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scotty1998 · Joined: 04 Aug 2003 Posts: 2 Location: Watkins Glen, ny

Help help. Recently, I had a weird thing happen involving a short in one of our two outdoor lights. The lights are typical post type lanterns. The posts are wood, the fixtures are steel and they are wired in series. Each post has an electrical outlet on it. One evening, I noticed that both lights were not working. After a little investigating, I found that there had been an electrical short in one light post where the main line to the electrical outlet had become fused to the load side. After some rewiring which included the installation of a GFI receptacle, I managed to get both lights working again... well sort of. I now have two problems which I'm hoping that somebody can help me fix.

Question 1: It's been raining alot lately in our area and I've noticed that since my rewiring job, the lights do not work when it's raining. This was pretty weird until I realized that if I touch either lantern, I get the shock of a lifetime. Obviously there is a grounding problem here. What should I look for to fix it? I double checked the installation of my GFI. The wires are on correctly and the ground is not accidentally touching the hot or neutral (I'm pretty sure) I'm about to replace the other outlet on the other lantern post but am concerned that this may not be the problem. Outlets don't just fuse over to the ground side do they?

Question 2: Using a tester, I noticed that both electrical outlets indicate that the hot and neutral are reversed. I have a feeling that this was always the case even before my problem since I double checked my wiring job and all colors are coordinated. What are the dangers of this problem? And, what do I need to do to fix this? Is it as simple as reversing the hot and neutral at the light or should this be done at the breaker? Keep in mind that these lights are not the only things on the circuit. My kitchen lights and outlets are on the same circuit and those outlets test fine.

Any help anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Just Bill · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 12:27 pm Post subject:

The outlets are reversed, and they most likely feed the light, the outside of the bulb holder becomes the hot and the tip becomes the neutral(and there may be a connection between the lamp case and what is supoposed to be neutral. The bulb will still light(doesn't care which way voltage flows), but now the case is HOT. You need to disassemble everything in the lamps/posts, inspect the wiring and conect things correctly. That should solve the problems.