whole thing. So I wirenutted the bare wires and applied power again. Now Nothing powers. When I put my tester on the outlet It now shows hot and ground are reversed. Even if I physically swap hot and ground it still shows they are swapped. Broken feed wire leaking current Between conductors? I even tried only connecting the outlet to the feed and removing all other wires in the shelter from the circuit. No change. The only thing I didnt do was remove the new cutoff box from the circuit. But I cant see how a simple switch could do that.
Ideas?
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