Missing a neutral ??

[madmatt]

Hey all, had an annoying fault today which has occurred apparently out of the blue...some display cabinet / shelf efforts with a mix of fluorescent back lighting behind white perspex sheets and some overhead 12V halogen G6.35's capsule lamps have gone out randomly upon stripping the shelves and cabinets etc.. I found a few j.b.'s and eventually a couple of pvc's one t & e which fed in from opposite side of shop cabinets not yet stripped but weird readings on my meter of @ joint box .. Live to Earth = 237 V, Neutral to Earth 238V also and Live to Neutral 0V with switch in on position... then I go tracing back to mains in on a luminaire male / female plug socket affair and readings there were ... Live to earth 240V, Live to Neutral 17V and Neutral to Earth of 67V ! I am thinking I have an issue along a neutral somewhere ? anybody else had anything along these lines of strange voltages ?? btw Thanks RINGER

 

[Marvo]

Yep, sounds like a missing or broken neutral connection somewhere. Happy hunting

 

[Dunc]

If you've lost a neutral the strange neutral to earth voltages will be due to the supply still feeding through the electronics of the equipment on the circuit. Sounds like the neutral break will be fairly near the front end of the circuit or at the switch if the switch has been fed.

 

[madmatt]

Thanks Guys, am off back there now to try and find the swine have a big grid switch bank but they won't let me turn it off to look into it properly... fingers crossed.

 

[Steve1412]

Neutral went missing from a local substation last week....along with the shiny earth conductors too.....caused total mayhem.....street lights blew up, houses with appliances blew up......classic headline was...."My skybox blew up, I could have been killed!!!!!!!"....int electricity brilliant!!!!!

 

[Knobhead]

A lot to be said for PME